Yeh Drama hai, Yeh Emotion Hai, Yeh Romance Hai, Yeh… Genre kya hai? In this blog we are going to do Bollywood Movie Genres Explained with Examples. Bollywood is like India. You get everything from loud, action colorful movies to serious grounded movies. Let’s just deep dive into Bollywood Movie Genres Explained with Examples.
Table of Contents
What is a Bollywood Genre?
Like we have Chinese food, Punjabi food, South Indian flavors, and NorthEast foods we have different categories of movies in Bollywood. Bollywood movie genres also have a mixed bag sometimes for example Horror mixed with Comedy (Stree, Bhool Bhulaiya, etc.).
During the 50s and 60s era, it had mythological films like ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ but now we have Thrillers, Comedies, etc. Before Stree was released, we only had Horror as a Bollywood Movie Genre but now after the humongous success of Stree, Producers have started exploring the Horror-Comedy space.
Read Bollywood Box Office Explained 2025
Big Bollywood Genres (With Examples)
- Masala Movies
Masala movies are the most popular genre in Bollywood. It has a mix of everything. You get Action, Romance, Emotion, Drama, Comedy, and Massy Dialogue all in a single movie. You can also say that the movie is a Festival.
Examples: Dabangg (Salman Khan fights, dances, cries + more), Jawan, Karan Arjun (Revenge & Reincarnation)
Fun Fact: These type of Masala movies usually has an Item Song out of nowhere to make Audiences dance inside the Theatre. (Munni Badnaam from Dabangg)
- Romantic Drama
Romantic Drama is one of the Bollywood Movie Genres that used to rule from mid mid-1990s until the mid-2000s. Shah Rukh Khan & Salman Khan emerged as Superstars during this era. This Bollywood Movie genres has Love Stories with Big weddings, Emotional drama scenes, and especially with Family problems. Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions also flourished during this era.
Examples: Hum Aapke Hai Koun?, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Jab We Met, etc.
- Action/Thriller
The name itself says what can you expect from it. It has the perfect Mass+Class blend in it. It has Over-the-top action sequences, car/bike chase sequences, and Massy dialogues so that Theatres can turn into stadiums. Nowadays this genre may feel saturated but once Tiger, Pathaan & Kabir come, there’s no stopping them at the Box Office.
Examples: Ek Tha Tiger, War, Pathaan, Singham Again, etc.
- Social Drama
This Bollywood movie genres always had a place in Bollywood but we at BehindBoxOffice feel the best man to deliver in this genre is Aamir Khan. This guy goes way beyond its limits when it comes to Bollywood Social Drama Examples. Social drama movies are about real-world problems that we have like our school/college pressure, women’s rights, Dalit rights, etc.
Bollywood Social Drama Examples: Taare Zameen Par, Pink, Article 15, etc.
- Horror-Comedy
When scary ghosts combine with Grounded Comedy, there’s no looking back. You can just look and laugh at the characters of the movie. You laugh when any character gets scared in the movie. Comedy in itself is another category, while horror too. But Producers saw the gap and mixed it so well that now it became a Genre.
Horror Examples: 1920, Bhoot, Pari, etc.
Comedy Examples: Hera Pheri, Bhagam Bhaag, De Dana Dan, etc.
Horror Comedy: Stree, Bhool Bhulaiya, Munjya, etc.
- Arthouse Cinema
Bollywood arthouse films usually don’t do great at the Box Office but it gets critically acclaimed highly. It has serious and artistic movies focused deep into one’s character. It is not a cup of tea for everyone, and that is the main reason why these Bollywood arthouse films don’t do well at the Box Office.
Bollywood Arthouse Films Examples: The Lunchbox, Masaan, etc.
Mixing Genres: Bollywood’s Magic
Bollywood is the only Movie Industry in India that doesn’t shy away from experimenting with any new ideas that come. You usually don’t see Telegu or Tamil industry experimenting so much apart from 1-2 directors. But Bollywood takes risk and they may be scared but they don’t seem scared.
Take for example Andhadhun, in which Bollywood Movie Genre would you put it? It was a Genre defining movie of its time. You can also take Gully Boy as an example, who would have thought to make a movie on those Gully Rappers who made it big in their lives? It is only Bollywood who does it and does it so well.
Bollywood also doesn’t shy away from putting Females as the main lead which is usually not the case in the Southern States cinema.
Why Bollywood Movie Genres Matter?
The new Gen-Z generation doesn’t like the old Drama/Romance films, they like Thrillers and action masala movies. They also like web series which had boomed during the Pandemic. Now Producers are not only dependent on the Theatrical Business which used to happen earlier. Thanks to OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more there are opportunities for actors, producers, spot boys, and everyone who works in the Industry.
Netflix recently started experimenting a lot by producing its own films in India and releasing them directly on Netflix like ‘Love Per Square Foot’, ‘Drive’, ‘Serious Men’, ‘Darlings’, and more. Most of them don’t even have songs which is a big experiment in itself as Bollywood movies depend so much on Songs.
As a healthy growing Industry, Bollywood Movie genres need everything. We need a Maharaja Thali which consists of Action, Masala, Drama, arthouse everything.
Conclusion
Bollywood movie has everything just like India has all types of people. We hope we are able to explain Bollywood Movie Genres Explained with Examples in detail. What is your favorite Bollywood Movie Genre? Tell us in the Comments. Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost….