Top 10 Hindi Mystery Movies

hello readers of my blog. In this age of instant gratification, infinite distractions and instantaneous means of entertainment, books have lost their sheen, we are hardly able to focus on one topic before something else comes up to distract us. Reading books has become a chore and that too an arduous one, compared to TV and films where you don't need to be patient or invest mentally or financially.

Some people now even find films to be boring, long and uninteresting. This blog is definitely not for those folks. Some years back I did a post on my favorite English mystery movies, now I'm back with part two(after almost 37 months, insert awkward smile here).


10. Gumnaam - Based on "And then there were none" by Agatha Christie. 10 people are trapped on an island and they get murdered one by one. Manoj Kumar must find the killer before they are all murdered. Great theme music, good ending and atmospheric, the movie was spoiled by some very bad acting and ridiculous/illogical moments. Director should have stuck to the original plot.



9. 404: Error not found - This obscure gem which was released in 2011, is one of those rare pieces of superlative cinema but with a plot which crumbles on scrutiny. A brilliant student starts hallucinating after moving into a room that was occupied by another who committed suicide. Boasting of no star power this one is atmospheric, slow and very much watchable.


8.  Gupt -  In 1997, Bobby Deol, the dashing son of the legendary actor Dharmendra was at his prime and during that period one of his best movies was released filled with cheesy dialogues, fantastic songs , music and typical Bollywood action sequences. The Movie is a murder mystery where Bobby Deol's step dad is killed and of course he is pinned for the murder. The protagonist then goes out on a hunt to find out and catch the real killer, aided by Manisha Koirala and Kajol who were also in their prime, the movie is a Bollywood masala with a genuine murder mystery with a huge cast of suspects and lots of red herrings. Oh and it also has Om Puri!




7.  Woh Kaun Thi? - released way back in 1964, starring the enigmatic Manoj Kumar and directed by the brilliant Raj Khosla. The opening scene of the movie shot through the POV of a driver navigating his car through torrential rains is something that I'm yet to come across again. This movie is a must for msytery and movie buffs in general alike. The brilliant direction transforms even a simple scene of a person driving through rain with no music and only the sound of the wiper into an atmosphere of suspense. The movies keeps on piling impossible situations but in the end screws up everything. Had the ending been better handled, this movie would have been much higher on this list.

The Pope and Mussolini by David Kertzer

The period between 1930's to mid 1940's was one of histories darkest yet richest. In it we saw the rise of a galaxy of political and military leaders like Adolf Hitler, Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Churchill, Stalin, FDR etc. One figure out of these galaxy of leaders was Mussolini, for me Mussolini had always remained an intriguing and enigmatic figure. The media has been bullheadedly focused on Hilter for the past several decades thus for us non-Europeans Mussolini and his fascist band has remained in the shadows of their Nazi counterparts. This tome by Mr Kertzer brings to light not only the rise and fall of Mussolini, along with his fascist party but also the rise and fall of Pope Pius XI. During this tumultuous time the Roman Catholic Church had one of its best leaders at its helm, Pius XI was tenacious, iron willed and aggressive.



The book explores the journey of the two men, Pius and Mussolini. Both, had humble origins, both Italians rose to the top of their respective domains. Although the two headed very different institutions, one being the head of an extreme right political party and other, head of the biggest religion in the world, still the two had ample similarities.

The Church and the Fascist were initially opposed to each other. The two representing completely different ideologies, Mussolini was in fact, a self confessed agnostic and looked at the clergy with contempt. Mussolini soon realized in order to capture power in the catholic dominated Italy he would have to ally with the Pope and the institution that he found most odious.

Seven Wonders of Crime by Paul Halter

"Beauty following the sun's example, prevents us from seeing what's around it whenever it appears." - Philon.

A Serial Killer is on the loose, he is committing one miraculous murder after another. An old man is burnt on top of a lighthouse, he is locked inside alone with no one there for miles, the police are perplexed on how was the man set on fire? It reminds the Edwardian dilettante and amateur sleuth, Owen Burns, of the lighthouse of Alexandria. The killer has a peculiar idiosyncrasy, he sends a painting of the murder and clues to the name of the victim to the police before perpetrating a wonder of crime. The killer wants to emulate the seven wonders of the ancient world in his own twisted way. His next victim, is shot on the nape by an arrow that seems to be shot from heaven, the police and the detective are baffled on how can some make this impossible shot at the back of the neck. This reminds them of the temple of Artemis.

The murderer continues to kill with impunity and each murder is more impossible, more incredulous and more baffling than the last. The murderer not only kills by sending clues before hand to the police, he also murders in a fashion which leaves the police befuddled, on top of that each murder reminds one of the seven wonders of the world. Thus, our detective in the piece calls them the Seven Wonder of Crime.