Movies like Jaga Balia (1985)
The best movies like Jaga Balia (1985) are Eleanor the Great (2025), Fast Girls (2012) and Sunshine State (2002). If Jaga Balia hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Jaga Balia
Quick picks
- Highest ratedReturn (2011)6.4/10 from 3,930 votes
- NewestMurabi (2026)Released 2026
Eleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunshine State (2002)
A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNational Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015)
As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelieve (2013)
A young, gifted soccer player who gets into trouble for a petty crime is brought to the attention of former Manchester United coach Matt Busby, who comes out of retirement to help the boy and his teammates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReturn (2011)
Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bridge Part 2 (2016)
The second-half of the movie picks up in the present day, seven years later, with Ryan returning home from being on the road touring as a professional singer and Molly working at her father's corporation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive (1947)
Anti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining priest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisReturn of the Bad Men (1948)
US Marshall Vance is assigned to rid the Oklahoma Territory of outlaws.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl (2012)
Director Alfred Hitchcock is revered as one of the greatest creative minds in the history of cinema. Known for his psychological thrillers, Hitchcock’s leading ladies were cool, beautiful and preferably blonde. One such actress was Tippi Hedren, an unknown fashion model given her big break when Hitchcock’s wife saw her on a TV commercial. Brought to Universal Studios, Hedren was shocked when the director, at the peak of his career, quickly cast her to star in his next feature, 1963’s The Birds. Little did Hedren know that as ambitious and terrifying as the production would be to shoot, the most daunting aspect of the film ended up coming from behind the camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVanya on 42nd Street (1994)
An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnuja (2024)
When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of Christmas (2016)
Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKid Galahad (1962)
After completing military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBou - Khai Pii Darama Nahin (2023)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Niraba Jhada (1984)
In a remote village in Odisha, poverty and illiteracy have fostered dependence on superstition. The villagers have mortgaged their land to the landlord Janrdhan, who forces many of them to become contract laborers and leave the village to earn a livelihood. The story revolves around two villagers, Haria and Bhamar, and Bhamar's daughter, Phoola, who become entangled in Janrdhan's greed and oppression.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Murabi (2026)
In every family, there is a guiding force, the Murabi. This Odia feature film explores the collision and convergence of two contrasting philosophies: one rooted in discipline and control, the other in joy and freedom. As life brings these worlds together, the story unfolds into a heartwarming journey that challenges, inspires, and ultimately redefines the true meaning of family, love, and togetherness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mukhagni (2023)
The story of Mukhagni revolves around the life of a school teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Priyara Pre-wedding Love Story (2023)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Parikaribe Bholashankara 2 (2023)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ekaa Ekaa (2011)
Being alone in the world and a search for what it means to be a good human being, in the meandering flow of life in its ordinary everydayness. This is the story of Om, a filmmaker who strives to bridge the gulf between his art and life by finding a common basis for both in responsibility and concern for the other. In the process he must confront his own inner exile and contradictions, memory and longing, and the nature of human relationships,. Like the waves of the sea, the ebb and flow of life continues and through it the film essays a journey and a quest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nari Nuhen Tu Ardhanari (2023)
A Transgender Person commits repeated murders and becomes most wanted criminal in that area. what is the reason behind all of this? the movie unflods one by one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Jaga Balia?
The closest matches to Jaga Balia are Eleanor the Great (2025), Fast Girls (2012) and Sunshine State (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Jaga Balia?
Start with Eleanor the Great (2025), the closest match to Jaga Balia.
What is the highest-rated movie like Jaga Balia?
Return (2011), rated 6.4/10 by 3,930 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Jaga Balia?
Murabi (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Jaga Balia chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Jaga Balia, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.