Movies like Maareesan (2025)
The best movies like Maareesan (2025) are Idli Kadai (2025), Lion (2016) and Test (2025). If Maareesan hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Intouchables (2011)8.3/10 from 19,048 votes
- Newest29 (2026)Released 2026
- In TamilIdli Kadai (2025)Also in Tamil
Idli Kadai (2025)
A simple man's search for success leads him to rediscover his roots.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & drama
Lion (2016)
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTest (2025)
The worlds of three ordinary people converge during a historic cricket match, ultimately forcing them to make life-altering decisions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
The Intouchables (2011)
A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHridayapoorvam (2025)
Sandeep, a middle-aged bachelor who recently got a heart transplant, travels to Pune to attend the engagement of his heart-donor’s daughter, Haritha. Her engagement gets broken and Sandeep injures his back on the same day, forcing him to stay back in Pune for a few weeks, in his heart-donor’s house – who was an adventurous Colonel.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Chaal Jeevi Laiye! (2019)
In his quest to become successful, Aditya Parikh puts life on the back burner, including his Father Bipin Chandra Parikh. Infuriated and heartbroken, the father persuades his monotonous son to take an unplanned journey of a lifetime for a much needed appreciation that life deserves. Their trip to bliss soon turns into a nightmare when they meet a backpacker named Ketki Mehta. An enigma in her own way, she takes the father-son duo on a voyage that turns out to be more than they bargained for. The escapade turns out to be an experience as more surprises and realizations wait their way to happiness, opening new doorways to the meaning of life. Directed by Vipul Mehta, Produced by Rashmin Majithia and soulful Music by Sachin-Jigar, Chaal Jeevi Laiye is a film that's all about living life to the fullest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Lunchbox (2013)
A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system (Mumbai's Dabbawallahs) connects a young housewife to a stranger in the dusk of his life. They build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox. Gradually, this fantasy threatens to overwhelm their reality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this29 (2026)
A quirky 29-year-old named Sathya embarks on an unexpected journey of laughter, unlikely friendships, and self-discovery. Through hilarious misadventures and chance encounters, he slowly sees life's bigger picture - its surprises, joys, and second chances.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Room (2015)
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Namesake (2007)
The American-born son of Indian immigrants strives to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSirāt (2025)
A man and his son arrive at a rave lost in the mountains of Morocco. They are looking for Marina, their daughter and sister, who disappeared months ago at another rave. Driven by fate, they decide to follow a group of ravers in search of one last party, in hopes Marina will be there.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Farewell (2019)
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Upside (2019)
Phillip is a wealthy quadriplegic who needs a caretaker to help him with his day-to-day routine in his New York penthouse. He decides to hire Dell, a struggling parolee who's trying to reconnect with his ex and his young son. Despite coming from two different worlds, an unlikely friendship starts to blossom.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRain Man (1988)
When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKaalidhar Laapata (2025)
An ageing Kaalidhar escapes his family after overhearing their plans to abandon him. He meets the free-spirited Ballu, and they embark on an adventure to tick things off Kaalidhar's bucket list.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Miss Sunshine (2006)
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their "spiritual quest", however, veers rapidly off-course (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray).
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaptain Fantastic (2016)
Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, beginning a journey that challenges his idea of what it means to be a parent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
A story centered around an Indian family who moves to France and opens a restaurant across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRide Away (2025)
From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Mathias and Philippe, two old friends, embark on a bicycle journey that Mathias’s son made before his tragic death. The two men ride through the ordeals with tenderness, humor and emotion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Friend of Dorothy (2025)
Dorothy is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy's daily routine of pills, prunes, and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bucket List (2007)
Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers are worlds apart. At a crossroads in their lives, they share a hospital room and discover they have two things in common: a desire to spend the time they have left doing everything they ever wanted to do and an unrealized need to come to terms with who they are. Together they embark on the road trip of a lifetime, becoming friends along the way and learning to live life to the fullest, with insight and humor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Friend (2025)
New York City writer Iris finds her comfortable, solitary life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor bequeaths her a Great Dane named Apollo. The huge dog immediately creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as more existential ones. Yet as Iris finds herself unexpectedly bonding with Apollo, she begins to come to terms with her past, and her own creative inner life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Site (2022)
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRun (1991)
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Night in Bangkok (2020)
A hit man named Kai flies into Bangkok, gets a gun, and orders a cab. He offers a professional female driver big money to be his all-night driver. But when she realizes Kai is committing brutal murders at each stop, it's too late to walk away. Meanwhile, an offbeat police detective races to decode the string of slayings before more blood is spilled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locksmith (2023)
A thief fresh out of prison, tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-fiancé. Determined, he is forced to use the skills he has as a gifted locksmith. Things take a tumultuous turn after an unexpected disappearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisHunting Season (2025)
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Maareesan and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Maareesan?
The closest matches to Maareesan are Idli Kadai (2025), Lion (2016) and Test (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Maareesan?
People who watched Maareesan most often go on to Idli Kadai (2025), Lion (2016) and Test (2025).
What is the highest-rated movie like Maareesan?
The Intouchables (2011), rated 8.3/10 by 19,048 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Maareesan?
29 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Tamil movies like Maareesan?
Yes: Idli Kadai (2025), Test (2025) and 29 (2026).
How are movies similar to Maareesan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Maareesan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.