Movies like Leela (2024)
The best movies like Leela (2024) are The Truth About Emanuel (2013), El Chicano (2019) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). If Leela hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Leela
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestTyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)Released 2025
The Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)
High-powered attorney Marley faces her most personal case yet when she is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the murder of her best friend Fela’s husband. With the help of her boyfriend – a former cop turned private investigator – Marley’s search for what really happened leads her down a treacherous maze of deception and betrayal.
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 thisLila & Eve (2015)
Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own hands to track down her son’s killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHelen (2009)
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kindness of Strangers (2019)
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wasp (2024)
Heather bumps into Carla, having not spoken to her in years, and presents her with a very unexpected proposition that could change both of their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this1 Chance 2 Dance (2014)
When a 17-year old aspiring dancer is uprooted in her high school senior year, she finds herself divided between two boys, and she will have one last shot at making her dream a reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHis Father's Voice (2019)
A gifted male dancer separated from his musician father in childhood, must return to him, to be able to dance again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dear Maya (2017)
Anna and Ira prank a local woman by writing her letters from a secret admirer. The prank takes a more serious turn when the local women goes missing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Good Newwz (2019)
Two couples with the same surnames pursue in-vitro fertilisation and wait for their upcoming babies. Trouble ensues when they find that the sperms of each couple have been mixed with each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Aur Rishi Ki Love Story (2025)
Set against the picturesque backdrop of Cambridge, the film follows the journey of Bobby and Rishi as they going through the complexities of love and life. The story revolves around their passionate romance, which faces numerous challenges and misunderstandings. Despite being separated by circumstances, their love remains strong. Years later, fate gives them a second chance to rekindle their relationship and overcome the obstacles that once tore them apart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Anhonee (1973)
Dr. Rekha admits a patient, Sunil, in her mental hospital and soon, he responds to the treatment and recovers. They fall in love with each other but everything is not as it seems to be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love 86 (1986)
Laxmi Devi is a strict mother having two daughters named Leena and Isha. She wants them to get married in a prosperous and rich family with two brothers so that they can be together for life. But two orphaned boys named Omi and Vikram Doshi who are thieves by profession, fall for these two sisters. Now Laxmi Devi wants to control the fate of her daughters but can she do this?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Payback (2010)
A man decides to re-pay a good Samaritan but regrets doing so after he finds out that he is an assassin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Children of War (2014)
Children of War is a movie based on the true events of the 1971 Genocide. Can we, in search of power, become animals? A genocide; neglected! The first use of rape as a weapon of war; undocumented! The lives of millions; unaccounted! The culprits; unpunished!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sour Candy (2024)
Guddal, a free-spirited five year old, loves eating the sour sweeties called Anaar Daana. Her antics with her brother Laddoo often land her in trouble. One day, a sad incident in the house causes a shift in her idyllic world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gardish (1993)
Naive and easily impressionable Vidya Bhalla would like her husband to be a dashing hero, one who is not afraid of anybody, one who can easily jump into a fire to rescue someone, one who is strong & romantic. She sees all of these qualities in Shiva Sathe (Jackie Shroff), the son of Havaldar Purshotam Sathe, whose only dream is to see Shiva become a Police Inspector. Vidya informs her dad, Prithviraj, that she has found her dream man, the Bhallas and the Sathes meet and get the couple formally engaged.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Leela?
The closest matches to Leela are The Truth About Emanuel (2013), El Chicano (2019) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Leela?
Start with The Truth About Emanuel (2013), the closest match to Leela.
What is the highest-rated movie like Leela?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Leela?
Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Marathi movies like Leela?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Leela chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Leela, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.