| # | Film | Language | Where to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cinema Bandi (2021) | Telugu | Netflix |
| 2 | Luck by Chance (2009) | Hindi | — |
| 3 | Jigarthanda (2014) | Tamil | — |
| 4 | One Cut of the Dead (2017) | Japanese | — |
| 5 | Superboys of Malegaon (2025) | Hindi | Prime Video |
| 6 | The Fabelmans (2022) | English | — |
| 7 | Singin' in the Rain (1952) | English | — |
I have a soft spot for films that peek behind the camera. This list is my favourite mix of Indian and world stories about the people who make movies, from big studios to a phone in a village.
These are not films about the film business as gossip; they are love letters to the craft, the chaos and the stubborn dream of putting a story on a screen. If you have ever watched a behind-the-scenes featurette and wished it had a plot, this watchlist is for you.
Cinema Bandi (2021)
Cinema Bandi follows an autorickshaw driver in a Telangana village who finds a broken camera and decides to make a film with his neighbours. It belongs on this list because it finds magic in that broken camera and in a village that just wants to see itself on screen. Watching it feels like a warm, lo-fi hug: it celebrates small budgets, big egos and the pure joy of being seen. The comedy comes from real affection, not mockery, and every frame carries the scent of the soil.
Luck by Chance (2009)
Luck by Chance is the rare Bollywood film that takes us inside auditions, casting compromises, star tantrums and fragile friendships without losing its affection for the dreamers. It belongs here because it shows the machinery behind the stardust while keeping a straight face and an open heart. Watching it feels like eavesdropping on the film industry’s unglamorous waiting rooms. The film understands how small the gap is between got a break and got lost.
Jigarthanda (2014)
Jigarthanda pairs a wannabe filmmaker with a gangster and lets each of them push the other into stranger territory. It belongs on this list because the film-within-a-film keeps shifting what you think you are watching: a crime film, a making-of joke, a meditation on whether cinema transforms people or just borrows their pain. Watching it feels like sitting in a dark editor’s room where the reels keep changing. It is clever, violent, funny and unexpectedly tender about the stories we steal.
One Cut of the Dead (2017)
One Cut of the Dead is a Japanese zombie comedy that I refuse to describe in detail because the less said, the better. It belongs here as a giddy testament to why anyone tries to make a movie at all. Watching it feels like a magic trick that starts as a rough home video and ends with a lump in your throat. Go in completely cold, trust the film, and stay past the point where you think you have it figured out.
Superboys of Malegaon (2025)
Superboys of Malegaon is based on real friends in Malegaon who made their own films with no money and big imagination. It belongs on this watchlist because it treats those homemade productions as genuine cinema, not as a joke about small towns. Watching it feels like a crowd of friends cheering for a projector that may not work. The film lands each emotional beat without mockery, and it reminded me that film-fever is not limited to people with filmi surnames.
The Fabelmans (2022)
The Fabelmans turns Steven Spielberg’s childhood into a tender, awkward origin story about the first time a movie felt like a superpower. It belongs here because it is the most personal film from one of cinema’s great showmen, and it treats the family camera as both a shield and a weapon. Watching it feels like opening an old photo album and finding a magic lantern inside. It captures how much of filmmaking is watching, framing and trying to control what you cannot.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Singin’ in the Rain is the classic that makes the chaos of early talkies feel like pure joy. It belongs on this list because it turns a technical crisis—sound arriving in Hollywood—into one of the most purely entertaining musicals ever made. Watching it feels like splashing through a puddle and hitting every dance step. This is the one I save for anyone who asks why movies matter.
That is my seven. Some are loud, some are small, all of them are about the beautiful mess of putting a camera in front of something and hoping the audience feels it. Tell me which film about making films you would add—I am always looking for another excuse to sit in the dark.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
