As the year comes to an end, I find myself calculating how many hours I spent watching what I consider to be the best Bollywood movies of 2023. I think of the time I watched Jawan thrice in the cinema, cried to “Khufiya” in my bedroom, and revisited my classic Bollywood song playlist after seeing Rocky aur Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.
2023 was the year many deemed as the comeback of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan made his long-awaited comeback; Karan Johar brought back the grand sets and colourful saris of the ’90s; Kareena Kapoor ushered in her self-admitted Kate Winslet era with two gritty women-led thrillers. As we welcome 2024, Vogue rounds up the best Bollywood movies of 2023 that made an impression on cinephiles.
Pathaan
After a five-year-long hiatus, Shah Rukh Khan made his much-anticipated return to the silver screen with action thriller Pathaan. Revolving around the 2019 revocation of Article 370, the film sees a cancer-ridden Pakistani general catapulted into a vendetta against India. Enter Pathaan (Shah Rukh Khan), the RAW agent extraordinaire, who, along with Major Nandini Grewal (Deepika Padukone), forms the J.O.C.R. unit. This globetrotting thriller unfolds like a spy-themed treasure hunt from Dubai to Spain and Moscow to Siberia. It’s got ex-agents, secret codewords and a mutated smallpox virus named Raktbeej—but that’s not all. Brace yourself for a cameo from another famous Khan. Who said international espionage can’t be a masala entertainer?
Streaming on Prime Video
