Movies like Ethirppukal (1984)
The best movies like Ethirppukal (1984) are Each Dawn I Die (1939), Seeds of Yesterday (2015) and National Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015). If Ethirppukal hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInside I'm Dancing (2004)7.4/10 from 243 votes
- NewestBallistic (2026)Released 2026
- In MalayalamIratta (2023)Also in Malayalam
Each Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
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 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 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 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 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 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 thisIratta (2023)
After a cop is found dead, a policeman's investigation sparks a chilling search for the truth connected to his estranged twin and their fraught past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucifer (2019)
In God's own country, the supreme leader of the ruling party dies, leaving a huge vacuum, not only in the electoral and leadership sphere of the party but also that of the state. In the inevitable succession squabble and the power struggle that ensues, the thin line that separates good and bad becomes irrecoverably blurred and out of this seemingly endless mayhem, emerge forces that are hitherto unheard of.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBallistic (2026)
When a soldier's mother discovers the bullet that killed her son in Afghanistan was made at the factory where she works, she sets out on a path of revenge against those responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisUndercurrent (1946)
After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisInside I'm Dancing (2004)
Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShotgun Stories (2007)
Shotgun Stories tracks a feud that erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, these brothers discover the lengths to which each will go to protect their family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Web (1947)
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEleanor 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 thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
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 thisPoovinu Puthiya Poonthennal (1986)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Carnivel (1989)
Bharathan (Mammootty) and his friends (Mala Aravindan, Siddique and Bobby Kottarakkara) earn money by gambling in the streets. But Bharathan is forced to close down his business when a carnival is organised in the village. Bharathan manages to get a job in the carnival company and soon becomes the most trusted person of its owner Chandrappan, who is fondly called as Bhai. James, another worker at the company is envious about the growth of Bharathan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nair Saab (1989)
Major Nair trains the new batch of trainees at the army training centre. Things take a turn when a dangerous criminal makes two of the trainees import drugs from the neighboring country.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Abkari (1988)
Vasu and Chacko are working as drivers and low ranking workers for the Abkari contractor Sreekandan. Sreekandan is heavily involved in the smuggling of liquor from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu in order to increase the already high profits in his business. For some time the jobless youngsters try illegal brewing of hooch.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dhinarathrangal (1988)
Aravindan is shot at by the police for murdering Madhavan, a landlord. Ironically, he is supposed to be treated by Madhavan's daughter, Dr Savithri, who feels compassionate towards Aravindan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sukrutham (1994)
A journalist, Ravishankar is suffering from blood cancer and has lost all hopes. That is when he meets a Vedic doctor. But his death is more awaited than his recovery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vishnu (1994)
Inspired by Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment', the film follows Vishnu (Mammootty), a man who takes the law into his own hands by killing a criminal to protect his family. Haunted by guilt and pursued by a psychological investigator, he faces a moral struggle that leads to controversial consequences. The film is known for featuring an alternate ending inspired by 'The Last Temptation of Christ'."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Ethirppukal and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ethirppukal?
The closest matches to Ethirppukal are Each Dawn I Die (1939), Seeds of Yesterday (2015) and National Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ethirppukal?
Start with Each Dawn I Die (1939), the closest match to Ethirppukal.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ethirppukal?
Inside I'm Dancing (2004), rated 7.4/10 by 243 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ethirppukal?
Ballistic (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Malayalam movies like Ethirppukal?
Yes: Iratta (2023), Lucifer (2019) and Adukkan Entheluppam (1986).
How are movies similar to Ethirppukal chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ethirppukal, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.