If People We Meet on Vacation (2026) left you craving more slow-burn tensions and almost-romances, these Asian films follow the same irresistible formula: best friends afraid to cross the line, life-changing road trips, and years of distance. From high school sweethearts to reunions in adulthood, EnVi has rounded up seven films to keep you in your feels this Valentine’s Day.
Where to watch availability may shift by region.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)
This film’s story starts by introducing us to Naina Talwar (Deepika Padukone), a quiet medical student who feels stuck at home and unsure of what she wants… until a chance run-in with an old classmate pushes her to join a spontaneous trip to the Himalayas. On the trek, she reconnects with her friends, including Kabir “Bunny” Thapar (Ranbir Kapoor), a charming dreamer set on traveling the world. Naina falls for Bunny but keeps her feelings to herself when she realizes his plans do not include settling down, and life eventually pulls them apart. Much like People We Meet On Vacation, they reunite at a friend’s wedding years later. Old feelings resurface and unresolved tensions come to light as Bunny and Naina confront how differently they see love, ambition, and home. What comes next is a series of asking what it means to let go — and learning how to move forward together.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Netflix
Hello, Love, Again (2024)
In the spring of 2020, Ethan (Alden Richards) visits Joy (Kathryn Bernardo) in Calgary and proposes — only to get stranded by lockdowns and forced to live with her as his life in Hong Kong falls apart. Financial stress, grief, and emotional distance push their relationship to a breaking point, and after a betrayal, they decide to part ways. Years later, they unexpectedly cross paths again and agree to live together as common-law partners for practical reasons. Like People We Meet on Vacation, this film revolves around missed timing, emotional baggage, and two people who keep circling back into each other’s lives at different life stages. At its heart, it asks whether love can survive growth, change, and the weight of the past.
Where to watch: Netflix
Friend Zone (2019)
Just like the title suggests, Friend Zone follows Palm (Naphat Siangsomboon), a guy who has been in love with his high school best friend Gink (Baifern Pimchanok) for years. The film stays mostly in Palm’s point of view, highlighting the everyday companionship and intimate moments that might otherwise be overlooked rather than big romantic gestures. In that sense, this movie feels similar to People We Meet on Vacation, where tension rises from timing and years of shared history instead of dramatic confessions. Instead of forcing rom-com tropes, Friend Zone leans into light, natural comedy that comes from clumsiness and familiar situations, making the humor feel easy and relatable. What stands out most is how Palm’s feelings show up as care rather than expectation. He stays by Gink’s side simply because he wants her to be happy, even when it comes at a personal cost.
Where to watch: Apple TV+, Netflix
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)
The classic Bollywood melodrama Kuch Kuch Hota Hai follows Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), a college student who is completely oblivious to the fact that his best friend Anjali Sharma (Kajol Devgan) is in love with him. Rahul eventually falls for Tina (Rani Mukerji), an exchange student who brings out a softer side of him. Heartbroken, Anjali Sharma leaves college.Years later, Rahul is widowed after Tina dies in childbirth, and is left with her letters and their daughter Anjali (Sana Saeed). Eight years later, his daughter sets out to reunite Rahul and Anjali Sharma (now a dance instructor engaged to someone else), forcing them both to face old feelings and missed timing. Like most Bollywood films, music plays a huge role in carrying the film’s most heartfelt and emotional moments, growing more expressive as the story deepens. The movie features songs that move the plot forward and choreography to amplify its most dramatic moments.
Where to watch: Apple TV+, Prime Video, Netflix
What’s With Love 2 (2016)
Fourteen years after their budding romance in high school, Rangga (Nicholas Saputra) and Cinta (Dian Sastrowardoyo) cross paths again in the same city. Cinta is now engaged and running a pop art cafe in Jakarta, while Rangga has been living in New York, keeping his distance from home and from her. When a chance encounter during Cinta’s girl trip brings them back into each other’s orbit, they must dive headfirst into old wounds and unspoken feelings as they revisit the reasons behind their breakup and try to part on good terms. But that plan falls apart as their reunion complicates things, leading the two to question whether the lives they built apart really are the ones they want.
Where to watch: Netflix
I’m Drunk, I Love You (2017)
Just days before graduation, Dio (Paul Avelino) invites his best friend Carson (Maja Salvador) on a spontaneous road trip to La Union in the Philippines. What he doesn’t know is that Carson has been quietly in love with him for seven years, and she brings her close friend Jason along as a buffer. As the trip stretches out with late nights, shared drinks, and old college memories, Dio casually reveals that he is back with his ex. The confession forces Carson to finally confront feelings she has spent years burying, pushing her toward a choice that could change their friendship forever.
Where to watch: YouTube
That Thing Called Tadhana (2014)
Antoinette Jadaone’s That Thing Called Tadhana opens at an airport in Italy, where Mace Castillo (Angelica Panganiban) panics over her excess baggage until a stranger named Anthony (JM De Guzman) offers to share space in his luggage. That small act of kindness turns into long conversations and an unexpected connection. Back in the Philippines, the two drift through Manila, then take spontaneous trips to Baguio and Sagada, where they spend their time talking about exes, missed chances, and how hard it is to let go of the past. The film detours from your typical rom-com built on superficial kiligs to a much more sensible introspective romance.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
Is Rom-Com Back?
It might feel like rom-coms have gone quiet, but they’re actually thriving if you know just where to look. Between Emily Henry’s upcoming adaptations and the heartfelt stories being developed across Asia, the genre is very much alive and evolving. Let these films be a reminder that there’s still plenty of romance out there, waiting to be found.
Want more? Check out EnVi’s First Impressions of the Thai rom-com series “Be My Angel” here!
