The 12 best Bollywood crime/thriller/mystery films of the 21st Century. It is hard to find a good crime-thriller film in an industry otherwise filled with romantic and masala films. These Bollywood crime thriller movies will end your thirst for the genre.
Talvar (2015)
The film is based on the 2008 Noida double murder case. Talvar is written by Vishal Bhardwaj and directed by Meghna Gulzar starring Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Neeraj Kabi. Talvar premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in the special-presentation section, and was screened at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival.
Rahasya (2015)
Another version of ‘Talvar’. Watching both the film will give a wonderful insight. The murder mystery is directed by Manish Gupta starring Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht and Ashwini Kalsekar. The film was inspired by the 2008 Noida double murder case.
The Stoneman Murders (2009)
A police investigation film written and directed by Manish Gupta starring Kay Kay Menon, Arbaaz Khan and Vikram Gokhale. Plot: A suspended police officer attempts to solve the case of a serial killer who stalks the streets of Bombay to ruthlessly kill the pavement dwellers while they are asleep.
Ugly (2014)
Plot: Rahul’s daughter (Kali) goes missing from his car. Soon, he and Bose, Kali’s step-father who is also a policeman, begin to accuse each other of kidnapping her. The emotional crime thriller is written and directed by Anurag Kashyap starring Rahul Bhat, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Vineet Kumar Singh, and Girish Kulkarni.
No One Killed Jessica (2011)
Plot: Sabrina Lal joins with an investigative journalist (Meera), to seek justice for her sister Jessica, who was murdered by the son of an influential politician. This must see crime thriller film based on the Jessica Lal murder case is directed by Raj Kumar Gupta starring Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan.
Ittefaq (2017)
Plot: Police Officer Dev investigates a double murder case that has two witnesses, Vikram and Maya, who are also the suspects. The mystery-thriller is directed by Abhay Chopra starring Akshaye Khanna, Sidharth Malhotra and Sonakshi Sinha.
Kahaani (2012)
Plot: Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman, reaches Kolkata in search of her missing husband. When all clues lead to a dead end, ‘we’ will start realizing that there is more than what is shown. The mystery film is directed by Sujoy Ghosh starring Vidya Balan.
Rustom (2016)
Plot: Rustom discovers his wife’s affair with a close friend. Soon Rustom is accused of murdering him. The crime thriller is written by Vipul K. Rawal, and directed by Tinu Suresh Desai starring Akshay Kumar and Ileana D’Cruz.
Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016)
The neo-noir psychological thriller is directed by Anurag Kashyap. RR is about the real life serial killer Raman Raghav. Raman Raghav 2.0 was premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. It also screened at the 2016 Sydney Film Festival, the Singapore International Film Festival, the Fantasia International Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, and the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.
Not A Love Story (2011)
The disturbing crime film is directed by Ram Gopal Varma. Plot: An aspiring movie actress and her boyfriend are arrested and charged with the murder of Ashish Bhatnagar, who signs her for a lead role. The film has Deepak Dobriyal, Mahie Gill, and Zakir Hussain in the main roles.
Paanch (2003)
A film directed by Anurag Kashyap. The crime thriller has Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes and Tejaswini Kolhapure in the lead roles. The film is “loosely” based on the 1976-77 Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders in Pune. Paanch was screened at Filmfest Hamburg in 2003, Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema as closing film in 2005, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles in 2006 and at Jagran Film Festival in 2016. It was banned by Censor board until 2011.
Ankur Arora Murder Case (2013)
Plot: Dr Asthana’s medical negligence costs an eight-year-old Ankur his life. When Dr Romesh, an intern who is in awe of Asthana he decides to support Ankur’s mother and fight for justice. The ,edical thriller is directed by Suhail Tatari and written by Vikram Bhatt starring Arjun Mathur, Kay Kay Menon, Vishakha Singh and Tisca Chopra.
Special Mention
Deewaangee – Blatant copy of ‘Primal Fear’. Definitely a wonderful experience those who have not seen the original.
“No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough” – Roger Ebert
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