After a long week of work or expanding your business, taking care of your entire family, or slogging from one meeting to another, you want a nice, quiet weekend night in with your girls. What can make for a better weekend evening with your gals, than a feel good movie and a bucket of butter popcorn or some ice cream, right? Add to that, movie by female directors, who truly know how to capture different moods and emotions of women and present them so beautifully.
Here are 7 feel good movies by women directors from Bollywood that are just prefect for your girls-night in.
1. Dil Dhadakne Do by Zoya Akhtar
Seeing a family come together, old lovers united, and flamboyant songs are all quintessential Bollywood. But when it’s added with a luxury cruise, and narration by the family dog (who is voiced by Aamir Khan), it will make for a perfect addition to any night. Kamal (Anil Kapoor) and Neelam (Shefali Shah) celebrate their 30th anniversary on a cruise and invite all their friends and family. But little did they know their carefully curated images would crumble only to bring everyone closer than ever. Starring Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, and Farhan Akhtar, this movie will leave you feeling wholesome and light-hearted.
2. English Vinglish by Gauri Shinde
If you’ve been feeling like you need a boost of confidence, English Vinglish is just the one for you. Shashi (Sridevi) who is a housewife is looked down upon by her husband and kids for not knowing the English language. When Shashi is invited to America for her niece’s wedding, she only feels anxiety. But her niece and sister slowly build her up and Shashi decides to take language tuitions. Throughout the movie, by doing something that no one thought she could, she finds a new, more confident side of herself.
3. Nil Battey Sannata by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Looking for feel good movies with message that you can always change your life around anytime? This one should be on your watchlist. Chanda (Swara Bhaskar) is a maid by profession, and a mother with big hopes for her daughter Apeksha (Riya Shukla). But her daughter doesn’t think her mother’s meager salary will amount to anything so she never puts in any effort in school. So, Chanda, who never got a chance to complete her own education, decides to go back to school. Her daughter’s school. With her employer Dr. Diwan (Ratna Pathak Shah) as her guiding force, things soon start changing for the better. How does it end? Well, you’ll have to find that out for yourself.
4. Sharmaji Ki Beti by Tahira Kashyap Khurrana
Following the lives of 3 different women from different walks of life who share the ‘Sharma’ surname. Sharmaji Ki Beti deals with challenges faced by the modern Indian woman. The mother-duo of Jyoti (Sakshi Tanwar) and Swati (Vanshika Taparia), the tomboy cricketer Tanvi (Saiyami Kher), and the housewife Kiran (Divya Dutta) all meet their challenges head on, bear the losses, and come out stronger. Touching the themes like problems faced by working-women, the idea of traditional femininity, co-dependence and even homosexuality, this movie is an all rounder with different versions of happy endings.
5. Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. by Reema Tyagi
A storyline with marriage always makes for a fun experience when the opposites meet and people fall in love with each other even more. Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd is about 6 different newly-married couples on their honeymoon to Goa. With a big cast of actors like Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi, Abhay Deol, Dia Mirza, Ameesha Patel and more, each scene is brimming with comedic and relatable moments. But when the limitations of society loosen up during the course of 4 days, these 6 couples will discover newer sides to their spouses and will learn the true essence of being married.
6. Qarib Qarib Single by Tanuja Chandra
We continue to follow the theme of romance in this next feel good movie. Qarib Qarib Single is about the meeting of two polar opposites and finding a sense of belonging in each other. Well, accidentally, because on their third date, Yogi (Irrfan Khan) asks Jaya (Parvathy Thiruvothu) to come on a trip to meet all his ex-girlfriends to see if they’ve moved on. Will a romance born out of a dating app, between a middle-aged poet and a divorced insurance lawyer, who is constantly probed by her friends for her absence of sex-life, beat all odds and find a happy ending?
7. Laapataa Ladies by Kiran Rao
Speaking of feel good movies by women directors from Bollywood, how can we skip India’s official entry to Oscars Awards 2024! What would happen if your bride got swapped with someone else’s? The story of this social commentary with elements of feel good is set in the times when there were no cell phones, and any education for the women was still a unicorn concept. Phool (Nitanshi Goel) and Pushpa (Pratibha Ranta) are the brides who exchange places, all because of their similar attire and a ghunghat covering their faces. This film follows the dips and cracks in the society that is so focused on genders and how it affects both the women and men that are forced to be a part of it. But it does it while brimming with satire and situational comedy.
Only 1 in 10 film directors is a woman. And yet, they’ve brought some of the most brilliant, wholesome, and fun movies to the audience. With this list of feel good movies, you’ll not only have a great time, you’ll be supporting the women directors responsible for it too!
Also Read: 9 Mature Bollywood romantic movies for a family-friendly night
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