While doing posts on contemporary regional Indian period movies, I made a rough list of Indian period films. These are listed below. Some are historicals but the bulk fall into the 19th and 20th century. The list is fairly rough so feel free to add more, especially if they are in languages other than Hindi. Does not include the staple of Indian cinema for long aka mythologicals or films based on the epics. For South Indian mythologicals do check out cinemachaat – they have a number of reviews.
Pre-Mauryan
Maurya Empire/Buddhist/Post Buddhist
Vidyapati (Bengali?/Hindi, 1937)
Ashok Kumar (Tamil, 1941)
Veer Kunal (Hindi, 1945)
Ashad Ka Ek Din (Hindi, 1971)
Siddhartha (English, 1972)
Utsav (Hindi, 1984)
Trishagni (Hindi, 1988)
The Cloud Door (Hindi, 1994)
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (English, 1996)
Asoka (Hindi, 2001)
Anahat (Marathi, 2003)
Mirch (Hindi, 2010) (in part)
Rudhramadevi (Telugu, 2015)
Early Medieval India
Razia Sultan(a) (Hindi, 1961 and 1983).
Mughal Period/Post Mughal
Pukar (Hindi 1939)
Anarkali (1935, 1953, 1955, 1966, various languages)
Meera (Tamil/Hindi, 1945)
Mughal-e-Azam (Hindi, 1960)
Taj Mahal (Hindi, 1963)
Ghashiram Kotwal (Marathi, 1976)
Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi, 2008)
Urumi (Malayalam, 2011)
Aravaan (Tamil, 2012)
Bajirao Mastani (Hindi, 2015)
Rama Madhav (Marathi, 2014)
See also wikipedia.
Colonial India/Early 20th century/Pre-independence
Devdas (various languages, 1928-2013)
Pioli Phukan (Assamese, 1955)
Charulata (Bengali, 1964)
Chameli Memsaab (Assamese, 1975)
Shatranj ke Khilari (Hindi, 1977)
Junoon (Hindi, 1977)
Umrao Jaan (Hindi, 1981, 2006)
Massey Sahib (Hindi, 1985)
Mogamul (Tamil, 1995)
Vanaprastham (Malayalam, 1999)
Hey Ram (Tamil/Hindi, 2000)
Pinjar (Hindi, 2003)
Noukadubi, Bengali, 2011)
Makaramanju (Malayalam, 2011)
Bal Gandharva (Marathi, 2011)
Paradesi (Tamil, 2013)
Rang Rasiya (Hindi, 2014)
Kaaviya Thalaivan (Tamil, 2014)
Taptapadi (Marathi, 2014)
Rajkahini (Bengali, 2015)
1950s
1960s
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (Hindi, 2003) – starts in the 60s and spans the 70s and 80s.
Shadows of Time (Bengali, 2004)
Parineeta (Hindi, 2005)
Vaagai Sooda Vaa, (Tamil, 2011)
Bombay Velvet (Hindi, 2015)
1970s
Border (Hindi, 1997)
Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (Hindi, 1998)
Om Shanti Om (Hindi, 2007)
Kaalbela (Bengali, 2009)
Natarang (Marathi, 2010)
Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (Hindi, 2010)
Shala (Marathi, 2011)
Barfi! (Hindi, 2012)
Dutta vs Dutta (Bengali, 2012)
1980s
Subramaniapuram (Tamil, 2008)
The Dirty Picture (Hindi, 2011)
Manjadikuru (Malayalam, 2012)
Dwaar (Assamese, 2013)
Amara Kaaviyam (Tamil, 2014)
1990s
Timepass (Marathi, 2014)
David (Tamil, 2013)
Haider (Hindi, 2014)
Dum Laga ke Haisha (Hindi, 2015)
Also see short wiki list.
Vintage Indian Clothing 
Hi Anu,
Love this list….would be a great reckoner to go through for referencing for period films! your blog is a great source. I would like to add to the 1980’s list- “Neerja” is based in late 1980’s. Would love to read your take/comments on the costumes as I have done the costumes for the film 🙂 would really appreciate your feedback!
It is so lovely to have a costume designer comment on the blog, thank you so much!!! The list was compiled some time back on tumblr so Neerja is not included. Would love to do it when I get hold of the DVD. The stills look very promising and now I must check out more on the costumes!!!
Reblogged this on THE SCARLET LETTERS.
Thank yoou for this