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According to Wikipedia, 'thriller' is a genre of fiction that leaves the reader or the viewer with 'heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety'. Try watching Keanu Reeves' Speed and tell me your heart has not been beating rapidly the whole time, as the heroes figure out how to stop the speeding bus without ticking off the bomb. Or watch the classic The Wages of Fear, a 1953 French-Italian thriller about four men tasked with driving a dangerous consignment. Your heart would be in your mouth in many moments of the film. Coronavirus Watchlist: 17 Baffling Puzzles Left by These Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor Movies That You Can Crack While Rewatching!
With the pandemic worrying us and the lockdown making us fatigued, a good thriller could keep you engaged with its accelerating sense of tension, and exhilaration. In this special feature, here's us recommending 15 riveting thrillers from Bollywood that came out in 21st Century that you should totally checkout or rewatch in quarantine.
Pukar
Rajkumar Santoshi's thriller has a fantastic cast, led by Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, with Danny Denzongpa playing an intimidating terrorist, Abrush. Anil plays an braveheart Army Major who gets court-martialed and disgraced for no fault of his, the actor winning National Award for his performance. Madhuri Dixit is also excellent as his childhood friend who betrays him because he broke her heart. Beautifully shot and with an amazing score from AR Rahman, Pukar should be a great watch for those who like their thrillers blended with patriotism.
You can watch Pukar on Zee5.
Aankhen
Vipul Shah's best film to date is an adaptation of a Gujarati play, about three blind men trained to rob a bank by a schizophreniac slighted former manager. Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal and Paresh Rawal do a fine job as the blind men, especially Akshay whose character also possesses a sixth sense. Sushmita Sen is wonderful as the trainer coerced into training them, but it is Amitabh Bachchan who is a revelation here as the evil mastermind. The needless comic scenes involving a couple of irritating supporting characters suck, but the thrilling portions keep you on your toes.
Watch Aankhen on Airtel XStream.
Dhoom
The sequels may have earned more money but the first film's raw energy still makes it a better watch. Directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, Dhoom is inspired by Keanu Reeves' Point Break and is about a cop (Abhishek Bachchan) who teams up with a biker (Uday Chopra) to take down a gang of thieves, led by a smart robber (John Abraham). While it may not be the best in the films featured in the list, Dhoom is still fun and entertaining, with a popular soundtrack.
Watch Dhoom on YouTube, Google Pay and Sony Liv.
Khakee
Another Rajkumar Santoshi film in this list that was an average grosser at the box office, but deserves more love than it got. Featuring a multi-starrer cast featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai, Atul Kulkarni and Tusshar Kapoor, Khakee is one of the best cop dramas made in the industry. The movie is about a police unit bringing an alleged terrorist to Mumbai, but gets accosted by a dreaded criminal on the way. Devgn is simply chilling as the antagonist, Amitabh Bachchan has some powerful scenes and Akshay is entertaining as the corrupt cop gone good. And the final shocker is perhaps the best moment in Tusshar's acting career.
You can watch Khakee on YouTube and Google Play.
Dus
Before Anubhav Sinha found his calling with social dramas, he used to make stylish thrillers. While most of them were misfires (hello, Ra.One!), there is Dus that is quite an entertaining thriller shot in foreign locales and a fantastic soundtrack. Starring Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Shilpa Shetty and Zayed Khan, it is about a unit of Indian officers trying to catch a terrorist mastermind, only to realise they have been hoodwinked by the sly villain.
Watch Dus on Airtel XStream and Shemaroo Me.
Johnny Gaddaar
Sriram Raghavan may be everyone's darling director these days, after 2018's AndhaDhun (also featured in this list). But he had already shown in brilliance right from his first film, Ek Hasina Thi. His second film, Johnny Gaddaar, is perhaps the best film he has directed - a pulpy, twisty thriller of a heist gone wrong that is a homage to '70s thriller films like Johny Mera Naam and Parwana, as well as James Hadley Chase novels. It's like an well-oiled machine where every characters fits in well to turn a enthralling saga rolling that keeps you guessing about what's the movie's next turn till the very end.
Watch Johnny Gaddaar on YouTube (for free, actually).
Race
Abbas-Mustan's last, good thriller before their downslide is just a guilty pleasure watch, that throws so many twists on our face, hoping some of them stick well. Some of them do, and even if they don't, Race is pretty fun with its cast - Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif and Anil Kapoor - playing right to the gallery. Not to mention, a killer (even if mostly, inspired) soundtrack by Pritam.
Watch Race on Netflix.
A Wednesday!
Neeraj Pandey's directorial debut is a game-changer in cinema, where the director proved that you don't need stars with big box office draw to deliver a thrilling experience that also worked at the box office. A mysterious stranger threatens the Mumbai Police that if they don't release four dreaded terrorists, then he could rig a series of blasts. But what the cops didn't expect was the turn of events that would happen next and a powerful monologue that would follow, which would reverberate with every common man in India.
Watch A Wednesday! on Netflix.
Dum Maaro Dum
Rohan Sippy's investigative thriller deals with drugs and guns and a mysterious Barbosa. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Rana Daggubati, the cops vs gangs saga will leave you keep guessing with its many twists, with the pre-climax shocker being the best. And let's see if you can guess the identity of who this Barbosa is, if you haven't seen the film yet.
Watch Dum Maaro Dum on Disney Plus Hotstar.
Don 2: The Chase Continues
The first Don film, starring Shah Rukh Khan, is a nearly faithful remake of the Amitabh Bachchan classic with a killer twist in the end. The sequel turns into a heist thriller that is stylishly executed with a swagger-performance from King Khan. Has enough twists and turns and makes you eager for the threequel (that may never, ever happen). Kyunki Farhan Akhtar ko director ke kursi pe bithana ab mushkil hi nahi, par namumkin hai!"
Watch Don 2: The Chase Continues on Netflix.
Kahaani
The final twist may be inspired by Angelina Jolie's Taking Lives, but I can say that Sujoy Ghosh's film does it better. 'Cos the film manages to fool us right from the start. It is the kind of cinema where you are not sure whom to trust, including the protagonist. A heavily pregnant woman comes to Kolkata in search of her missing husband only to open a can of worms. The film smartly uses the Bengali influences to add a peculiar visual aesthetic to its twisty narrative, making it stand out from the rest of its ilk. Not to mention, managing to create cult characters out of Vidya Bagchi, Bob Biswas and Khan. Fantastic performances by Vidya Balan, Saswata Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (in a role that gave him a lot of notice). Also the soundtrack by Vishal-Shekhar is just amazing.
Watch Kahaani on Netflix.
Baby
The movie that turned Akshay Kumar into a nationalist hero. Neeraj Pandey's third film has him play the now-iconic Ajay Singh Rajput, an anti-terrorism officer trying to get hold of a Pakistan based terrorist mastermind. It is an ambitious film, with enough thrilling moments - our fave being Taapsee Pannu's Shabana (who gets an underwhelming spinoff) take down Sushant Singh's terrorist helper in Nepal. The second half veers close to Ben Affleck's Argo. Nevertheless, the thrill factor makes up for it.
Watch Baby on Disney Plus Hotstar.
NH10
Anushka Sharma's first production is a remake of a little known British thriller called Eden Lake. But this Navdeep Singh film carves its own identity by seeping the premise in some abhorrent malpractices like honour killings, casteism and of course, sexism. Anushka is terrific as the girl, whose road trip with her husband takes a sinister turn, while Darshan Kumar and Deepti Naval spell menace in their antagonistic turns.
Watch NH10 on Zee5.
Drishyam
The writer would still recommend you to watch the original Malayalam film, starring Mohanlal, for it is way ahead of its adaptations (the Tamil remake Papanasam comes close). But if you want your films Bollywood-style, then Drishyam is not bad for a remake. Ajay Devgn is too good as the common man stuck in an uncommon situation from which he has to save his family from, while Tabu is suitable somber as the cop investigating a disappearance, who is also a worried mother. And less said about that climactic twist, the better it will be for your watching experience.
Watch Drishyam on Disney Plus Hotstar.
Andhadhun
Sriram Raghavan's latest film has Ayushmann Khurrana play a pianist pretending to be blind, Radhika Apte his naive girlfriend and Tabu, a seductress who is carrying an affair behind her husband's back. Seeped in black comedy, the movie begins its dark fun when the pianist stumbles upon a murder scene and pretends that nothing macabre is happening around him. Andhadhun does not only have good performances, but also boasts of an intelligent screenplay that keeps you second-guessing. Even after the movie is over.
Watch Andhadhun on Netflix.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 13, 2020 06:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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