A message picture is a motion picture that, in addition to or instead of being for entertainment, intends to communicate to a certain message or ideal about society. These pictures usually present the message they want to deliver in the form of a morality play , and are usually serious (often somber) works. However, not all messages are entirely serious, and there are also movies spoofing the genre ( Sullivan’s Travels , for example).

Dore Schary was famous for his message at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Among thesis Were The Next Voice You Hear , Asphalt Jungle , and Blackboard Jungle . Other Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night (The former director by Stanley Kramer , who was well-known for numerous message films).

In Indian cinema , BR Chopra is famous for message pictures. Examples include Kanoon (against capital punishment), Naya Daur (importance of labor), Waqt (importance of time and destiny), Nikaah (against triple talaq (divorce) among Muslims), etc.