Over the years, Bollywood has created a number of exciting heist films and television shows that have captivated viewers with their heart-pounding storylines, endearing characters, and deft twists.

TOP 10 BOLLYWOOD HEIST MOVIES AND TV SERIES

By myshowdb

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1. Special 26 (2013)

Neeraj Pandey is the writer and director of the 2013 Indian Hindi-language period heist thriller Special 26. The plot, which is based on the Opera House robbery of 1987, centers on a group of criminals (Akshay Kumar and Anupam Kher) who carry out raids while posing as CBI agents in order to steal black money from politicians and businesses. They choose to carry out their largest robbery to yet since Manoj Bajpayee, the actual CBI, is pursuing them. Divya Dutta, Rajesh Sharma, Jimmy Sheirgill, Kajal Aggarwal, and Kishor Kadam are also featured in the movie.

In Delhi, filming got underway on February 23, 2012. The movie was filmed in Mumbai and Chandni Chowk, which is close to Jama Masjid. On December 20, 2012, a theatrical trailer was made available online. Wide Frame Pictures and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures distributed the movie throughout India.

The release date of Special 26 was February 8, 2013. It was widely praised by critics. It was ranked among the year’s top movies by a number of reviewers. With a gross of ₹103 crore, or ₹175 crore or US$22 million in 2023, it became a commercial triumph.

2. Ghanchakkar (2013)

The 2013 Indian heist black comedy-drama film Ghanchakkar (transl. Crazy), which was produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwvala from UTV Motion Pictures, was directed by Rajkumar Gupta. Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan play the main characters in the movie. On June 28, 2013, the theatrical trailer made its premiere. Critics gave the movie varying ratings.

3. Kaante (2002)

Kaante, which translates to “Thorns,” is a 2002 action-thriller movie in Hindi that was written and directed by Sanjay Gupta. It starred a number of well-known actors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Lucky Ali, Mahesh Manjrekar, Kumar Gaurav, Namrata Singh Gujral, Rati Agnihotri, Rohit Roy, Isha Koppikar, and Malaika Arora. The movie, which is set in Los Angeles, centers on six Indian guys who are arrested by the police without any proof. They band together to plan a bank heist that would bankrupt the Los Angeles Police Department because they feel wronged and want revenge. But when things go out of control, people begin to doubt one another’s identities, which sparks turmoil and bloodshed.

Ringo Lam’s 1987 film City on Fire and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) served as major inspirations for Kaante. Of all the movies that drew substantially from his work, Tarantino claims that Kaante is his favorite.

Theatrical distribution of Kaante began on December 20, 2002. With first-week receipts of £1.8 million in India, almost $1 million in the US, and £268,507 in the UK, the movie was a box office hit. With ₹ 331.2 million in India and $2.05 million elsewhere, the movie’s final global gross was ₹430 million ($9 million).

4. Don 2 (2011)

Farhan Akhtar is the writer, co-producer, and director of the 2011 Indian Hindi-language action thriller Don 2: The King Is Back. This is the second part of the series on Don’s reboot. Shah Rukh Khan plays the movie’s titular anti-hero in this Excel Entertainment and Red Chillies Entertainment joint venture. Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Nawwab Shah, Ally Khan, Sahil Shroff, and Kunal Kapoor play supporting roles. The film, a follow-up to Don (2006), picks up five years after the events of the first picture, with Don (Khan), a vicious international drug lord, attempting to gain control of the European drug cartel. Roma (Chopra) has joined Interpol in the meantime to pursue him.

Don 2 was the recipient of numerous awards in different Indian events. Don 2 took up five accolades at the 57th Filmfare accolades, including Best Film, Best Director (Farhan), and Best Actor (Khan). It also took home two prizes for Best Sound Design and Best Action.

5. Happy New Year (2014)

Happy New Year, often known as HNY, is an action comedy film released in 2014 in the Hindi language in India. It was produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and directed by Farah Khan. Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah, and Jackie Shroff are among the ensemble cast members in the movie. Worldwide distribution was handled by Yash Raj Films. In order to pull off the largest diamond heist in history, a group of losers in the movie change into a team that wins over hearts both in the city and throughout the world.

Happy New Year is nominated for two awards at the 60th Filmfare Awards: Best Female Playback Singer (Shreya Ghoshal for “Manwa Laage”) and Best Supporting Actor (Bachchan). The screenplay for the movie is kept in the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

6. Dhoom (2004)

Based on a story by producer Aditya Chopra, Dhoom (transl. “Blast”) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Sanjay Gadhvi and written by Vijay Krishna Acharya. Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Uday Chopra, Esha Deol, and Rimi Sen are among the film’s stars. It is the Dhoom franchise’s debut installment. While Salim-Sulaiman and Pritam composed the background score and soundtrack, respectively, Nirav Shah handled the cinematography.

Since Yash Chopra’s 1988 film Vijay, Dhoom was the first action movie produced by Yash Raj Films. The movie centers on a group of motorcycle bandits headed by Kabir (John Abraham) who commit thefts in Mumbai. They are stopped by Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan), a police inspector, and Ali Akbar Fateh Khan (Uday Chopra), a motorbike dealer.

Dhoom won two awards—Best Sound Design and Best Editing—and garnered six nominations—including Best Film, Best Villain (Abraham), and Best Music Director (Pritam)—at the 50th Filmfare Awards. It gave rise to a film trilogy, Dhoom 2, which came out on November 24, 2006, and Dhoom 3, which came out on December 20, 2013.

7. Sacred Games

The 2006 novel of the same name by Vikram Chandra serves as the basis for the Indian neo-noir crime thriller television series Sacred Games. Produced and directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap under Phantom Films, it was India’s first Netflix original series. Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath adapted the book. Motwane, Erik Barmack, and Kelly Luegenbiehl served as the show’s executive producers.

The show follows the events that transpire after troubled Mumbai police officer Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) gets a call from mobster Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) directing him to save the city within 25 days. Additional cast members are Aamir Bashir, Jatin Sarna, Elnaaz Norouzi, Pankaj Tripathi, Amey Wagh, Kubbra Sait, Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Neeraj Kabi, Jeetendra Joshi, Rajshri Deshpande, Karan Wahi, Sukhmani Sadana, and Aamir Apte.

On July 5, 2018, Netflix launched the first season of Sacred Games, which consists of eight episodes, in 191 countries. More than 20 languages have subtitles for the series. Critics gave it mainly favorable reviews, praising the writing and acting in particular. The New York Times’ “The 30 Best International TV Shows of the Decade” list has only one Indian series, the first season. On August 15, 2019, the second season debuted to a mixed reception.

8. Hostages

Hostages is an official remake of the Israeli series of the same name, a crime thriller series in Hindi for Hotstar Specials. Directed by Sudhir Mishra, the series was written by Nisarg Mehta, Shiva Bajpai, and Mayukh Ghosh. Starring Ronit Roy, Tisca Chopra, Parvin Dabas, Aashim Gulati, Mohan Kapoor, and Dalip Tahil; in supporting roles are Anangsha Biswas, Sharad Joshi, Aashim Gulati, Surya Sharma, and Malhaar Rathod. In the series, a famous surgeon who is going to perform a standard surgery on the chief minister is given the order to kill him in order to keep his family from becoming enthralled.

The adaptation’s rights were acquired by Sameer Nair of Applause Entertainment in April 2018, and main production began in May 2018 and ended in March 2019. The series, which was billed as Sudhir Mishra’s digital debut, eventually debuted on Disney+ Hotstar on May 31, 2019. Critics had mixed feelings about the series, however they did laud Ronit Roy and Tisca Chopra’s performances despite their criticism of the writing. For their efforts, the performers finally took home two Gold Awards from the television-based content awards presentation. In April 2020, the series debuted on Star Plus as well.

9. The Great Heist

Marcela Benjumea, Paula Castaño, and Andres Parra feature in the 2020 Colombian online television miniseries The Great Heist (Spanish: El robo del siglo).

The play is a dramatic adaptation of the true event of the 1994 bank heist in Valledupar, where thieves stole 33 million US dollars from the national bank El Banco de la Republica (Bank of the Republic).

10. Breathe

The television series Breathe is an Indian crime drama thriller. It debuted on January 26, 2018, on Amazon Video. After Inside Edge in 2017, this is Amazon Prime Video’s second original Indian series. Starring in the series are Atharva Vishwakarma, Neena Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Joshi, Amit Sadh, Sapna Pabbi, and R. Madhavan. Breathe: Into the Shadows is the sequel series starring Abhishek Bachchan, which premiered on July 10, 2020.

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