Jubilee, the original Amazon Prime Video Hindi web series, premiered with its first 5 episodes on April 7. Since then, everything about the show – from its storyline and visual aesthetics to its cast and many other things – has caught the public eye. Starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Aditi Rao Hydari, Aparshakti Khurana, Sidhant Gupta, Shweta Basu Prasad, Ram Kapoor, Wamiqa Gabbi, Nandish Singh Sandhu and Sukhame Lamb, the series has been created and direct by Vikramaditya Motwane (Udaan, Lootera, Queen).

The Prime Video series is set in the 1940s, i.e. post-India’s independence. So in such an era, the lens shifted toward the Bombay Film industry, marking the onset of the ‘Golden Era’ of Indian filmmaking. While also depicting the glam and glitz of the industry, the series also takes us through the dark realities taking shape behind the curtains. Overall, it pays homage to a then-new beginning of the Hindi film industry, a theme that has often been the focus of many movies around the globe.

Here are some movies painting an ode to the cinema on a similar wavelength as Jubilee that may interest you after binge-watching the Prime Video series. 

Movies Based on Cinema

1. Om Shanti Om (2007)

Set in the heart of the Bollywood scene, the Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer is a Hindi romantic fantasy film inspired by several precedents fleshed out the same love-reincarnation-revenge trope. The Farah Khan creation presents Om, a junior film artist, as its protagonist, who partakes in numerous productions to find his big break in the Bollywood industry. Simultaneously, the movie also focuses on his love track with the renowned Hindi actress, Shantipriya, whom he befriends after multiple run-ins, or as one deems it fit to call fate.

As vowed before, Om tries his best to save her in a fire accident, but dies trying. 30 years after the accident, he’s reborn as the new age Bollywood star keen on avenging her death. Although the film is more drawn towards its fantastical track, through Om’s perspective, we get an insight into the beauty of the cinematic setting, the aesthetics of which are also reworked into the stellar music videos that are still alive in the audience’s mind and hearts 15 years after its theatrical release.

2. Luck By Chance (2009)

This Zoya Akhtar film is often referred to as a cinematic piece that was “ahead of its time”. While talks surrounding nepotism and other conspiracies coming to life behind-the-cameras in the Hindi film industry are rampant now, back in 2009, barely anyone even whispered about such things. Starring an ensemble cast with Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma fronting the project, the movie also featured a multitude of iconic cameos.

The romance drama movie was led by Farhan’s Vikram, an aspiring actor, who’s vehemently passionate about leading the Hindi film industry. When he finally bags a major gig and steps in to play the male lead in an upcoming film, his old relationship with his girlfriend, Sona (also an aspiring-struggling actor) faces the short end of the stick.

3. Babylon (2022)

Directed by Damien Chazelle, and starring Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Diego Calva and others, the 2022 dramedy film brings back the image of the 1920s Hollywood. It portrays a period of transition from silent to sound films, also a time when the industry was governed by various excesses, that ironically dealt out both successes and failures to aspiring dreamers in the lot.

4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Quentin Tarantino’s blockbuster, though fictional, is centred around many real events of the 1960s. With leading actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Austin Butler and others as its face, the film chooses to focus on Caprio’s character, Rick, a washed-out-actor and his stunt double, played by Pitt, as they both struggle to find their footing and retrace their steps back to fame in 1960s Los Angeles. Once again, this too, is a tribute to Hollywood’s Golden Age.

5. The Fablemans (2022)

Often times our love for cinema emerges as a result of viewing it first hand as an audience. Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated coming-of-age film breathes life into young Sammy Fabelman’s life in post-World War II era Arizona as he dreams of becoming a filmmaker himself after watching “The Greatest Show on Earth” with his parents. The film is largely built around Spielberg’s childhood and his introduction to filmmaking.

6. The Last Film Show (Chhello Show) (2021)

Pan Nalin’s Indian Gujarati-language coming-of-age film, also a semi-autobiographical account, was India’s official entry to Oscars 2023 in the category of the Best International Feature Film. In the movie, the nine-year-old Samay is overcome by his love for movies and hitches a ride everyday to the theatres in his remote village to study the art of filmmaking. But it all goes against his father’s will, further foreshadowing hard times ahead.

7. The Disaster Artist (2017)

Starring James Franco (also the director) in the lead as Tommy Wiseau, The Disaster Artist depicts a semi-accurate behind-the-scenes account of Wiseau’s infamous film The Room (2003). It’s also based on the non-fiction book of the same name and maps out the unlikely ties of friendship between Wiseau and Sestero (played by Dave Franco) that ultimately birthed Tommy’s 2003 production, also known as “one of the worst films ever made”.

8. Singin’ in the Rain

9. Hail Caesar!

10. Saving Mr Banks (2013)

With Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney and Emma Thompson assuming the role of P.L. Travers, Saving Mr Banks paints an “almost true” narrative around the author’s – Pamela Travers – tragic childhood and how she eventually visited Walt Disney in Los Angeles, conveying her zestful drive to adapt her ‘Mary Poppins’ for the big screen. The feel-good biographical movie has been directed by John Lee Hancock.

Which of these movies are you planning to watch next? Are there any other films based on cinema or film-making that you would like to recommend? Let us know your picks in the comments section below.

The last 5 episodes of Jubilee will release on Prime Video on April 14, 2023, Friday.

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