Movies like Mela (1948)
The best movies like Mela (1948) are Maria's Lovers (1984), Life in a Year (2020) and Fire with Fire (1986). If Mela hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGabriel's Inferno (2020)8.4/10 from 2,486 votes
- NewestGabriel's Redemption: Part I (2023)Released 2023
- In HindiAjeeb Daastaans (2021)Also in Hindi
Maria's Lovers (1984)
A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Year (2020)
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime Is Up (2021)
Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNine Lives (2005)
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAjeeb Daastaans (2021)
An anthology of four stories that explore the surprising ways in which unexpected catalysts inflame the uncomfortable emotions simmering under fractured relationships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReally Love (2020)
A rising black painter tries to break into a competitive art world while balancing an unexpected romance with an ambitious law student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGabriel's Redemption: Part I (2023)
After leaving his prestigious post at the University of Toronto, Gabriel embarks on a new journey with Julia, and he is eager to become a father. However, Gabriel's idyllic vision is jeopardized when Julia's intensive program becomes all consuming. When Julia is granted a prestigious opportunity to deliver an academic lecture at Oxford, Gabriel challenges her about the subject of her presentation, which clashes with his own research. In Oxford, their past resurfaces, including an old nemesis determined to humiliate Julia and expose one of Gabriel's well-guarded secrets. Emotions run high, alliances are tested, and the couple must confront the shadows of their shared history in a battle for love, truth, and redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGabriel's Inferno (2020)
An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love, and redemption, Gabriel's Inferno is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man's escape from his own personal hell as he tries to earn the impossible--forgiveness and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRaja Hindustani (1996)
Raja, a taxi driver, falls in love with Aarti, a rich girl, and marries her against her parents' wishes. Later, her stepmother tries to create a rift betweenthe couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAshes in the Snow (2018)
The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirt Music (2020)
Georgie is slowly suffocating in a loveless marriage to fishing tycoon Jim Buckridge. Handsome poacher Lu is an irresistible symbol of the excitement she craves. A passionate affair follows that reveals the dark secrets in Lu’s past and forces him to take flight into the blistering heat of the outback. Georgie follows, determined to find him and bring him back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLovely, Still (2009)
A holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGabriel's Inferno: Part III (2020)
The final part of the film adaption of the erotic romance novel Gabriel's Inferno written by an anonymous Canadian author under the pen name Sylvain Reynard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Golden Bowl (2000)
Wealthy American widower Adam Verver and his daughter Maggie live a refined life in Europe, surrounded by art. Maggie marries impoverished Italian Prince Amerigo, while Adam marries Maggie's friend Charlotte Stant. The Prince and Charlotte are having an affair, which Maggie discovers and navigates through a silent, psychological battle of wills, ultimately using her cunning to preserve her marriage and protect her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalome (1953)
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending him to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are–contrary to Scripture–nearing conversion to the new religion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisAaj Aur Kal (1963)
An over-bearing oppressive emperor continues to preside over a region in post-independent India along with his subdued children.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Shukriyaa (1988)
Young and playful Neema's prank with a live electric wire kills her mother, and leaves her dad, Dayal, angered and devastated by Neema and his wife's death respectively. Dayal begins to resent his daughter so much so that he cannot stand the sight of her. Neema grows up to be nervous and insecure young woman, klutz-like, and terrified of her father. Things change for the better , when she meets the owner of a restaurant, Ajay Singh, and both fall in love w When Dayal comes to know of this, his anger knows no bounds, and he forbids her to ever see Ajay again. When Ajay finds out about Dayal's plan to marry Neema elsewhere, he is determined to marry Neema at all costs - and so is Neema, who now seems to have given up her timidity. What Neema does not know is that Ajay does not love her - all he is interested is humiliating and possibly killing Dayal - to set right a devastating incident that changed his life forever when he was a child. Will Ajay be able to carry out his deadly task?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Benazir (1964)
Sibling rivalry abounds in this film about two privileged brothers, Anwar and Nawab, and the women who come between them. Nawab, although a married man and father, engages in frequent secret rendezvous with his mistress, Benazir. Meanwhile, Anwar declares his love for a woman named Shahida, whom he desires to wed. So when Nawab witnesses Anwar in the arms of the lovely Benazir, he's outraged -- and puzzled -- by the brotherly betrayal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Hamara Khandaan (1988)
Vishal (Rishi Kapoor) comes from a wealthy Hindu family. His father is well known Chandraprakash Singh (Amrish Puri), and his mom is a housewife, Sharda (Asha Parekh). Vishal falls in love with a young Catholic girl, Ruby Miranda (Farha). While Ruby's dad (Alok Nath) approves of the marriage, Chandraprakash does not, and will not even hear of his son marrying someone not of equal status in wealth, leave alone a different religion. He is all the more enraged when he learns that Vishal is not really his son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Madhosh (1994)
Much to his disapproval, a wealthy man finds history repeating itself when his daughter falls in love with a poor boy, who also happens to be the son of a past enemy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa (2002)
U.S. settled Esha (Esha Deol) is attracted to fellow-student Rahul (Tushar Kapoor). Rahul too is attracted to Esha. Esha returns home to India and tells her parents (Raj Babbar, Nina Kulkarni) about her love for Rahul. The family is pleased, and proceeds to finalize the marriage. They accompany Esha to Rahul's house. Rahul's parents (Rajesh Khanna, Smita Jaykar) approve of Esha. But when they ask Rahul, to everyone's shock, he refuses to marry Esha under any circumstances.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Chingaari (2006)
Mithun Chakraborty plays a powerful and domineering priest who rules his temple and the surrounding village with an iron fist, all supposedly for the sake of religion. He becomes enamored with a prostitute (Sushmita Sen) from a local brothel and begins spending more and more time with her. But when the village postman (Anuj Sawhney) takes a liking to her as well, the priest is forced to deal with him and a growing village rebellion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
India Is Ours (1950)
Though times have changed, Ram still uses old ways of farming due to a drought in the village. His brother, Bala, goes to Bombay to earn his living. Mahadev, a Zamindar in the village, eyes Usha, the lover of Bala. Due to the drought, the crops fail in the village, and Shikh Sahib, a social worker, comes to help the farmers, and shows them new ways of farming. Ramu goes to Bombay to take a loan for cooperative farming and asks Bala to turn back to the village, but he refuses. [The film is a socio-economic study of post-independence India, blending documentary elements with narrative storytelling. The film is often described as a "simple story woven into the documentary design" and features actors like Prithviraj Kapoor and Dev Anand.]
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Aakhari Decision (2010)
Aakhari Decision is a Bollywood action film directed by Deepak Bandhu and starring Anant Jog, Nagesh Bhonsle, Mushtaq Khan, Navni Parihar, Amar Sidhu, and Sumona Chakravarti. It was filmed in India and the United States.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Red Zone (TBA)
"Red Zone" is an International Feature Film in English language created by the Award Winning Film Maker Sunil Babbar. It is based on Buddhism. The film reflects the mysterious life journey of a revered Buddhist Monk, who wishes to achieve the Buddhahood in his present life, but falls down when a mysterious girl enters his life. Shot on the beautiful locales of Galle Fort in Sri Lanka, it presents the journey of two different persons belonging to two different Worlds, exhibiting their pains, agonies and their quest to achieve Buddhahood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Mela and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mela?
The closest matches to Mela are Maria's Lovers (1984), Life in a Year (2020) and Fire with Fire (1986). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mela?
Start with Maria's Lovers (1984), the closest match to Mela.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mela?
Gabriel's Inferno (2020), rated 8.4/10 by 2,486 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mela?
Gabriel's Redemption: Part I (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like Mela?
Yes: Ajeeb Daastaans (2021), Raja Hindustani (1996) and Aaj Aur Kal (1963).
How are movies similar to Mela chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mela, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.