Movies like Smuggler (1996)
The best movies like Smuggler (1996) are The Principal (1987), Don (2006) and Flicka (2006). If Smuggler hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy Name Is Khan (2010)8.0/10 from 1,527 votes
- NewestThe Fable (2025)Released 2025
- In HindiDon (2006)Also in Hindi
The Principal (1987)
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon (2006)
DCP DeSilva sees a way to bring to justice the feared head of a criminal empire by recruiting a man named Vijay, who looks exactly like the crime boss. The ruse works too well, and soon Vijay finds his life in danger when DeSilva, the only one who knows his true identity, dies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisQayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988)
Both Dhanraj Singh and Randhir Singh are two bitter and old time enemies. They faced a disastrous situation when their children, Raj and Rashmi fall deeply in love. They openly declare their hatred for one another and will do anything in their power, even kill - but they will not accept their children's choice. But Raj and Rashmi are dedicated to their love and are not willing to accept the fact that their fathers are mutual enemies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCalm with Horses (2020)
In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas 'Arm' Armstrong has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five-year-old son, Jack. Torn between these two families, Arm's loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtraction (2020)
A hardened gun-for-hire's latest mission becomes a soul-searching race to survive when he's sent into Bangladesh to rescue a drug lord's kidnapped son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParadise Highway (2022)
A truck driver has been forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a deadly prison gang. With FBI operatives hot on her trail, Sally's conscience is challenged when the final package turns out to be a teenage girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWar (2019)
Khalid, entrusted with the task of eliminating former soldier turned rogue Kabir, engages in an epic battle with his mentor who taught him everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Name Is Khan (2010)
Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLike Stars on Earth (2007)
Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStealing Home (1988)
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThoroughbreds (2018)
Lily and Amanda, two high school students living in suburban Connecticut, rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of drifting apart. Together, they devise a plan to kill Lily's abusive stepfather by hiring a lowlife drug dealer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFresh (1994)
Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Time Adolescence (2020)
A seemingly bright and mostly innocent 16-year-old named Mo attempts to navigate high school under the guidance of his best friend Zeke, an unmotivated-yet-charismatic college dropout. Although Zeke genuinely cares about Mo, things start to go awry as he teaches Mo nontraditional life lessons in drug dealing, partying, and dating. Meanwhile, Mo’s well-meaning dad tries to step in and take back the reins of his son’s upbringing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whole Wide World (1996)
In 1930s Texas, pulp fiction master Robert E. Howard is introduced to Novalyne Price, a teacher with aspirations of becoming an author herself, and they begin a unique relationship filled with conversation and imagination. Although the possibility exists for romance, Howard's obsession with his work and dedication to his sick mother leads Price to look elsewhere for love, leaving Howard feeling betrayed and alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndu Sarkar (2017)
Indu’s husband, a government employee, believes in using the state of Emergency to advance his career, but a moral and ideological discrepancy sets her on a own path.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Yuhi Kabhi (1994)
Rajoo lives alone and works in a decent company. He also has a girlfriend, who he intends to marry, that being Pooja. God suddenly appears to Rajoo one day and asks him to spread His word. Naive Rajoo does so, and this results in chaos, misunderstandings, and confusion. And as a result poor Rajoo is hauled up in Court, and the only one witness that can save Rajoo is God, but will God make an earthly appearance?
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Milan (1995)
Raja is a small-time smuggler. His sweetheart, Priya does not approve of this, and convinces him to give up his smuggling activities, and turn the information over to the police. He does so, only to find that he has been framed for a murder he did not commit. When he decides to entrust himself to the justice of the courts, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to jail. In jail he encounters more problems, and needs all his wits to stay alive. Back to Priya; Raja's former smuggling colleagues, including corrupt police officers are openly harassing her, and no one seems to be able to look after her. Raja must get out of jail to find out who has framed him, and who is the king-pin behind the smuggling ring.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Anokha Andaaz (1995)
Manish and Reema are in love but Reema's mother is against their union. They take shelter at Charlie's house who gets murdered, which puts their lives at risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Humshakals (2014)
A comedy centered around three people who each have a lookalike of a lookalike, all with the same name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisTumhari Sulu (2017)
A happy-go-lucky Mumbai suburban housewife Sulochana, fondly known as Sulu, lands the role of a night RJ, resulting in drastic changes to her routine life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChutney (2016)
Chutney is a short film written and directed by Jyoti Kapur Das. Produced by Tisca Chopra The stars Adil Hussain and Tisca Chopra in the lead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Accidental Prime Minister (2019)
Based on the memoir by Indian policy analyst Sanjaya Baru, The Accidental Prime Minister explores Manmohan Singh's tenure as the Prime Minister of India, and the kind of control he had over his cabinet and the country.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Fable (2025)
In the late 1980s in the Himalayas, a man's life is turned upside down by a series of mysterious fires destroying his fruit orchards. As he struggles to stop the outbreaks, the escalating mystery forces him to confront not only the truth behind the blazes but also the long-hidden secrets of his family and his own past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dharti Ke Lal (1946)
Based on plays by Bhattacharya and the story Annadata by Krishan Chander. A film about the famine that swept through Indian villages in the final years of the war for independence. After natural disasters (floods and droughts), villagers seek refuge in the city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Smuggler and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Smuggler?
The closest matches to Smuggler are The Principal (1987), Don (2006) and Flicka (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Smuggler?
Start with The Principal (1987), the closest match to Smuggler.
What is the highest-rated movie like Smuggler?
My Name Is Khan (2010), rated 8.0/10 by 1,527 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Smuggler?
The Fable (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like Smuggler?
Yes: Don (2006), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and War (2019).
How are movies similar to Smuggler chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Smuggler, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.