Bollywood often makes films based on true stories and events. This is a trend that has become very popular recently and is even resonating with the masses. Most of the new films are written while many Bollywood movies are inspired by famous themes or books. With that in mind, you can also find some movies based on real events each year.
Therefore, few directors take the risk and try to present these real events on the screen to give the audience a clear picture. Even though movies are made for fun, such reality-based movies inspire us. Check out the latest list of Bollywood movies based on true stories.
List of the Bollywood Movies Based on True Stories
In this post, we are going to share a list of the best Bollywood movies based on true stories. These are some interesting films that you should watch with your family or loved ones.
- Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019)
- Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015)
- Neerja (2016)
- Poorna (2017)
- Talvar (2015)
- Batla House (2019)
- No One Killed Jessica (2011)
- M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016)
- Paan Singh Tomar (2012)
- Super 30 (2019)
- Mary Kom (2014)
- Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)
- Special 26 (2013)
- Madras Cafe (2013)
- Shahid (2013)
- Dangal (2016)
- Pad Man (2018)
- Chhapaak (2020)
#1. Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019)
Rating: 6.4/10 IMDb
Genre: Action, Drama, Biography
Available on: Netflix
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi is an Indian Hindi language drama movie that is based on the life of the Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. It was released on 25th January 2019. The story revolves around Rani Lakshmi Bai who fought with the British army to save her Jhansi.
Directed by: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Written by: Himanshu Tripathi, Vijayendra Prasad, Prasoon Joshi
Produced by: Kamal Jain, Zee Studios
Cast: Ankita Lokhande, Mohammed Zeeshan, Kangana Ranaut, Ayyub
#2. Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015)
Rating: 8.0/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Biography
Available on: YouTube
Manjhi: The Mountain Man is one of the best Bollywood movies based on true stories. It is an Indian Hindi language biographical movie that was based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi. He is also known as the Mountain Man who is a poor laborer in the village of Gehlaur, near Gaya in Bihar, India who carved a road 9.1 meters wide and 110 meters long and a height of 7.6 meters using only a hammer and chisel.
Directed by: Ketan Mehta
Written by: Mahendra Jhakar, Anjum Rajabali, Shahzad Ahemad, Ketan Mehta, Varadraj Swami.
Produced by: Deepa Sahi, Bilal Khan
Cast: Radhika Apte, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Urmila Mahanta, Gaurav Dwivedi
#3. Neerja (2016)
Rating: 7.6/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Biography
Available on: Disney+ Hotstar
Neerja is an Indian Hindi language biographical thriller film. It is one off the best Bollywood movies based on true stories of the brave Neerja Bhanot who sacrificed her life while defending the lives of 359 passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 when it was hijacked by a terrorist organization in 1986. This movie won the Best Film award at the International Indian Film academy in 2017.
Directed by: Ram Madhvani
Written by: Saiwyn Quadras, Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh
Produced by: Shanti Sivaram Maini, Atul Kasbekar
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Abrer Zahoor.
#4. Poorna (2017)
Rating: 7.7/10 IMDb
Genre: Action, Biography, Adventure
Available on: Amazon Prime Video
Poorna is an Indian Hindi language biographical adventure movie that was released on 31st May 2017. This is another Bollywood movies based on true stories. The story starts with a girl named Adivasi, who is a 13-year-old from Telangana and becomes the youngest girl in history to climb Everest. This movie won the FOI Online awards in 2017.
Directed by: Rahul Bose
Written by: Shreya Dev Verma, Prashant Pandey
Produced by: Rahul Bose, Amit Patni
Cast: Harsha Vardhan, Aditi Inamdar, Rahul Bose, S. Maria.
#5. Talvar (2015)
Rating: 8.1/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery
Available on: Netflix
Talvar is an Indian movies based on true stories. The story is based on the 2008 double murder case of Noida involving a young girl and her family servant. It is an Indian Hindi language thriller drama movie that was released on 2nd October 2015. This movie won the International Indian film academy in 2016.
Directed by: Meghna Gulzar
Written by: Vishal Bhardwaj
Produced by: Vishal Bhardwaj, Vineet Jain
Cast: Neeraj Kabi, Shishir Sharma, Konkona Sen Sharma, Atul Kumar, Late Irrfan Khan,
#6. Batla House (2019)
Rating: 7.2/10 IMDb
Genre: Action, Drama, Crime
Available on: Amazon Prime Video
Batla House is among the true storybased Bollywood movies. It is an Indian Hindi language action thriller movie that was released on 15th August 2019. The movie follows the encounter and then Sanjeev’s struggle to apprehend the fugitives and prove the authenticity of the encounter while dealing with national hatred and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Directed by: Nikkhil Advani
Written by: Ritesh Shah
Produced by: Krishna Kumar, Bhushan Kumar, John Abraham, Monisha Advani, Divya Khosla Kumar, Sandeep Layzell
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Ravi Kishan, John Abraham.
#7. No One Killed Jessica (2011)
Rating: 7.2/10 IMDb
Genre: Crime, Drama, Biography
Available on: Netflix
No One Killed Jessica is an Indian movies based on true stories of Jessica Lal’s murder case that was released on 7th January 2011. The movie is based on a bartender who dies after being shot by the politician’s son and her sister struggles to find justice for his death.
Directed by: Raj Kumar Gupta
Written by: Raj Kumar Gupta
Produced by: Ronnie Screwvala
Cast: Rajesh Sharma, Vidya Balan, Neil Bhoopalam, Rani Mukerji, Myra Karn
#8. M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016)
Rating: 7.9/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Sport, Biography
Available on: Disney+ Hotstar
M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story is a Bollywood movies based on true stories of former ODI, Test, and T20I captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The untold story of Mahendra Singh Doni’s journey from ticket collector to trophy collector – captain of India Cricket World Cup team. It is an Indian Hindi language biographical sports drama movie that aired on 30th September 2016.
Directed by: Neeraj Pandey
Written by: Mohinder Pratap Singh, Dilip Jha, Neeraj Pandey, Shyam Maheshwari
Produced by: Fox Star Studios, Arun Pandey
Cast: Kiara Advani, Disha Patani, Sushant Singh Rajput, Anupam Kher, Bhoomika Chawla.
#9. Paan Singh Tomar (2012)
Rating: 8.2/10 IMDb
Genre: Crime, Action, Biography
Available on: Netflix
Paan Singh Tomar is a true story based Bollywood movies that was released on 2nd March 2012. It is an Indian Hindi language biographical movie that is based on an Indian athlete and seven-time National Steeplechase Champion who has become one of the most fearsome Dacoits of Chambal Valley since retiring.
Directed by: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Written by: Sanjay Chauhan, Tigmanshu Dhulia
Produced by: Ronnie Screwvala
Cast: Vipin Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mahie Gill.
#10. Super 30 (2019)
Rating: 7.9/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Biography
Available on: Disney+ Hotstar
Super 30 is among the Bollywood movies based on true stories of Mathematics educator and teacher Anand Kumar and his educational program. It is an Indian Hindi language biographical drama movie that was released on 12th July 2019.
Directed by: Vikas Bahi
Written by: Sanjeev Dutta
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, and Phantom Films.
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Pankaj Tripathi, Hrithik Roshan, Amit Sadh, Nandish Sindu, Aditya Srivastava.
#11. Mary Kom (2014)
Rating: 6.8/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Biography, Action
Available on: YouTube
Mary Kom is an Indian Hindi language biographical sports movie that was released on 5th September 2014. It is among the Bollywood movies based on true stories of Indian boxer Mary Kom, who goes through several hardships to fulfill her biggest dream. This movie received many awards such as the International Indian Film Academy (2015), National Film Awards (2015), and more.
Directed by: Omung Kumar
Written by: Saiwyn Quadras, Karan Singh Rathore
Produced by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Cast: Sunil Thapa, Priyanka Chopra, Robin Das, Darshan Kumar.
#12. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)
Rating: 8.2/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Sport, Biography
Available on: Disney+ Hotstar
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is another true story based Bollywood movies that was released on 12th July 2013. It is an Indian Hindi language biographical sports drama movie that is based on the life of Milkha Singh. This movie got many awards such as International Film Academy (2014), Apsara Film Producers Guild Awards (2014), Big Star Entertainment Awards (2013), Filmfare Awards (2014), and many more.
Directed by: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Written by: Prasoon Joshi
Produced by: Raghav Bahi, Rajiv Tandon, P.S.Bharathi, Sudhanshu Vats, Maitrayee Dasgupta.
Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Meesha Shafi, Farhan Akhtar, Divya Dutta.
#13. Special 26 (2013)
Rating: 8.0/10 IMDb
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Drama
Available on: YouTube
Special 26 is among the Bollywood movies based on true stories. It is based on an opera heist in 1987, when a group disguised as CBI agents launched a tax raid on a jewelry shop in Bombay (now Mumbai). The film premiered on 8th February 2013.
Directed by: Neeraj Pandey
Written by: Neeraj Pandey
Produced by: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Shital Bhatia.
Cast: Divya Dutta, Kajal Agarwal, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee, Kishor Kadam, Jimmy Sheirgill.
#14. Madras Cafe (2013)
Rating: 7.6/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Action, Thriller
Available on: YouTube
Madras Cafe is an Indian Hindi language political action thriller movie that was released on 23rd August 2013. This is a Bollywood movie inspired by the true stories of the late 1980s and early 1990s of the last century, during India’s intervention in the civil war in Sri Lanka and the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The movie is about a special officer in the Indian Army who is appointed head of covert operations in Jaffna by intelligence agency R&AW shortly after the forced withdrawal of Indian peace-keepers. This is a real story based movie in the Bollywood industry.
Directed by: Shoojit Sircar
Written by: Shubhendu Bhattacharya, Somanath Dey
Produced by: Sheel Kumar, John Abraham, Ronnie Lahiri, Sudhanshu Vats.
Cast: Siddharth Basu, John Abraham, Prakash Belawadi, Nargis Fekhri.
#15. Shahid (2013)
Rating: 8.2/10 IMDb
Genre: Biography, Drama
Available on: YouTube
Shahid is an Indian movies based on true stories of the life of human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi who was assassinated in 2010. The movie got many awards such as Apsara Film Producers Guild Awards (2014), Bombay International Film Award (2012) and more.
Directed by: Hansal Mehta
Written by: Apurva Asrani, Sameer Gautam Singh
Produced by: Sunil Bohra, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Anurag Kashyap, Ronnie Screwvala.
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Rajkummar Rao, Prabhleen Sandhu, Tigmanshu Dhulia.
#16. Dangal (2016)
Rating: 8.3/10 IMDb
Genre: Drama, Biography, Action
Available on: Netflix
Dangal is another Bollywood movie inspired by the true stories of the former wrestler Mahavir Singh Fogat and his two wrestling daughters battle it out for victory at the British Community Games amid public repression.
Directed by: Nitesh Tiwari
Written by: Piyush Gupta, Nikhil Meharotra, Nitesh Tiwari, Shreyas Jain
Produced by: Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Cast: Zaira Wasim, Sanya Malhotra, Sakhi Tanwar, Aamir Khan.
#17. Pad Man (2018)
Rating: 7.9/10 IMDb
Genre: Comedy, Biography, Drama
Available on: Netflix
Pad Man is another Bollywood movie inspired by the true stories of the life of social activist Arunachalam Muruganantham from Tamil Nadu. The story is based on sanitary napkins. After realizing how badly women were affected by their menstrual periods, a man started building a sanitary napkin machine and supplying cheap sanitary napkins to women in rural India.
Directed by: R. Balki
Written by: Swanand Kirkire, R. Balki
Produced by: SPE Films India, Twinkle Khanna
Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Radhika Apte.
#18. Chhapaak (2020)
Rating: 5.3/10 IMDb
Genre: Biography, Drama
Available on: Disney+ Hotstar
Chhapaak is one of the best true story-based Bollywood movies that aired on 10th January 2020. It is an Indian Hindi language drama movie that revolves around the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
Directed by: Meghna Gulzar
Written by: Meghna Gulzar, Atika Chohan
Produced by: Govind Singh Sandhu, Fox. Star Studios, Meghna Gulzar
Cast: Vikrant Massey, Deepika Padukone
Conclusion
There are various Bollywood movies inspired by the true stories. In the above section, we have listed the top 18 best Bollywood movies based on true stories that you must watch.
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