Indian cinema has a Diwali movie problem. We have had big-ticket releases around the festive weekend, and enough box-office dhamaka. Shah Rukh Khan used to be the Diwali opener, just like Eid was for Salman Khan. But what we haven’t really had is a Diwali movie.
The West has practically built an entire cinematic tradition around Christmas. Hallmark movies set in snowy towns range from family dramas and romantic comedies to stories about finding love, rediscovering oneself and making peace with one’s past. Holiday movies are now a genre of their own and a very lucrative one, too.
They have a certain warmth to them, a comfort that makes you, even sitting in Delhi, want to curl up on a couch with a hot chocolate and pretend that all of life’s problems can be solved with a little snow, festive spirit, some Christmas lights and a grand romantic confession.
I am one of those people who begins December with Christmas movies. It’s a tradition. The Holiday (2006), Love Actually (2003), and Home Alone (1990) are just some of the classics, and a must-watch on most Christmas movie lists. I rewatch them shamelessly, and I don’t care if I know exactly how the story ends. The joy is in the ritual. There is something comforting about having films that become part of how you celebrate a festival.
But why don’t we have that with Diwali?
Movie magic
India has had films with family gatherings, elaborate weddings, colourful outfits, extravagant sets and enough firecrackers.
But where are the stories that actually capture the feeling of the country’s biggest festival?
The chaos of family coming together, the arguments over dinner, the awkward relatives, you have avoided all year, the excitement of decorating the house, and the occasional emotional confrontation in dysfunctional families that can ruin everyone’s evening.
Yet, this year, it looks like that is beginning to change. Not the crazy families, drama, or even the pollution, but all that is starting to make its way to the television screen.
Netflix’s Greater Kalesh (2025) and then this year, Meethe Mein Kya Hai and Dilwali Diwali feel like a step in that direction.
Greater Kalesh was about returning home for a holiday, and a slowly building tension around a family secret. It was a bit weak. But it was the start of a genre.
The premise of Meethe Mein Kya Hai is the stuff of Christmas movie plots. A family reunites at their grandmother’s house in Lucknow to celebrate Diwali, only to find themselves confronting unresolved emotions.
Typical Hollywood holiday movies have never really been about a groundbreaking plot. The festival is often a narrative device that brings people together, forces them to confront their problems and gives them a reason to believe in happy endings. We could do with our own version of that storytelling. And these stories don’t need to be grand. In fact, they probably shouldn’t be.
The feel-good factor and “family is everything” are key. That’s all. Or as Karan Johar put it: “It’s all about loving your family.”
The same goes for any number of Sooraj Barjatya films; they just need a few fairy lights and a sprinkle of Diwali scenes added to the existing plot lines. After all, the enduring Christmas movie over generations in the US is It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).
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Drama, dhamaka and Diwali
Of course, there is a danger of making these films too sugary. We don’t need every family disagreement resolved over a box of laddoos.
Families are complicated, and sometimes the best you can hope for is that everyone leaves the dinner table without starting another argument. But perhaps that is the point of feel-good cinema. It isn’t necessarily meant to reflect reality. It gives us a version of it that we can escape into for a couple of hours.
Indian filmmakers and streaming platforms should take this genre seriously.
Give us Diwali films that we can return to every year, films that become as much a part of the festival as parties, cards, gifts and eating a bit too many sweets.
Not every festive release needs to be a superstar vehicle or a box-office battle. Sometimes, all we need is a good story, a little family drama, maybe some romance and a happy ending.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)