The 20 Greatest Hindi Movies of All Time

The Hindi film industry, often known as Bollywood, has delivered some cinematic masterpieces over the decades. The greatest Hindi movies of all time include classics like Sholay, known for its action-packed storytelling, and Mughal-e-Azam, celebrated for its grandeur and emotion. Indian films like 3 Idiots and Lagaan show how good modern Indian stories can be by combining fun with important social messages. These classic films are still popular with audiences, showing how diverse and lively Indian cinema is.

Here is the list of 20 Greatest Hindi Movies of All Time:

1. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

Year: 2001
Runtime: 3h 44m
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Star Cast: Aamir Khan, Raghubir Yadav, Gracy Singh
Watch Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India movie: Netflix

Plot: People in a small village in India in the 1800s bet their future on a game of cricket against their cruel British rulers.

2. Gangs of Wasseypur

Year: 2012
Runtime: 2h 40m
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Star Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tigmanshu Dhulia
Watch Gangs of Wasseypur movie: jio cinema

Plot: Sultan and Shahid Khan get into a fight that sends Khan out of Wasseypur and starts a deadly blood feud that lasts for three generations.

3. Rang De Basanti

Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h 47m
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Star Cast: Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Siddharth
Watch Rang De Basanti movie: Netflix, Amazon prime, YouTube

Plot: Six young Indians help an English woman make a documentary about the freedom fighters from their own history. What happens to them makes them remember the long-forgotten story of freedom.

4. Mughal-E-Azam

Year: 1960
Runtime: 3h 17m
Director: K. Asif
Star Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Madhubala, Dilip Kumar
Watch Rang De Basanti movie: Zee5

Plot: A 16th century prince falls in love with a court dancer and battles with his emperor father.

5. Sparsh

Year: 1980
Runtime: 2h 25m
Director: Sai Paranjpye
Star Cast: Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Sudha Chopra
Watch Sparsh movie: Amazon prime

Plot: Even though Anirudh Parmar is blind, he doesn’t let that stop him. He is in charge of a school for the blind. Kavita is a social worker who he meets with. He’s interested in Kavita, and she’s interested in him too. When the idea of marriage comes up, both people agree to get married. Then Anirudh starts to wonder if this marriage is really going to work.

6. Koshish

Year: 1972
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: Gulzar
Star Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bachchan, Govardhan Asrani
Watch Koshish movie: Sony Liv

Plot: A speech and hearing-impaired couple persists through unforgiving obstacles to be accepted by society and live a life of dignity.

7. 3Idiots

Year: 2009
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Star Cast: Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Mona Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi
Watch 3 Idiots movie: YouTube

Plot: Two friends have been looking for a long-lost friend. When they think back to college, they remember the friend who made them think outside the box, even though everyone else thought they were crazy.

8. Sardar Udham

Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 44m
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Star Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Shaun Scott, Stephen Hogan
Watch Sardar Udham movie: Amazon prime

Plot: A biopic about the 20 years that Udham Singh, a Punjabi Sikh revolutionary, planned to kill the man who was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

9. Swades

Year: 2004
Runtime: 3h 9m
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Star Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Ballal
Watch Swades movie: Netflix

Plot: An accomplished Indian scientist goes back to his home village to bring his nanny to the United States with him. While there, he learns about his roots again.

10. Taare Zameen Par

Year: 2007
Runtime: 2h 42m
Director: Aamir Khan, Amole Gupte
Star Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra
Watch Taare Zameen Par movie: disney+ Hotsar

Plot: People think a young boy is just a lazy jerk until his new art teacher has the patience and kindness to figure out the real reason he is having trouble in school.

11. Pyaasa

Year: 1957
Runtime: 2h 26m
Director: Guru Dutt
Star Cast: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Mala Sinha
Watch Pyaasa movie: Amazon prime

Plot: In this selfish world, Vijay, a talented but poor poet, struggles to find love and attention.

12. Shershah

Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 15m
Director: Vishnuvardhan
Star Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Kiara Advani, Shiv Panditt
Watch Shershah movie: Amazon prime

Plot: The movie Shershaah is about an Indian soldier named Capt. Vikram Batra who won the PVC award for his bravery and unwavering courage in driving Pakistani soldiers out of Indian territory. This was a huge part of India’s victory in the Kargil War in 1999.

13. Anand

Year: 1971
Runtime: 2h 2m
Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Star Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal
Watch Anand movie: Amazon Prime

Plot: The story of a man who is dying and wants to enjoy life to the fullest before it ends, told by his best friend.

14. A Wednesday

Year: 2008
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Star Cast: Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Virendra Saxena
Watch A Wednesday movie: 

Plot: A police officer who is leaving his job talks about the most amazing day of his career. About a case that was never filed but keeps coming back to him: the case of a man and a Wednesday.

15. Shatranj Ke Khiladi

Year: 1977
Runtime: 2h 9m
Director: Satyajit Ray
Star Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi
Watch Shatranj Ke Khiladi movie: Netflix

Plot: In 1856, two chess-obsessed noblemen don’t pay attention to anything else while they play and don’t notice that British rule has spread to their Indian province.

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16. Guide

Year: 1956
Runtime: 3h 3m
Director: Vijay AnandStars
Star Cast: Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Leela Chitnis
Watch Guide movie: YouTube

Plot: Some villagers think an ex-tour guide is a wise old man, so he thinks about his past and the love he lost to find spiritual wisdom to help them.

17. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Year: 2013
Runtime: 3h 6m
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Star Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Kousi Orfahli, Deepak Singh Rawat
Watch Bhaag Milkha Bhaag movie: Disney+ Hotsar

Plot: The truth about Milkha Singh’s rise to power, who was hurt by the partition of India and Pakistan.

18. Dangal

Year: 2016
Runtime: 2h 41m
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Star Cast: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra
Watch Dangal movie: Amazon Prime

Plot: Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler, decides to train his daughters for the Commonwealth Games, even though it is socially unacceptable, so he can reach his goal of winning a gold medal for his country.

19. Udaan

Year: 2010
Runtime: 2h 14m
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Star Cast: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Manjot Singh
Watch Udaan movie: Amazon prime

Plot: Six young Indians help an English woman make a documentary about the freedom fighters from their own history. What happens to them makes them remember the long-forgotten story of freedom.

20. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro

Year: 1983
Runtime: 2h 12m
Director: Kundan Shah
Star Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Bhakti Barve
Watch Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro movie: Jio Cinema

Plot: Two photographers are hired by a magazine editor to show how the rich get away with scandalous things. They find corruption by a builder and take pictures of a murder by accident.

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