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IMDb has unveiled its list of the most popular Indian films and film stars in the last 25 years. The platform identified the top five Indian movies released each year between January 1, 2000 to August 31, 2025, ranking them by their all-time page views. The report was based on 130 movies, five from each year, referred to as the ‘dataset’. While the usual names popped up across the years, the latter part of the quarter-century indicated just how drastically popular sensibilities have changed. While the top movies from 2000 to 2005 were all headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, the years after SS Rajamouli’s two Baahubali movies saw a noticeable rise in titles from beyond the Hindi-speaking regions.
IMDb also revealed the Indian film with the highest ‘sustained relevance’, meaning the movies that maintained popularity on IMDb for five years after their release, based on worldwide page views. This list only included titles released before 2020, and was topped by Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur. Other movies that witnessed spikes in interest years after their release were Virumandi (2004), Bangalore Days (2014), Masaan (2015), Premam (2015), Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), and Ratsasan (2018).
According to the analysis, these are the 25 most popular Indian films from 2000 to 2025
2000 – Mohabbatein
2001 – Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
2002 – Devdas
2003 – Kal Ho Naa Ho
2004 – Veer-Zaara
2005 – Black
2006 – Dhoom 2
2007 – Taare Zameen Par
2008 – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
2009 – 3 Idiots
2010 – My Name is Khan
2011 – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
2012 – Gangs of Wasseypur
2013 – The Lunchbox
2014 – PK
2015 – Baahubali: The Beginning
2016 – Dangal
2017 – Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
2018 – KGF: Chapter 1
2019 – Uri: The Surgical Strike
2020 – Dil Bechara
2021 – Pushpa: The Rise
2022 – KGF: Chapter 2
2023 – Animal
2024 – Pushpa 2: The Rule
2025 – Saiyaara
Clearly, Shah Rukh Khan has been a favourite over the years, with as many as seven films topping yearly lists in the last 25 years. Interestingly, all of his 2023 comeback hits were beaten by Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal. Of the entire 130-movie dataset, SRK had 20 titles in the mix, followed by Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan with 11 movies each. Deepika Padukone was the most popular female star, with 10 movies in the 130-movie dataset.
The latter part of the 25-year period also saw a rise in movies doing well globally. The charge was led by Rajkumar Hirani’s films with Aamir Khan, and taken to the next level by SS Rajamouli. Movies like The Lunchbox and PK were particularly popular with global crowds. During these last 25 years, Lokesh Kanagaraj, SS Rajamouli, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rajkumar Hirani emerged as the biggest hit-making directors, with four movies each in the dataset.
This year marked another change, with the newcomer-led Saiyaara leading the pack. The movie beat out Chhaava, Mahavtar Narsimha, Dragon, and Coolie.
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