9 Best Indian Documentaries on Social Issues You Must Watch

The best Indian documentaries on social issues include India’s Daughter, An Insignificant Man, Katiyabaaz, Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai, Writing with Fire and To Kill a Tiger. They cover gender violence, politics, power shortages, communal riots, caste and the media. Two of them, Writing with Fire and To Kill a Tiger, were nominated for the Oscar.

This list has been refreshed for 2026. We have removed Onir’s I Am, which featured earlier, because it is a feature film made of four short stories, not a documentary. In its place we have added three recent Indian documentaries that won major international recognition.

Quick facts: Indian documentaries on social issues

Documentary	Year	Director	Issue
India’s Daughter	2015	Leslee Udwin	Gender violence
An Insignificant Man	2016	Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla	Politics and democracy
The World Before Her	2012	Nisha Pahuja	Women and tradition
Fire in the Blood	2013	Dylan Mohan Gray	Access to medicines
Katiyabaaz	2013	Deepti Kakkar, Fahad Mustafa	Electricity and governance
Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai	2015	Nakul Singh Sawhney	Communal violence
Writing with Fire	2021	Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh	Caste and journalism
To Kill a Tiger	2022	Nisha Pahuja	Justice for survivors
All That Breathes	2022	Shaunak Sen	People and nature in Delhi

Best Indian documentaries on social issues

1. India’s Daughter (2015)

Directed by Leslee Udwin for the BBC’s Storyville series, this film looks at the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, a physiotherapy student. It includes interviews with her family, lawyers and one of the convicted men, and examines the attitudes behind violence against women.

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The Indian government obtained a court order blocking its broadcast in India in March 2015, and the Delhi High Court declined to lift the ban while appeals were pending. It was shown abroad and remains one of the most discussed documentaries on the subject.

2. An Insignificant Man (2016)

Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla follow the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party out of the 2011 to 2012 anti-corruption protests, up to the December 2013 Delhi elections. Arvind Kejriwal is at the centre of the story.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2016 and released in Indian cinemas on 17 November 2017. It was partly crowdfunded and won Best Documentary at the Warsaw Film Festival.

3. The World Before Her (2012)

Nisha Pahuja’s film follows two young women: Ruhi Singh, who is training for the Miss India pageant, and Prachi Trivedi, a member of the Durga Vahini who attends a nationalist training camp. It sets the two worlds side by side.

The film raises questions about tradition, modernity and the choices open to young Indian women. It won Best Documentary Feature at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

4. Fire in the Blood (2013)

Dylan Mohan Gray’s documentary examines how low-cost HIV and AIDS drugs were kept from patients in Africa and other parts of the global south. It links this to drug patent monopolies and the governments that backed them, and argues for the right to health.

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013 and is narrated by actor William Hurt.

5. Katiyabaaz (2013)

Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa’s film is set in Kanpur during long power cuts. It follows Loha Singh, a local electricity thief, and Ritu Maheshwari, then managing director of the Kanpur Electricity Supply Company, as she tries to stop power theft.

The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013 and won Best Investigative Film at the 61st National Film Awards.

6. Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai (2015)

Nakul Singh Sawhney’s documentary looks at the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh and their economic and social fallout. It gives space to survivors and examines how communal tensions were built up.

A screening at Delhi University in August 2015 was disrupted by protesters. More than 200 screenings were held across the country afterwards.

7. Writing with Fire (2021)

Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh follow Khabar Lahariya, a newspaper run by Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh, as it moves from print to smartphone reporting. The film shows the reporters covering local issues in their region.

It won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards.

8. To Kill a Tiger (2022)

Nisha Pahuja returns with the story of a father in Jharkhand who fights for justice after his teenage daughter is sexually assaulted. The film follows the family’s long campaign for justice.

It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022 and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. Netflix released it globally on 10 March 2024.

9. All That Breathes (2022)

Shaunak Sen’s film follows two brothers in Delhi, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who rescue and treat injured birds, mostly black kites. Through their work, it reflects on how people and other living beings share a crowded city.

It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and the Golden Eye at Cannes, and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

Why these documentaries matter

These films give viewers a first-hand look at issues that headlines often cover only briefly. Several faced bans or disrupted screenings, which shows how sensitive these subjects remain. Others reached global audiences through festivals and streaming, and helped put Indian non-fiction filmmaking on the world map.

For more film lists and reviews, see our Entertainment and Infotainment sections.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Wikipedia: India’s Daughter, Wikipedia: Writing with Fire, Wikipedia: To Kill a Tiger, Wikipedia: Katiyabaaz.