Movies like Tezaab (1988)
The best movies like Tezaab (1988) are The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), Cleveland Abduction (2015) and The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story (2023). If Tezaab hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDancer in the Dark (2000)7.8/10 from 2,109 votes
- NewestBetter Man (2024)Released 2024
- In HindiMadaari (2016)Also in Hindi
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleveland Abduction (2015)
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story (2023)
Based on a true story. 15-year-old Kara Robinson was kidnapped, assaulted and held captive for 18 hours. With her survival instincts kicking in, she plots a daring escape from the serial killer and leads police to his apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaken Back: Finding Haley (2012)
Unable to get over the abduction of her daughter, a mother is convinced she has finally found her, but is she simply a mother obsessed?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattle of the Year (2013)
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Bunker (2018)
When Elizabeth is abducted by a fugitive sexual predator, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands and plot her escape. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadaari (2016)
A common man kidnaps the son of the Home Minister of India to get answers about the loss of his own son, caused by the illegal acts committed by corrupt government officials.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDhoom 2 (2006)
Jai and Ali return, this time on the trail of an international thief who steals priceless artifacts and has chosen Mumbai as his next target.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
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 Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)
A rich man's daughter is held captive in an abandoned apartment by two former convicts who abducted her and hold her ransom in exchange for her father's money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJailhouse Rock (1957)
Young convict Vince Everett, serving time for manslaughter, discovers his musical talent in prison and becomes a rock and roll star after his release, navigating fame and relationships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBetter Man (2024)
Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHamlet (1948)
Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisStolen Baby: The Murder of Heidi Broussard (2023)
Based on a true story of best friends Magen and Heidi who have known each other for a decade. Pretending to be pregnant at the same time as her friend, Magen makes the journey from Houston to Austin to be by Heidi’s side once she learns she is ready to give birth. However, when Heidi goes missing with her newborn daughter just a few weeks after giving birth, suspicions about Magen’s loyalty and her true intentions are questioned. Authorities begin to suspect that she is hiding a huge secret as they begin to uncover her twisted and elaborate plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJohn Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Matinee Show (2021)
On Friday the 13th 1997, the audiences were in a frenzy to watch a super hit movie at a full house in Satkar Theatre. Aghast a fire breaks out and engulfs the closed auditorium to vanquish more than 100 innocent lives. Years later their relatives still grieve for their loss and hope for justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cargo (2019)
Aboard a spaceship where souls of the deceased are readied for reincarnation, a lone crew member's rigid existence is disrupted by a spry new assistant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Made In China (2019)
A struggling Gujarati businessman ventures into the world of China where he gets a brilliant business idea that could change his life forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sand Castles (2016)
In rural Indiana, Noah and his impoverished family wrestle with the mysterious return of his now mute sister, Lauren, who was kidnapped and held captive for over a decade.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Naughty Boys (1984)
After debuting in 1983 with Casta Diva, Eric de Kuyper immediately made Naughty Boys in 1984, a film that he himself described as “a sad musical comedy” in which he pays homage to the old musicals and comedies. The film is set in an unspecified time, somewhere between both World Wars in a large English country house. Six gentlemen in dinner jackets try to maintain the atmosphere of a party that has just ended. Naughty Boys was the second film De Kuyper made with friends and students, but here for the first time they were joined by a “professional” actress, Linda Polan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharandas The Thief (1975)
Charandas, a petty thief with a sense of integrity, ends up making four vows to his teacher that ultimately wreak havoc in his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kaanchi (2014)
Kaanchi movie is a musical thriller with a love story. It is a story of the inner power of a woman who represents millions of suppressed youth against unjust in the country. It is also the story of an innocent rural beauty and her fight against power.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Titli (2015)
A young man in Delhi tries to break free from his controlling, criminal brothers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLili Marleen (1981)
The story of a German singer named Willie, who while working in Switzerland, falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert, whose family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Robert’s family is skeptical of Willie, thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing the song “Lili Marleen”.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Tezaab?
The closest matches to Tezaab are The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), Cleveland Abduction (2015) and The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Tezaab?
Start with The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), the closest match to Tezaab.
What is the highest-rated movie like Tezaab?
Dancer in the Dark (2000), rated 7.8/10 by 2,109 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Tezaab?
Better Man (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like Tezaab?
Yes: Madaari (2016), Dhoom 2 (2006) and The Last Matinee Show (2021).
How are movies similar to Tezaab chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Tezaab, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.