Movies like Chitralekha (1941)
The best movies like Chitralekha (1941) are Aśoka (2001), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024) and Shout at the Devil (1976). If Chitralekha hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLady Chatterley's Lover (2022)6.7/10 from 556 votes
- NewestBade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024)Released 2024
- In HindiAśoka (2001)Also in Hindi
Aśoka (2001)
A young Prince Asoka works to perfect his skills in battle and also deals with family conflict. During a struggle with one of his step-brothers, his mother urges Asoka to escape to stay alive. While away, Asoka meets Kaurwaki and falls in love, but must use his skills as a warrior to protect her. A dangerous and heartbreaking web of conspiracy follows, which leads Asoka to embrace a Buddhist path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024)
Two elite soldiers with troubled pasts are enlisted for a daring mission when a deadly masked madman threatens India's defenses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShout at the Devil (1976)
During World War One an English adventurer, an American elephant poacher and the latter's attractive young daughter, set out to destroy a German battle-cruiser which is awaiting repairs in an inlet just off Zanzibar. The story is based on a novel by Wilbur Smith, which in turn is very loosely based on events involving the light cruiser SMS Königsberg, which was sunk after taking refuge in Rufigi delta in 1915.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1951)
Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the Bengal river around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last of the Mohicans (1920)
As Alice and Cora Munro attempt to find their father, a British officer in the French and Indian War, they are set upon by French soldiers and their cohorts, Huron tribesmen led by the evil Magua. Fighting to rescue the women are Chingachgook and his son Uncas, the last of the Mohican tribe, and their white ally, the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, known as Hawkeye.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArticle 370 (2024)
Ahead of a major constitutional decision which rendered the Article 370 of the Indian state ineffective, special agent Zooni Haksar is tasked with a secret mission to quell violence in the conflict-ridden region.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrahmāstra Part One: Shiva (2022)
The story of Shiva – a young man on the brink of an epic love, with a girl named Isha. But their world is turned upside down when Shiva learns that he has a mysterious connection to the Brahmāstra... and a great power within him that he doesn’t understand just yet - the power of Fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGadar 2 (2023)
When Tara Singh goes missing during a skirmish and is believed to be captured in Pakistan, his son Jeete sets out to rescue him and enters a labyrinth from which they both must escape at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSam Bahadur (2023)
Based on the life of Sam Manekshaw, who was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBharat (2019)
At the cusp of India's birth as an Independent nation, a family makes an arduous journey to freedom at a cost. A young boy Bharat, makes a promise to his Father that he will keep his family together no matter what.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrishna (2011)
When her father is killed in a road accident, Trishna's family expect her to provide for them. The rich son of an entrepreneur starts to restlessly pursue her affections, but are his intentions as pure as they seem?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe First Grader (2010)
The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBombay Talkies (2013)
One hundred years of Hindi cinema is celebrated in four short stories showcasing the power of film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSahara (1995)
After the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, U.S. Army sergeant Joe Gunn leads his tank into the Sahara desert, in order to evade advancing Rommel's forces and reach Allied lines. Along the way he picks up few Allied soldiers, but soon they are running out of water. They find water at the ancient well, but the well is a goal of an entire German battalion. Despite the impossible odds, Sergeant Gunn decides to defend the well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMorituri (1965)
A German living in India during World War II is blackmailed by the English to impersonate an SS officer on board a cargo ship leaving Japan for Germany carrying a large supply of rubber for tyres. His mission is to disable the scuttling charges so the captain cannot sink the ship if they are stopped by English warships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoudica (2023)
Inspired by events in A.D. 60, Boudica follows the eponymous Celtic warrior who rules the Iceni people alongside her husband Prasutagus. When he dies at the hands of Roman soldiers, Boudica’s kingdom is left without a male heir and the Romans seize her land and property. Driven to the edge of madness and determined to avenge her husband’s death, Boudica rallies the various tribes from the region and wages an epic war against the mighty Roman empire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisLady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlyboys (2006)
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBhowani Junction (1956)
Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuch Ado About Nothing (2011)
Two young lovers, Claudio and Hero, are to be married imminently but the devious scheming of a resentful Prince looks set to thwart the nuptials. Meanwhile, marriage seems inconceivable for reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick whose endless witty sparring threatens to keep them apart forever. Directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s great plays and reminds us all of the failings and triumphs of the human condition in our never ending search for perfect love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIndia 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
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
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
Aaj 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
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
Ho Sakta Hai! (2006)
Mohan is a medical student who lives in the United States. One day, he receives a strange phone call from his grandfather asking him to come back to his native village in India. Once he arrives, he finds out that his brother and sister-in-law have mysteriously disappeared. Moreover, his little cousin Tanaji survived, but is behaving very strangely, he never speaks a word, gets up in the middle of the night, sometimes suddenly turns cold, and mistreats his toys. Mohan tries to solve the mystery, but fails to find a rational explanation for all the creepy things that happen. Everything points in the direction of the caretaker's wife, Parvati, who performs rituals of black magic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Bulundi (1981)
A college professor agrees to teach the son of a gangster and becomes a pawn in a deadly game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Gafla (2006)
Subodh is a man with drive and ambition who sees the booming stock market as his ticket to riches. Although he becomes a successful trader, it's not enough to satisfy his dreams, and in attempting to become a major player in the markets, he finds himself embroiled in an elaborate stock scam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Chitralekha?
The closest matches to Chitralekha are Aśoka (2001), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024) and Shout at the Devil (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Chitralekha?
Start with Aśoka (2001), the closest match to Chitralekha.
What is the highest-rated movie like Chitralekha?
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022), rated 6.7/10 by 556 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Chitralekha?
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like Chitralekha?
Yes: Aśoka (2001), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024) and Article 370 (2024).
How are movies similar to Chitralekha chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Chitralekha, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.