I don’t think any other internet community cares about this category. Which is why DCIB is the BEST internet community!!!! Because we understand the deep importance of happy light weight small ambitions rom-coms.
Rom-coms! Not big tortured romantic dramas (no Ishaaqzaade), or serious art film style character pieces (no Tanu Weds Manu), but the ones where the hero and heroine meet cute, have a ridiculous plot reason to be thrown together, sing a bunch of songs, have a last minute misunderstanding, and then end with a big romantic gesture that solves everything.
Because I am the Queen of DCIB, I am going to put in two big rules to control this post and ensure it brings up only the best light happy films:
- Nothing with a Khan, I want films that are smaller than Khan level, so no JHMS
- Nothing with a sad OR bittersweet ending, so no Half-Girlfriend
Okay, you ready for the list of every rom-com broken down by year? So we can figure it which year of the last decade was the BEST rom-com year? Oh, and also so you have a handy list of a decade’s worth of light happy rom-coms.
2010
I Hate Luv Storys
Jhootha Hi Sahi
Aisha
Break Ka Baad
Band Baaja Baarat
2011
Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Love Breakups Zindagi
2012
Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya
Teri Meri Kahaani
Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi
Aiyyaa
Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurrana
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
2013
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
Ramaiya Vastavaiya
Shuddh Desi Romance
Gori Tere Pyaar Mein
2014
One By Two
Hasee Toh Phasee
2 States
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
Daawat E Ishq
Khoobsurat
2015
Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Shaandar
2016
Ki & Ka
Happy Bhaag Jayegi
Baar Baar Dekho
Befikre
2017
OK Jaanu
Running Shaadi
Badrinath Ki Dulhania
Noor
Raabta
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aani
Qarib Qarib Singlle
2018
Happy Phir Bhaag Jayegi
Manmarziyaan
Loveyatri
Namaste England
2019
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga
Luka Chuppi
Notebook
De De Pyaar De
Jabariya Jodi
The Zoya Factor
Ready for my choice? I’m gonna say 2014!!! Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, and Khoobsurat, and Daawat-E-Ishq, all classics. Plus 2 States and Hasee To Phasee? No contest, 2014 is the best.
But feel free to dispute me! 2017 has the maximum number of films, 2013 has the biggest box office hit, lots to consider!
Also, bonus question looking at this list, best rom-com of the Decade (I’m stumped and can’t answer this one myself!)
dontcallitbollywood 
Spoiler!
Half girlfriend has a very romantic, happy and sexy ending (they have sex in the end and it’s beautiful). But yes, I wouldn’t call this movie a rom-com.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Removing Half-Girlfriend, which of these is your favorite?
On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 8:48 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aiyyaa I guess. I also loved Daawat-e-ishq, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bareilly ki Barfi and both Happy movies.
I have a doubt if Notebook can be called rom-com because a lot of dark things happen in that movie. What do you think?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I debated Notebook too. And ELKDTAL. Notebook has dark things, but ultimately a super happy ending. And ELKDTAL doesn’t exactly have a central romantic couple (Juhi and Anil come closest), but is so happy and sweet that it really feels like a rom-com.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 8:58 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Any romcom with Imran in them. Here’s why:
Remember how you were talking about Ranbir being a selfish scene partner who doesn’t really allow his female costars to play off of him? Imran is kind of the opposite- mild-mannered and amiable onscreen (even when the character’s technically a jerk) and lets the ladies play around as much as they want to while he goes with the flow. Had his his career gone on longer this would have probably worked against him (and maybe it did in movies I haven’t seen yet), but I enjoyed his chemistry with all his costars in the movies I saw- Genelia, Sonam, Deepika, Anushka, Katrina, Kareena.
I’m also stupidly fond of Aisha and OK Jaanu (yes, I said it). I think Sonam, Aditya and Shraddha are similar in the sense that they’re at their best when they’re allowed to be funny, breezy and goofy. Actually, the more I see of Shraddha the more surprised I am that she hasn’t been cast in an out-and-out comedy yet (Stree doesn’t count because she didn’t get a lot of comic bits)- she’s delightfully whimsical.
LikeLiked by 2 people
100% agree with everything you said! Also, yay!!! Another person besides me who loved OK Jaanu and really really enjoys watching Sonam, Aditya, Shraddha, and Imran! I have watched OK Jaanu far too many times.
I am one of the few people who was a little sad Imran’s career didn’t take off. I really enjoyed his chemistry with the actresses as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love Imran as a rom-com person! And you described why exactly. I feel the same way about Abhishek. They make their heroine’s look soooo good. I have never liked Sonam more than in I Hate Luv Storys.
I haven’t seen OK Jaanu and you have almost convinced me! I find Shraddha a really pleasant onscreen presence, but she continues to feel bland to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Best year: 2014 no contest!!
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (Best sex scene of the decade and maybe even best sex scene ever! And there is literally not a single unlikable character in this movie! Plus, what an awesome modern tribute to DDLJ!)
Hasee Toh Phasee (I resisted watching this for so long because depicting mental illness with weird ticks for laughs sounded AWFUL to me. And now I watch it over and over again. I still don’t like how mental illness is portrayed in it but the chemistry and sweetness compensates it for me. Also, I love that the girl is the average looking science nerd and the guy is the good looking emotional one. And ofcourse the blouse tying scene is just ridiculously sexy.)
Daawat E Ishq (again resisted watching it for so long because how it is possible to make ARK look so bad?! But again the chemistry and ARK’s charisma is just off the charts. Also, this movie makes me soooo hungry, and I have to have kabobs and biryani when I am watching it).
Khoobsurat (Fawad is a uptight prince; Sonam is a goofy, misfit doctor; and they annoy each other but are also insanely attracted to each other… oh this movie was made just for me!)
Oh yeah 2014 was a VERY VERY good year for my kind of movies!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking at this list, I think I resisted all of these movies! Humpty is the only one I saw in theaters, and that was just because it was my Mom’s birthday and we did a random trip to the movies. Khoobsurat I only saw when I was forced to, Daawat E Ishq I put off for years, and Hasee toh Phasee I just saw a few months ago.
I guess that’s the risk with rom-coms, the good ones all have plots that sound awful. Like, you have to skate right up to the edge of stupid and offensive and then coat it in sweetness to get a really great romance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
2014 has some good movies, but One by Two was so awful it might have ruined the whole year. I love Abhay, but when you write a movie about the best dancer in the world, the lead should be able to, like, dance. Even if she’s your girlfriend. Otherwise just have her be the best accountant in the world.
Can’t choose! Every year has one movie I loved and one I hated, and several I haven’t seen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What about 2017? Surely with that many movies, there must be a small majority of good, right?
On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 1:01 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I’d go with 2017, since Rajkummar seems to have ruled it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, and I didn’t even include 5 Weddings!
LikeLiked by 1 person
2017 and then 2012! 2012 was a good year overall, I think, but then so was 2017. What happened in the past two years, ugh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, you just got me to go back and look at 2012 again! Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, Aiyyaa, Shirin Farhad, and Teri Meri Kahaani which is one of my guilty pleasures! I’m sticking with 2014, but it is a much closer thing now.
And yeah, 2017 was insane! A new good low budget rom-com every other week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I vote for 2017. 2014 was very, very close, but I prefer 2017 movies.
Can Khandaani Shafakhana be considered a rom-com? Love is not Sonakshi’s biggest problem in this film but she and Priyansh were so good in those few scenes they had together.
Oh, and 2019 had also Motichoor Chaknachor (Nawazuddin, Athiya Shetty), I haven’t seen that (still) but it looks like something with romantic happy ending.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think if I include ELKDTAL, we can include Khandaani Shafakhana. Definitely happy ending, and with that kind of light low budget feeling I wanted.
2017 was weirdly good. And of course my favorites from that year were the ones that made no money and got terrible reviews (Raabta and Running Shaadi). Maybe i fmore people had seen them, more movies like that would be coming out in 2018 and 2019.
LikeLiked by 1 person
2014 is a good year. So many of the movies I haven’t seen, but I in that year I’ve seen most of them, and I loved them, especially 2 states. I will say, that as a newcomer to Hindi films, it seems like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is the winning romance of the decade. It is not may favorite (in fact I didn’t even really like it), but I read references to it all the time and it is one of the most popular movies on Einthusan. Before I found your blog that is one way I would choose movies to watch. I would look at the month’s most popular movies on einthusan, and then pick the ones that weren’t recent, assuming they would be the better films.
LikeLiked by 1 person
YJHD was I think the only rom-com to make it to the top of the box office in the past decade. It was a really really big deal, and a generally good movie I guess.
But putting this list together, I realized that I really really loved the tinier less popular movies. Maybe that’s why, the smaller movies were more focused on a particular audience instead of trying to please everyone.
And now you have a new list of rom-coms to watch!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have to agree with you that 2014 was the best year for Hindi romcoms. I’ve commented on multiple posts on how much I love HSKD, and Hasee Toh Phasee is creeping up there. The scenes between Sid and Pari were so real and lovely. 2 States and Khoobsurat were also super sweet and fun. But I have to go with HSKD as the best of the decade. I absolutely adore that movie, I have since I clicked play. I could watch it over and over again. Varun and Alia are so perfect together, their chemistry hasn’t been what it was since this movie, the sex scene always pulls at my heart. I can physically feel it. It will probably be a long time before I feel this way about a movie again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HSKD really was something special. The chemistry in the romance was just perfect, and everything else was perfect too. Khoobsurat rushed the ending, Hasee To Phasee went slightly too far in the badness of the family, Daawat E Ishq rushed the ending too, and so on. But HSKD was just perfect start to finish.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 5:02 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the best post ever!! I am keeping this list! 2017 or 2019. I really like Bareilly Ki Barfi and Badrinath Ki Dulhania.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is quite good, isn’t it? And look at all those rom-coms waiting to be watched!
On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 10:22 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of the ones I’ve seen on this list, my faves were YJHD and Dawaat e Ishq. Romcom isn’t really my sweet spot, I like when the story has more characters and plotlines than just the central pair. YJHD I appreciated that there were no perfect characters or love at first sight, but there was passion and genuine connection behind the choices they made with their lives – and the most selfish character, Ranbir, suffered from cutting himself off from the kind of compromises the other characters made for love. Dawaat e Ishq was just a lot of fun. Loved the chemistry between ARK and Parineeti, and Anupam and Parineeti for that matter. Loved the comedy and the family complications and the dowry plot and the crazy train station confrontation, all great.
Agree on 2014 but 2017 is a close second.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I would put YJHD closer to the JHMS side of things where it is really more of a character story with love as part of it, then “just” a love story.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 11:49 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a bad decade for romcoms. I can remember hardly any. The only one I genuinely liked was Ek Main Aur Ek Tu with Kareena and Imran. I liked that it was well written and unconventional as the couple didn’t end up together but it was not a sad ending. It was just life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really? Looking at this list, there were so many I liked!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trying to figure out where to jump back into the conversation! Definitely 2014 for the best rom-com year. Though seeing them all listed here, there have been some great ones in the last decade across the board. Fingers crossed that Jawaani Jaaneman (Tabu and Saif better be getting together in that…they are the jodi I never knew I needed!), Love Aaj Kal 2 (Kartik better not be annoying), and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan start the year off well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh oh! I was just thinking “what is Pritam up to?” and he’s writing the songs for Love Aaj Kal 2!!! Pritam and Imtiaz reunited, woo-hoo! He’s also writing the songs for Brahmastra, why???? Ranbir totally butchered his brilliant score for Jagga Jasoos. Oh Pritam.
On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 9:16 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 2 people