At the 30th Academy Awards, 'Mother India' was considered as a movie that created a turning point and marked a glorious milestone in the history of India's movie industry. The first movie in the list of the top best Indian movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film category was Mehboob Khan's 1957 Hindi-language film (or Mother India), an epic blockbuster of a brave woman who raises and rears her sons through many trials and tribulations.

Mother India, also one of the most expensive Bollywood films of its time, had the highest quantity of ticket sale gross in any Indian film until the release of Mughal-e-Azam (1960), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar, and Rajendra Kumar appeared in this epic drama film directed by Mehboob Khan. The story is set in a rural India in the post-independence period and it is told through the eyes of a poor family.

After being published in 1989, "Salaam Bombay!" has been considered as a critically acclaimed film, becoming the second one in the top best Indian movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mira Nair directed, co-wrote, and co-produced the film with Sooni Taraporevala, and it provides watchers a detailed look into the world of narcotics, prostitution, and child labor in India's slums. What inspired Nair to make the film is the spirit of Bombay's street children, as well as how they lived. The National Film Development Corporation of India helped co-finance the film, which began production in early 1988. The picture grossed an estimated $7.4 million at the international box office after its worldwide premiere on October 6, 1988, despite a production budget of $450,000.

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 61st Academy Awards, the film was not only known as India's second film submission to be so nominated but it also won the Caméra d'Or and Audience award at the Cannes Film Festival, two National Awards, and three awards at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film was among the list of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" by The New York Times.

Holding the third rank in the list of the best Indian movies nominated for the Academy Award - an Indian film with a name "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India". Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India is an epic musical sports film in Hindi of India by Ashutosh Gowariker wrote and directed. The film was set in 1893, during the colonial period of the British Raj of India at the end of the Victorian period of India. The plot revolves around a small town in central India, where residents bear heavy taxes and years of drought, find themselves in an unusually difficult situation when an arrogant British Indian Army commander let them play a game of cricket as a bet to get rid of paying the taxes they pay.

The plot revolves around this situation, in which the villagers must learn a new game and play to win a prize that will decide the fate of their village. Lagaan is considered one of the most popular Indian films ever to be nominated for an Oscar. This sci-fi drama has long been a favorite of Indian audiences, receiving praise from critics and financiers alike. The playmaker Aamir Khan follows a small group of villagers competing in a cricket tournament against English authorities in protest at the recently imposed land tax. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.

The last name in the list of the best Indian movies nominated for the Academy Award is 'The White Tiger' - a 2021 drama film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani with the participation of several Indian film stars namely, Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Rajkummar Rao. The film is judged as one of the Best Indian movies nominated for the International Award. It is an adaptation of the 2008 novel of the same name which was made up by Aravind Adiga, (published in 2008, the novel was so well-received that it made it to the New York Times bestseller list), the protagonist of the novel is Balram, who comes from a destitute Indian hamlet and utilizes his brains and cunning to escape poverty.

On January 22, 2021, the film was released worldwide via Netflix's streaming platform. The White Tiger was well-received by critics, who applauded the film's directing, narrative, and cast performances. The film was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film still ranked in the top 10 movies to watch on Netflix's list for a long time earned Bahrani an Academy Awards nomination.