Films about poverty in India

2008 film directed by Danny Boyle

2009 film directed by Rajkumar Hirani

1955 film by Satyajit Ray

1957 film directed by Mehboob Khan

thumb|x150px|thumbtime=2:10:03|Awaara (1951) Awaara, also written Awāra and known overseas as The Vagabond, is a 1951 Indian crime drama film, produced and directed by Raj Kapoor, and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and V.P. Sathe. It stars Raj Kapoor along with his real-life father Prithviraj Kapoor, as well as Nargis, Leela Chitnis and K. N. Singh. Other members of the Kapoor family make an appearance, including Raj's youngest brother Shashi Kapoor, who plays the younger version of his character, and Prithiviraj's father Dewan Basheshwarnath Singh Kapoor, playing a cameo in his only film appea

1988 film by Mira Nair

Aparajito ( ; The Unvanquished) is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, and is the second part of The Apu Trilogy. It is an adaptation of the last part of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee's novel Pather Panchali and the first part of his followup novel Aparajito. The film starts off where the previous film Pather Panchali (1955) ended, with Apu's family moving to Varanasi, and chronicles Apu's life from childhood to adolescence in college.

1959 film by Satyajit Ray

Deewaar ( The Wall) is a 1975 Indian action crime film directed by Yash Chopra, from a story by Salim–Javed. The film stars Shashi Kapoor, and Amitabh Bachchan alongside an ensemble cast of Neetu Singh, Nirupa Roy, Parveen Babi, Iftekhar, Madan Puri, Satyen Kappu and Manmohan Krishna. The music was composed by R. D. Burman, while cinematography and editing were handled by Kay Gee Koregaonkar and T. R. Mangeshkar-Pran Mehra. In the film, two impoverished brothers struggle to survive in the slums of Mumbai and eventually find themselves on opposing sides of the law. The film's title signifies th

2024 film by Nag Ashwin

1953 Indian Hindi film directed by Bimal Roy

2007 Tamil film directed by S. Shankar

1970 film by Raj Kapoor

1954 Indian film

1946 film by Chetan Anand

2010 film directed by Kiran Rao

1992 film directed by Roland Joffé

Sairat () is a 2016 Indian Marathi-language social romantic tragedy film directed and co-produced by Nagraj Manjule under his banner Aatpat Production, along with Nittin Keni and Nikhil Sane under Essel Vision Productions and Zee Studios. Starring Rinku Rajguru and Akash Thosar in their debuts, it tells the story of two young college students from different castes who fall in love, sparking conflict between their families.

Rudaali (pronounced "roo-dah-lee"; ) is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Kalpana Lajmi, written by Lajmi and Gulzar and based on a 1979 short story of the same name by Bengali author Mahasweta Devi. Set in a small village in Rajasthan, the film stars Dimple Kapadia as Shanichari, a lonely and hardened woman who, despite a lifetime of misfortune and abandonment, is unable to express grief through crying and is challenged with a new job as a professional mourner. Raakhee, Raj Babbar, and Amjad Khan appear in supporting roles. Produced by the National Film Development Corporati

Tumbbad is a 2018 period folk horror film directed by Rahi Anil Barve and Anand Gandhi, and written by Mitesh Shah, Adesh Prasad, Barve, and Anand Gandhi. It stars Sohum Shah in the lead role as Vinayak Rao, and follows the story of his search for a hidden 20th century treasure in the Indian village of Tumbbad, Maharashtra.

Jagriti () is a 1954 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Satyen Bose. A remake of Bose's 1949 Bengali film Paribartan, the film stars Rajkumar Gupta, Abhi Bhattacharya, and Ratan Kumar in the lead roles. The film won the Filmfare Award for Best Film at the 3rd Filmfare Awards in 1956. Bhattacharya received the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his outstanding performance in Jagriti at the same ceremony. Jagriti still considered one of the best children-centric films of India.

1964 film by Satyen Bose

1959 film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

2000 film by Priyadarshan

Khadaan (; ) is a 2024 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film written and directed by Soojit Rino Dutta. Produced by Nispal Singh and Dev under the banners of Surinder Films and Dev Entertainment Ventures respectively, the film stars Dev in dual roles, alongside Jisshu Sengupta in the lead, with an ensemble cast of Anirban Chakrabarti, Barkha Bisht, Idhika Paul, John Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chakraborty, Sneha Bose, Sujan Neel Mukherjee, Sumit Ganguly and Raja Dutta. In the film, an ordinary fair organizer from a coal mine near the Damodar Valley, is recruited by his dead father's li

1960 Indian film by Ritwik Ghatak

Sadgati () is a 1981 Hindi television film directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a short story of same name by Munshi Premchand. Ray called this drama of a poor Dalit "a deeply angry film [...] not the anger of an exploding bomb but of a bow stretched taut and quivering."

Upkar () is a 1967 Indian Hindi film directed by Manoj Kumar. Set in the backdrop of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Upkar celebrates village life and the contributions of farmers and soldiers to India. The film was inspired by Indian prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, who suggested that Kumar make a film based on his motto for India, "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" (). It stars Kumar, Prem Chopra, Asha Parekh, Kamini Kaushal, Pran, and Madan Puri.

2000 Tamil film directed by Kathir

2023 film directed by Rohit Dhawan

2016 film by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Srimanthudu () is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Koratala Siva. The film is produced by Mythri Movie Makers and G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Shruti Haasan, Jagapati Babu and Rajendra Prasad. Sampath Raj, Mukesh Rishi, Sukanya and Harish Uthaman appear in supporting roles. It was distributed globally by Eros International.

2015 Hindi film directed by Ketan Mehta

1940 film by Mehboob Khan

1963 film by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas

1952 Tamil film directed by Krishnan-Panju

1999 film by Murali Nair

Kaththi () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language political action drama film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss. It is produced by Allirajah Subaskaran's Lyca Productions. The film stars Vijay in dual roles alongside Samantha, Neil Nitin Mukesh (in his Tamil debut), Tota Roy Chowdhury, and Sathish. In the film, a petty thief assumes the identity of his lookalike and attempts to lead a rebellion by farmers from the latter's village, Thanoothu, and helps them fight against an entrepreneur who exploited Thanoothu's water resources.

2011 film directed by Gurvinder Singh

2019 film by Vamsi Paidipally

1980 Tamil film directed by K. Balachander

1977 film by Mrinal Sen

1976 Telugu film directed by K. Balachander

1979 Tamil film directed by Durai

1978 film by Raj N. Sippy

1949 Tamil film directed by A. V. Meiyappan

1979 film by Goutam Ghose

1974 Tamil film directed by K. Balachander

Dweepa () is a 2002 Indian Kannada-language film by Girish Kasaravalli, based on the novel of the same name by Na D'Souza. It stars Soundarya, Avinash and M. V. Vasudeva Rao in the lead roles. The novel dealt with the raging issue of building dams and the displacement of natives. The film, however, focuses more on the human interaction between characters and the dam and displacement themes become somewhat secondary. It won two National Film Awards, four Karnataka State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards South.

1990 Tamil film directed by Fazil

Kabita is a 1977 Indian Bengali-language drama film co-written and directed by Bharat Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana. Produced by Krishnamurthy and Govindarajan under the banner of Venus Combines, the film is a remake of Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974) by K. Balachander. It stars Mala Sinha in the titular role, alongside Ranjit Mallick, Sandhya Roy and Kamal Haasan in lead roles, while Mahua Roy Chowdhury, Sulata Chowdhury, Prema Narayan and Bankim Ghosh play another pivotal roles, with Bikash Roy, Anil Chatterjee and Samit Bhanja in special appearances. The film plots Kabita, a working m

1973 Tamil film directed by K. Balachander

Thulabharam () is a 1968 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by A. Vincent. It is based on the Kerala People's Arts Club play of the same name, written by Thoppil Bhasi. Thoppil Bhasi also adapted the play for the screen. The film had an ensemble cast including Prem Nazir, Sharada, Madhu, Sheela, Thikkurisi Sukumaran Nair and Adoor Bhasi. The film won two National Awards. The film was a major blockbuster and following the Malayalam version, the film was made in Tamil (Thulabharam), Telugu (Manushulu Marali) and Hindi (Samaj Ko Badal Dalo), with Sharada playing lead roles in all versions.

2018 film by Abhimanyu Mukherjee

Kuberaa is a 2025 Indian action drama film directed by Sekhar Kammula, who co-wrote the screenplay with Chaithanya Pingali. Produced by Sree Venkateswara Cinemas LLP and Amigos Creations, the film was simultaneously shot in Telugu and Tamil. It stars Dhanush, Nagarjuna, Rashmika Mandanna and Jim Sarbh.

1974 Indian film by Manmohan Desai

1936 Tamil film directed by Ellis R. Dungan

2000 film

2004 Tamil film directed by Radha Mohan

2012 film