Bollywood has had a long-standing love affair with espionage and action movies from classics like Jewel Thief to modern-day hits like Ek Tha Tiger. Are you ready to shake up your night with these 15 stand-out movies?
Shah Rukh Khan stars as R&AW operative Pathaan
Pathaan (2023)
Bollywood’s knuckle-busting spy thriller Pathaan shot into movie theaters worldwide in 2023 and smashed box office records with its full-throttle style. Pathaan stars Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) as a fictional operative from R&AW (India’s equivalent of the CIA)must work with ISI agent Rubai Mohsin (Deepika Padukone) to bring down a traitor. (Prime Video, Netflix in India)
Khufiya (2023)
Khufiya (Secret) is a Hindi-language neo-noir spy thriller film based on Amar Bhushan's espionage novel Escape to Nowhere. An R&AW espionage operative is assigned to track down a mole selling defense secrets while grappling with her dual identity as a spy and a lover. Starring Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Ashish Vidyarth. (Netflix India and select countries.)
RRR (2022)
Imaginative, action-packed, and with an epic dance-off, Indian blockbuster RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) is wildly inventive with set pieces that will leave you dancing in the streets. Set in pre-independence India, this is a fictional tale of two revolutionaries based on historical characters - one a mysterious police officer in the British Army, the other a brave warrior. Naatu Naatu, the Oscar-winning Best Original Song is a stand-out. (Netflix, Telugu dubbed into English.)
Ek Tha Tiger / There Was One Tiger (2012)
In the first of the four YRF Spy Universe blockbusters, Ek Tha Tiger, an agent for the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), is sent to spy on an Indian scientist but the operation is almost derailed when he falls in love with the scientist's caretaker. (Prime Video, Apple TV, Hindi with English subtitles.)
Tiger Zinda Hai / Tiger is Alive (2017)
Tiger Zinda Hai centers on actor Salman Khan as R&AW agent Avinash 'Tiger' Singh Rathore. He and Pakistani spy Zoya reunite after eight years to rescue nurses captured by ISIL terrorists. As the bullets fly, so do the romantic sparks. This is the second of the YRF spy flicks. (Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play - Hindi with English subtitles.)
War (2019)
More bromance than romance, War is the story of a rogue agent (Hrithik Roshan) who leads the Elite Shadow Unit of R&AW, a group of Armed Forces operatives trained to work on high-risk missions worldwide. But what happens when an Indian soldier is sent out to eliminate him in the name of national security? This is the third of the YRF movies. (Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play - Hindi with English subtitles.)
Mission Majnu (2023)
Deep-cover R&AW field operative Amandeep Singh is activated in Pakistan on an undercover mission to investigate nuclear weapons. He must work with two other R&AW agents stationed in Pakistan to stop Israel from bombing the wrong location but he is torn between his job and his love for his blind wife Nasreen. (Netflix - English and Hindi.)
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Bollywood has had a long-standing love affair with espionage and action movies from classics like Jewel Thief to modern-day hits like Ek Tha Tiger. Are you ready to shake up your night with these 15 stand-out movies?
Shah Rukh Khan stars as R&AW operative Pathaan
Pathaan (2023)
Bollywood’s knuckle-busting spy thriller Pathaan shot into movie theaters worldwide in 2023 and smashed box office records with its full-throttle style. Pathaan stars Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) as a fictional operative from R&AW (India’s equivalent of the CIA)must work with ISI agent Rubai Mohsin (Deepika Padukone) to bring down a traitor. (Prime Video, Netflix in India)
Khufiya (2023)
Khufiya (Secret) is a Hindi-language neo-noir spy thriller film based on Amar Bhushan's espionage novel Escape to Nowhere. An R&AW espionage operative is assigned to track down a mole selling defense secrets while grappling with her dual identity as a spy and a lover. Starring Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Ashish Vidyarth. (Netflix India and select countries.)
RRR (2022)
Imaginative, action-packed, and with an epic dance-off, Indian blockbuster RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) is wildly inventive with set pieces that will leave you dancing in the streets. Set in pre-independence India, this is a fictional tale of two revolutionaries based on historical characters - one a mysterious police officer in the British Army, the other a brave warrior. Naatu Naatu, the Oscar-winning Best Original Song is a stand-out. (Netflix, Telugu dubbed into English.)
Ek Tha Tiger / There Was One Tiger (2012)
In the first of the four YRF Spy Universe blockbusters, Ek Tha Tiger, an agent for the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), is sent to spy on an Indian scientist but the operation is almost derailed when he falls in love with the scientist's caretaker. (Prime Video, Apple TV, Hindi with English subtitles.)
Tiger Zinda Hai / Tiger is Alive (2017)
Tiger Zinda Hai centers on actor Salman Khan as R&AW agent Avinash 'Tiger' Singh Rathore. He and Pakistani spy Zoya reunite after eight years to rescue nurses captured by ISIL terrorists. As the bullets fly, so do the romantic sparks. This is the second of the YRF spy flicks. (Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play - Hindi with English subtitles.)
War (2019)
More bromance than romance, War is the story of a rogue agent (Hrithik Roshan) who leads the Elite Shadow Unit of R&AW, a group of Armed Forces operatives trained to work on high-risk missions worldwide. But what happens when an Indian soldier is sent out to eliminate him in the name of national security? This is the third of the YRF movies. (Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play - Hindi with English subtitles.)
Mission Majnu (2023)
Deep-cover R&AW field operative Amandeep Singh is activated in Pakistan on an undercover mission to investigate nuclear weapons. He must work with two other R&AW agents stationed in Pakistan to stop Israel from bombing the wrong location but he is torn between his job and his love for his blind wife Nasreen. (Netflix - English and Hindi.)
Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty (2014)
An Indian Army officer is secretly working undercover for R&AW with a mission to eliminate sleeper cells in Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty. His best shot is to hunt down a terrorist to deactivate the cells but are operations ever that easy? (Hotstar, Netflix in some countries - English)
D-Day (2013)
D-Dayis another action thriller that follows a team of experts dispatched to bring in India’s Most Wanted Man. Four Indian agents travel to Karachi, Pakistan for the operation but - perhaps inevitably - the mission goes horribly wrong. (Prime Video - Hindi and English)
Force 2 (2016)
Indian agents are dying in China including a police commissioner, one of Yashvardhan Singh’s best friends. Before his death, the officer mailed Singh a book of coded messages that reveals a conspiracy underway involving Budapest. A nerdy hacker may be behind an even bigger operation in Force 2, a thrilling action story. (Netflix in some countries - Hindi with English subtitles)
Agent Vinod embarks on a secret mission to investigate the story behind the death of Rajan, his colleague. Terror strikes when he unfolds an even bigger conspiracy. (Prime Video, Apple TV - Hindi with English subtitles.)
Baby (2015)
Ajay, a member of an elite counter-terrorism intelligence unit, discovers a major threat and leads the team in a series of raids to prevent a terrorist attack on India. (Prime Video, Apple TV - Hindi with English subtitles)
Gangster: A Love Story (2006)
Simran relocates to Seoul and is distraught when a gangster, Daya, re-enters her life. She has to make a choice between him and her lover Akash, a singer at an Indian restaurant. Anurag Basu and Emraan Hashmi star. (Prime Video - Hindi with English subtitles )
Madras Cafe (2013)
Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is an Indian Army officer appointed by R&AW to carry out operations in Sri Lanka. He gets caught up in a civil war and a conspiracy to kill India’s former PM. Madras Cafe is a political thriller involving terrorism and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) so viewer discretion is advised. (Netflix, Apple TV - Hindi with English subtitles)
Raazi (2018)
Raazi revolves around Alia Bhatt (Raazi) who - on her father’s request - marries a Pakistani officer to pass secrets to India. The film is set in 1971, when tension was building to a war between India and Pakistan. The movie is an adaptation of Harinder Sikka's novel Calling Sehmat - a true story involving a 20-year-old Kashmiri girl. (Prime Video - Hindi with English subtitles)
HONORABLE MENTION
K.G.F: Chapter 2 (2022)
Rocky, the new overlord in the Kolar Gold Fields, strikes fear in the heart of his foes. The government sees him as a threat, enemies want to bring him down, but some look to Rocky as their only hope. (Netflix in some countries, Prime Video, Hindi)
Don and the sequel Don 2
A notorious gangster's lookalike is recruited by police to impersonate him and gather information about his operations in Don. In the sequel, the gangster escapes from prison and sets out to consolidate his power in the criminal underworld. (Netflix in some countries - Hindi with English subtitles)
Kahaani (2012)
While not strictly an espionage movie, Kahaani is a mystery thriller featuring spy tradecraft. A pregnant woman's search for her missing husband takes her from London to Kolkata, but everyone she questions denies having ever met him. (Prime Video - Hindi with English subtitles)
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
Set in medieval India, Baahubali revolves around Bhallaladeva, a man who conspires to have his brother killed and his sister-in-law imprisoned so he can become the king of Mahishmati. Years later, his brother's son returns to avenge his father's death. Baahubali is more of an action film than an espionage thriller but its high impact makes it a must-watch movie. (Apple, Netflix, Prime Video, Youtube, Google Play - Telugu/Hindi with English subtitles)
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