Bollywood Loves a Good Murder

Who doesn't like a good murder mystery?

Indian audiences seem to love it, and may just get one with this week's release The Great Indian Murder, based on Vikas Swarup's bestselling novel Six Suspects.

Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, the Web series stars Richa Chadha and Pratik Gandhi.

This genre has been quite successful at the Bollywood box office through the years.

Joginder Tuteja lists the biggest money-making movie murder mysteries.

 

Talaash
Box office collection: Rs 91 crore

Director Reema Kagti brought together a solid cast including Aamir Khan, Rani Mukhrji and Kareena Kapoor.

The supernatural twist in the narrative was a good surprise.

 

Badla
Box office collection: Rs 87.99 crore

Sujoy Ghosh's Badla kept audiences guessing from the first shot till the last.

A remake of a Spanish film, this Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu starrer was produced by Shah Rukh Khan and emerged a hit at the box office.

Drishyam
Box office collection: Rs 77 crore

The Ajay Devgn starrer is among the best suspense dramas that one has seen in recent years.

It wasn't as much about who committed the murder, but instead, about how he hid the crime from the cops.

The plot twists were unexpected, yet believable.

 

Andhadhun
Box office collection: Rs 75.60 crore

Andhadhun had a lot of thrilling twists and turns in the narrative, in true Sriram Raghavan style.

Ayushmann Khurranna and Tabu were terrific in the film, which was in a similar genre as Drishyam.

The fact that it was also a black comedy enhanced it further.

 

The Murder franchise
Murder: Rs 15 crore
Murder 2: Rs 48 crore
Murder 3: Rs 22.88 crore

A franchise that got diluted over a period of time, Murder, as the title suggests, had a murder as the central plot point.

The first film, with Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat, was a big success.

Murder 2, starring Hashmi with Jacqueline Fernandez, was bigger and darker.

Murder 3 had Randeep Hooda and Aditi Rao Hydari, and it started as a supernatural murder mystery, only to emerge as a revenge drama.

 

Wazir
Box office collection: Rs 41 crore

An amazing plot about a murder that never was and a murderer that never existed, Wazir could have been a far better movie had it been tense and exciting right through.

The film worked in bits and pieces.

The performances from Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar and Neil Nitin Mukesh were impeccable.

 

Talvar
Box office collection: Rs 31 crore

Meghna Gulzar's Talvar was a chilling movie, based on the real life murder of Arushi Talwar.

It asked the pertinent question: Did the parents kill their young daughter?

A murder mystery with powerful performances by Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Neeraj Kabi, it did well at the box office.

 

Ittefaq
Box office collection: Rs 30.21 crore

A whodunit remade from B R Chopra's 1969 thriller, Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Khanna added a lot of thrills and made its debutante director Abhay Chopra a talent to watch out for.

 

Ajnabee
Box office collection: Rs 18 crore

Directors Abbas-Mustan have directed quite a few murder mysteries, including Khiladi and Humraaz, but Ajnabee remains one of the favourites till date.

The film, starring Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor and Bobby Deol, saw Bipasha Basu as the murdered victim.

 

Gupt
Box office collection: Rs 18 crore

Gupt is one of Bollywood's best murder mysteries.

Director Rajiv Rai made such a thriller that no one saw who the murderer was till the end, resulting in a mass wave of people making the big revelation -- 'Kajol is the killer' -- wherever one went in those days.