Movies like Biriyaani
If you like "Biriyaani" you are looking for melancholic, intense and art house movies about / with sex worker, feminist, female protagonist, patriarchy, social realism, gender roles and survival themes of Drama genre shot in India.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Biriyaani (2019)
1K
Original name: ബിരിയാണി
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
The movie chronicles the life of Khadeeja, a married muslim woman confined within the four walls of the household, forced to conceal her desires in the name of religious and societal norms. When fate brings her to an abandoned life, she chooses a different way of financially and sexually liberating herself- to be a sex worker; soon to realize that her soul is still dissatisfied. Finding a new way of hope, she decides to give back to the forces that pushed her to live an orphaned life of humiliation and misery.
Style:
melancholic, intense, art house, independent film
Audience:
adult
Plot:
sex worker, feminist, female protagonist, patriarchy, social realism, gender roles, survival, loneliness, village life, women's rights, sex work, sexually liberated, trauma, poverty, redemption, identity crisis, female empowerment, hopes, revenge, slow burn, religion, muslim woman, male full rear nudity, naked woman, female nudity ...
Time:
contemporary
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Biriyaani
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out melancholic, art house, emotional and realistic films with plots about social realism, female protagonist, survival, poverty, resilience, female empowerment and isolation mostly in Drama genres. Some movies like Biriyaani: Jogwa - The Awakening (2009), Tess (2016), The Mourner (1993), Ilayaraja (2019), A Szerencse lányai (1999). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
Suli's life takes a turn after she is forcefully made to serve the local deity because of an ancient tradition. When she meets Tayappa, who shares a similar fate, they find comfort in one another.
Style:
heartbreaking, intense, melancholic
Plot:
oppression, social realism, patriarchy, village life, social injustice, forbidden love, female protagonist, gender roles, tragic romance, resilience, human rights, identity crisis ...
Time:
year 2009
Similarity:
95%
326
Genre: Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
When sex worker Tess falls pregnant, she has to fight to keep her past from swallowing her whole.
Style:
disturbing, suspense, captivating, emotional, independent film ...
Plot:
pregnancy, afrikaans, female protagonist, sex worker, prostitute, motherhood, sex work, unwanted pregnancy, troubled past, changing lives, prostitution, unplanned pregnancy ...
Place:
africa, south africa
Similarity:
81%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
In a small village in Rajasthan, India, a woman named Shanichari was born - so named, as shortly after her birth her father died; & her mother, Peewli, ran away with a rich lover, the owner of a drama company, abandoning her. When Shanichari ...
Style:
melancholic, art house, poignant, bleak, offbeat ...
Plot:
female protagonist, grief, mourning, social realism, village life, poverty, class struggle, motherhood, oppression, resilience, patriarchy, loss ...
Similarity:
77%
446
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 141 min.
Story:
Vanajan hails from a modest household and lives with his ailing father, wife and children. One day, he finds himself at a crossroads when his moneylender makes him an unusual offer.
Style:
emotional, realistic, melancholic, intense, tense
Plot:
loan shark, poverty, family drama, small town, empathy, moral dilemma, survival, working class, sacrifice, slice of life, desperation, intimate ...
Similarity:
73%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland, Hungary
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
A story of a mother who had to change her profession from a teacher to a high class prostitute to make a living.
Style:
emotional, realistic, intense, melancholic, period piece ...
Plot:
prostitution, female protagonist, sacrifice, survival, poverty, mother and daughter, motherhood, social realism, branding iron, moral dilemma, class struggle, resilience ...
Time:
90s
Place:
moscow russia, warsaw poland
Similarity:
70%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Story:
Envisaging a luxurious life, Prameela, a theatre artist, marries a director. But all her dreams are shattered when fate makes her the sole breadwinner of her family.
Style:
emotional
Plot:
survival, marital problem, female protagonist, ambition, resilience, theater, social realism, loneliness, identity crisis, female empowerment, middle class, migration ...
Similarity:
68%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
Amanpreet, a young man from a village in Punjab, is forced to migrate to India’s capital city, New Delhi, for his livelihood. But he is not wired for city life. He yearns for everything he has left behind – his carefree days, his bride-to-be ...
Style:
melancholic, compassionate
Plot:
desperation, migrant worker, culture shock, poverty, humiliation, loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, working class, village life, class conflict, mental breakdown ...
Place:
new delhi
Similarity:
66%
49
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
The conflict felt by a modern Iranian woman as she is forced to choose between her career and the traditional obligations of a housewife are examined in this drama. Until she married Hamed, Zinat worked in a public health clinic in a small Iranian ...
Style:
medical drama
Audience:
adult
Plot:
female protagonist, gender roles, small town, public health, compassion, patriarchy, female empowerment, ethical dilemma, domestic drama, women, family honor, social realism ...
Place:
iran
Similarity:
61%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
A divorced woman leaves Damghan with her child to live and work in Tehran but her ex-husband does everything in his capability to force her to go back.
Style:
emotional, realistic, tense, intense, melancholic ...
Plot:
domestic drama, family drama, divorce, female protagonist, mother child relationship, single mother, custody battle, struggle, patriarchy, social realism, gender roles, independent woman ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
tehran, iran
Similarity:
57%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
A young boy follows his violent and alcoholic father on a quest to find his mother, who has run away from his abuse.
Style:
road movie, intense, bleak, indie film, melancholic ...
Plot:
father son relationship, village, family drama, domestic abuse, village life, social realism, realism, journey, alcoholism, minimalism, poverty, child protagonist ...
Place:
india
Similarity:
54%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story:
Eight women wake up every morning, get dressed, eat, put on make-up, do their hair, dress up and get ready for a grueling, demeaning night of work. They're the staff at a brothel outside a major American city, serving the spoiled, rich, ...
Style:
bleak, melancholic, art house
Plot:
brothel, women, prostitution, exploitation, sex work, sexploitation, social realism, working conditions, class conflict, trauma, poverty, survival ...
Place:
philadelphia
Similarity:
52%
2K
Genre: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Close to paying off her debts, a Nigerian sex worker in Austria coaches a reluctant novice, and assesses the risks of taking a faster path to freedom.
Style:
bleak, crime drama, intercultural, art house
Plot:
sex trafficking, sex worker, human trafficking, abuse, forced prostitution, exploitation, survival, social commentary, female protagonist, trauma, motherhood, desperation ...
Place:
nigeria, vienna, africa, austria
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Helena, 29, a single mother with an 11-year-old daughter, is a moderately successful actress who earns a living as an escort in the sex industry. Her relationship with her own mother, a singing teacher, is tense, and she’s also increasingly ...
Style:
suspense, tense, disturbing, independent film, art house ...
Plot:
female protagonist, single mother, mother daughter relationship, sex work, single parent, sexual content, family problems, family relations, sexual relations, life is a bitch, sexuality, sexploitation ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
berlin germany
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
A former prostitute and her reformed convict boyfriend try to make a new start in life. They begin to refurbish a derelict building close to the sea, but people from their past come back to haunt them.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, independent film, suspense
Plot:
redemption, second chance, female protagonist, ex prostitute, branding iron, ex convict, seaside, trauma, intimate, rehabilitation, male protagonist, social realism ...
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
The armed conflict between the Philippine military and the communist resistance at the beginning of the 1990s forms the backdrop to this study of three individuals who, for different reasons, are trying to resolve an untenable situation.
Style:
captivating, psychological, realistic, bleak, reflective ...
Plot:
lie, life is a bitch, relationship problems, conflict, couple relations, relationships, social problems, wartime, social realism, armed conflict, survival, moral ambiguity ...
Time:
year 1993
Similarity:
46%
205
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
Princess is a young illegal immigrant from Nigeria who sells her body on the outskirts of a big city. Like an Amazon on the hunt, protected by her friends, she moves through a pinewood that stretches as far as the sea, an enchanted forest in which ...
Style:
suspenseful, captivating, psychological, thrilling, bleak ...
Plot:
sex trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking, female protagonist, illegal immigrant, african, exploitation, resilience, street life, illegal immigration, trauma, poverty ...
Place:
italy
Similarity:
44%
72
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
An ordinary day in Romania. Under a highway exit close to Bucharest, Lidia and Denisa are changing their clothes; warm pullovers and sneakers are exchanged for tight tops and heels. The two are then waiting for clients, an icy wind gusting around ...
Style:
melancholic, bleak, slow cinema
Plot:
prostitution, sex work, poverty, social realism, everyday life, working class, survival, character study, desperation, female friendship, resilience, humiliation ...
Place:
romania, bucharest
Similarity:
43%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A strikingly bold portrait of oppression and high tension in suburban America. It is the story of Sahira Abdel-Karim (Osuna), a young Egyptian-American woman in a California wedged between two distinct worlds, haunted by memory and bount by ...
Plot:
gender roles, family conflict, female protagonist, claustrophobia, female empowerment, isolation, identity crisis, patriarchy, female nudity, coming of age, moral ambiguity, family relations ...
Place:
southern california
Similarity:
42%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
A twelve-year-old bright schoolboy, Sivanandhan, his mother, sister, and with his friend Sekhar works during his school holidays carrying banana stalks, a task he dreads. As he navigates life's challenges, poverty, friendship, and the ...
Style:
emotional, melancholic, realistic
Plot:
coming of age, poverty, childhood, social realism, village life, friendship, resilience, sibling relationship, mother son relationship, determination, labor, slice of life ...
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
This life period of the main character Felix (L. Lutvinsky) coincides with rather complicated period of country history Chernenko dies, Gorbachev succeeds him, then Ligachev criticizes Eltsin, county is reined by deficit, backstairs influence, ...
Style:
melancholic, art house, existential, period piece
Audience:
adult
Plot:
social commentary, character study, alienation, escape from reality, loneliness, social realism, identity crisis, absurdism, minimalism, poverty, city life, working class ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
36 year-old Nirupama Rajeev (played by Manju Warrier) is an UD clerk in Revenue Department. The role of her husband is played by Kunchaka Boban. There is nothing interesting about her life as she leads a life which is determined by her usual daily ...
Style:
thought provoking, psychological, captivating, realistic, emotional ...
Plot:
self discovery, female protagonist, patriarchy, parent child relationship, feminist, empowerment, personal growth, gender roles, female empowerment, introspection, social relations, coping ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
canada
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
A 15 year old mute village girl runs away from home due to problems, lands in Mumbai city. Initially she struggles to cope up with the big city, but fights her way forward to survive and achieve freedom overcoming obstacles.
Style:
emotional, realistic, heartfelt
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
empowerment, coming of age, teenager, female empowerment, female protagonist, struggle, independence, perseverance, determination, survival, resilience, disability ...
Place:
mumbai india
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
So-young, an elderly prostitute working in Seoul, tries to take care of a young Korean-Filipino child she meets in a hospital and make ends meet. So-young's life takes a dark turn when several of her old clients try to reconnect with her.
Style:
suspense, psychological, disturbing, grim, melancholic ...
Plot:
prostitution, prostitute, social realism, social problems, life philosophy, society, social relations, elderly, elderly woman, aging, moral ambiguity, loneliness ...
Place:
seoul
Similarity:
37%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
Jeong-eun is dispatched to a subcontracting company. She tries to fit in, but her co-workers aren’t comfortable around her and she’s completely new to field work. Despite all that, she wants to stay on for a year and then return to headquarters, ...
Style:
disturbing, captivating, psychological, emotional, realistic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
female protagonist, worker, workplace, social problems, discrimination, women's rights, working class, co worker co worker relationship, coworker, civil rights, classism, adaptation ...
Place:
korea
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
Megh is a married person, who works as manager of a tea estate in North Sikkim. In a certain crisis he became jobless and struggles to make ends problems of his life because there are not many options for livelihood around in the hills. He fights to ...
Style:
emotional, realistic, scenic, melancholic
Plot:
struggle, resilience, empathy, poverty, hopes, unemployment, perseverance, family bonds, slice of life, sacrifice, parenting, recovery ...
Place:
kolkata
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A woman who was maltreated during her younger years gets revenge on the people who abused her.
Style:
dark, intense, psychological thriller, suspenseful, tense ...
Plot:
revenge, female vigilante, female protagonist, retribution, traumatic past, abuse, trauma, domestic violence, vigilante, payback, moral ambiguity, female empowerment ...
Place:
the philippines
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
In a small village in northeast India, 10-year-old Dhunu dreams of having her own rock band. Her vibrant spirit, imagination and self-assurance stand out in a world where girls are expected to be timid and submissive. With her gang of boys and the ...
Style:
poignant, mind blowing, melancholic
Plot:
aspiration, gender roles, slice of life, resilience, childhood, female protagonist, village, determination, imagination, coming of age, social realism, patriarchy ...
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Drama
Country: Venezuela
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The true story of a jealous policeman and his young wife living in a shanty-town in South America.
Style:
crime drama, tragic ending, tense, art house
Plot:
murder, gender roles, jealousy, abusive relationship, domestic violence, statutory rape, child marriage, trauma, female protagonist, police corruption, obsession, manipulation ...
Place:
venezuela
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Croatia, Denmark
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Marijana's life revolves around her family, whether she likes it or not. They live on top of one another in a tiny apartment, driving one another crazy. Then her controlling father has a stroke and is left completely bedridden, and Marijana ...
Style:
psychological, disturbing, suspense, melancholic, tense ...
Plot:
sexual relations, sex, father daughter relationship, family problems, female protagonist, family drama, dysfunctional family, family relations, claustrophobia, character study, self discovery, desperation ...
Similarity:
33%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
turkish movie
Style:
art house
Audience:
adult
Plot:
belly dancing, music and dance, tragic romance, strong female lead, female protagonist, performance art, family drama, disability, passion, grief, assassination attempt, sensuality ...
Similarity:
32%
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