Movies like Pillai Nila (1985)
The best movies like Pillai Nila (1985) are Ice Castles (2010), All Together Now (2020) and Adopt a Highway (2019). If Pillai Nila hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPenguin Bloom (2021)6.9/10 from 354 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
- In TamilGargi (2022)Also in Tamil
Ice Castles (2010)
Young, beautiful, talented Alexis Winston comes from nowhere to become a figure skating superstar. But her rise to stardom isn’t easy. She has to push herself, reinvent herself, and most painfully of all, leave her hometown boyfriend behind. When a tragic fall leaves her blind, she needs someone to believe in her, to love her; someone to convince her she has the strength to skate and dream again.
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 thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
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 thisSeeds of Yesterday (2015)
The Sheffield family reveal and go through some home truths as their middle child inherits the Foxworth mansion. The family's ghosts looming over, and more tragedies are in store as the curse lives on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGargi (2022)
When a schoolteacher's father is arrested for the rape of a 10-year-old girl, the media storm surrounding the case has lawyers reluctant about defending the accused. An inexperienced advocate with a speech disability agrees to take up the case despite the stiff opposition and ridicule from his association. It is now up to them to build their defence and prove that the man accused of committing the crime did not do it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Driver (2020)
When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.
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 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 thisAsuran (2019)
A family from the underprivileged class is on the run after the teenaged son kills a rich man from the upper caste. Can the pacifist father be able to save his hot-blooded son?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisToo Late Blues (1961)
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEdie (2018)
To try and overcome a lifetime of bitterness and resentment, 83-year-old Edie decides that it is never too late. After packing an old camping bag, she leaves her life behind and embarks on an adventure she never got to have... climbing the imposing Mount Suilven in Scotland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Romance, LLC (2019)
Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisPenguin Bloom (2021)
When an unlikely ally enters the Bloom family's world in the form of an injured baby magpie they name Penguin, the bird’s arrival makes a profound difference in the struggling family’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalabar (2018)
An undocumented mother is unable to turn to the authorities for help when her son goes missing, so she sets off on a treacherous path to find him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Daddy (2001)
An audio company and dance school owner is a very rich man but also gullible. He gets married to the girl he loves; but loses all his money to his scheming friends. They lose their daughter to a heart disease following which his wife leaves him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Abhilasha (1983)
In order to reform the death sentence penalty, a lawyer sets a trap and gets himself arrested for a murder. But he is caught in his own web of evidence and struggles to prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Thacholi Ambu (1978)
Thacholi Ambu is a 1978 Malayalam-language film starring Prem Nazir, Sivaji Ganesan, Ravikumar and Jayan. Directed and produced by Navodaya Appachan, it was the first cinemascope film in Malayalam. Prem Nazir played the title role in the film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Choodalani Vundi (1998)
Ramakrishna arrives in Kolkata and takes up residence in Padmavathi's housing colony. While at first he seems happy and easy-going, soon his real reason for returning to Kolkata is revealed. He wants revenge!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mangana Kaiyalli Manikya (2013)
Mangana Kaiyalli Manikya is a complete comedy entertainer. Harshika Poonachha will be seen in the role of an assistant director in the film. Rangayana Raghu, Ravishankar Gowda and Sonia Gowda are in the important roles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bisi Bisi (2004)
Bisi Bisi is a 2004 Kannada film directed by Ramnath and produced by Ajay Chandani. The film stars Ramesh Aravind, Anu Prabhakar and Shankar Rao in lead roles. Music was composed by Milind Dharmasena.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Amma Ninna Tolinalli (2001)
Amma Ninna Tolinalli movie tells about the relation between mother and child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (2001)
Three ex-convicts Rummi, Nani, Moni along with a police officer save a couple from committing suicide and help to put an evil man and his son behind bars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Pillai Nila and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Pillai Nila?
The closest matches to Pillai Nila are Ice Castles (2010), All Together Now (2020) and Adopt a Highway (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Pillai Nila?
Start with Ice Castles (2010), the closest match to Pillai Nila.
What is the highest-rated movie like Pillai Nila?
Penguin Bloom (2021), rated 6.9/10 by 354 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Pillai Nila?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Tamil movies like Pillai Nila?
Yes: Gargi (2022) and Asuran (2019).
How are movies similar to Pillai Nila chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Pillai Nila, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.