Family-Friendly Indian Movies — Feel-Good Films the Whole Family Can Watch

Indian cinema has a particular gift for family films — movies that work equally for a nine-year-old, a teenager and a parent in the same living room. These are not children's movies exactly; they are films with enough emotional intelligence that the whole household stays put. 3 Idiots, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, remains the gold standard — a coming-of-age college drama that has been rewatched, re-quoted and re-referenced more than any film of the last twenty years. Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan's directorial debut, is a dyslexia drama that has introduced entire classrooms of parents to the idea that kids do not always learn the same way. Dangal, also Aamir, is a wrestling biopic built around the Phogat sisters that crossed 2000 crore worldwide and made teenage girls in every Indian town take up sport. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, directed by Kabir Khan and starring Salman Khan, is a cross-border road movie about a man returning a lost Pakistani girl to her mother — the kind of film that works as action, comedy and weepie simultaneously. Chhichhore by Nitesh Tiwari is a nostalgic college-and-parenting film that gets better with every watch. Queen by Vikas Bahl is a confidence-building solo-travel story that has become a canonical Hindi feminist text. Secret Superstar, Chak De India, Barfi!, Lagaan-era historical dramas like Manjhi: The Mountain Man and Paa, and the Munna Bhai films (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munna Bhai) all belong here. PK is perhaps the most ambitious Hirani film — a God-of-small-town satire dressed up as a buddy comedy. Every film is streamable free in HD on CineFlixo, no signup required.