Who doesn’t love crime thrillers? Everybody loves them. It is the action, the mystery, the psychopathic instincts that draw viewers towards it. Bollywood over the years has produced some really amazing crime thrillers and we as fans have been well fed with some really good content. Over these years, Bollywood has tried everything when it comes to crime and mystery thrillers, but the excitement gets a notch higher, when filmmakers put the female leads in action, rather than keeping her as the side piece.
So, here we have 7 films that show what women can be when they are made in charge of an amazing mystery and crime thriller with an amazing story.
1. 7 Khoon Maaf (2011): Netflix
The movie stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead along with an ensemble cast of male actors. The star of the movie is without doubt Priyanka Chopra who portrays the character of a girl who keeps on marrying but also keeps on murdering her husbands. She does all this so that she could find true love, but in each marriage of hers, she has always found something or the other that is wrong with her husbands and later ended up killing them with the help of her trusted acquaintances. In the end, her 7th time, she feels like the only way to find true love is if she devotes herself to God, thus becoming a nun.
2. Gupt (1997): ZEE5
One of the most amazing and classic thriller movies that Bollywood has seen to date. Gupt stars Bobby Deol, Kajol, and Manisha Koirala in the lead, with Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, and Raj Babbar in the supporting roles. The story follows a young couple Sahil Sinha and his girlfriend Isha. Sahil wrongfully gets the blame for the murder of his father and in his tough times, Isha being the dutiful girlfriend extends all her love and support for him. As the investigation goes forward, the police dive deep into mysterious murders that don’t only stop at Sahil’s father. With so many people around him, the police realize that it is someone close to Sahil who has been committing all these crimes.
3. Kahaani (2012): Netflix
Kahaani is said to be one of Sujoy Ghosh’s best creations to date. The movie stars Vidya Balan in the lead and she single-handedly carries the movie till the end with the perfect suspense and thrill. Vidya Balan, who plays the role of a pregnant NRI woman, comes to India in search of her husband who has gone missing. She is supported by memorable side characters like Bob Biswas, who help her to solve the mystery, and by the end of the movie, viewers stay shocked to see how the ending of the movie unfolds.
4. NH10 (2015): Amazon Prime Video
NH10 is one of Anushka Sharma’s special projects because this is her first movie produced by her production house. The movie stars Anushka Sharma as Meera and Neil Bhoopalam as Arjun in the lead as a professional couple living a busy life in Gurugram. To take a break from their busy lives, they plan a road trip getaway and as they are on their way, they stop at a roadside dhaba, where a girl asks them for help. This is the beginning of the end of their trip as they get involved as witnesses of gang murder and honor killing. To stop the couple, the gang leader goes after them and they are heavily injured. Somehow as they escape and Meera tries to get help from the police, she realizes it’s too late. She is out now, to get her revenge and she will do it no matter what happens.
5. Mardaani 2 (2019): Amazon Prime Video
The movie is directed by Gopi Puthran and follows the journey of police officer Shivani Shivaji Roy from the first film. The movie is set in Kota, Rajasthan, and follows the story of a psychopath named Sunny who works for a politician. He brutally rapes and murders innocent women, leaving a trail of bruised and battered bodies after his act. However, he gets to scam the police every time but Shivani swears to catch the culprit and bring him to justice.
6. Rahasya (2015): ZEE5
Directed by Manish Gupta, “Rahasya” happened to be one of the most controversial movies of 2015. The movie stars Tisca Chopra, Kay Kay Menon, Mita Vasisth and Ashwini Kalsekar. The movie is said to be a replica of what the Aarushi Murder Case was. The movie stars Tisca Chopra as the mother, who finds out about her daughter’s death. A CBI officer is assigned to the case and the murder case, which looked like one, ended up being a double murder case. As the team of investigators starts gathering proof about what happened and how someone could be killed in their own home, the story gets more twisted and more tricky by the end.
7. Badla (2019): Netflix
Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, Badla is the remake of the Spanish movie “The Invisible Guest”. The story follows a young married entrepreneur, played by Tapsee Pannu, who finds herself in a locked hotel room next to the body of her dead lover. While she is accused of the crime, she believes she didn’t commit, and hoping to find answers, she hires a prestigious lawyer to help her solve the mystery of what happened. Full of twists and turns, the movie takes you through a complete from each and every given perspective of what might happen, with unending mind games, the movie shows who the real culprit is at the end.