10 Best Indian Crime Dramas

By Vlad Zakh · October 20, 2025

Indian crime cinema, especially the strand that came out of Mumbai’s late-90s noir wave, tends to skip the moralising and sit inside the underworld, which is why so many of these hold up as tense films rather than message movies. Raman Raghav 2.0 pairs a serial killer and the cop chasing him, Talvar investigates a real unsolved double murder three contradictory ways, and Raazi has a young bride secretly spying on a Pakistani military family. Ugly, Satya, Company, Black Friday, Vaastav and Ardh Satya round out the list.

Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016)

TMDB ★ 6.9

A serial killer and the cop chasing him turn out to have more in common than either wants.

Directed by Anurag Kashyap · 2h 14m

Where to watch

Stream: Zee5 · Rent or buy: Fetch TV

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Ugly (2013)

TMDB ★ 8.2

A child's disappearance exposes just how selfish every adult around her actually is.

Directed by Anurag Kashyap · 2h 08m

Where to watch

Stream: JioHotstar

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Raazi (2018)

TMDB ★ 7.8

A young Indian bride is secretly a spy embedded inside a Pakistani military family.

Directed by Meghna Gulzar · 2h 18m

Where to watch

Stream: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix Standard with Ads, Amazon Prime Video with Ads · Rent or buy: Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Talvar (2015)

TMDB ★ 8.3

A double murder gets investigated three contradictory ways, based on a real and still unresolved case.

Directed by Meghna Gulzar · 2h 12m

Where to watch

Stream: Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

No One Killed Jessica (2011)

TMDB ★ 7.7

A real murder case and the media campaign that eventually forced a conviction.

Directed by Raj Kumar Gupta · 2h 16m

Where to watch

Stream: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Vaastav (1999)

TMDB ★ 7.9

An ordinary young man slides accidentally into becoming a full-time gangster.

Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar · 2h 30m

Where to watch

Stream: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Goldmines Play Amazon Channel

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Ardh Satya (1983)

TMDB ★ 8.1

An honest cop slowly bends under pressure from the gangsters he is supposed to stop.

Directed by Govind Nihalani · 2h 03m

Where to watch

Rent or buy: Amazon Video

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Black Friday (2004)

TMDB ★ 8.5

A dense, documentary-style account of the 1993 Bombay bombings and their investigation.

Directed by Anurag Kashyap · 2h 42m · Rated R

Where to watch

Rent or buy: Google Play Movies, YouTube

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Company (2002)

TMDB ★ 7.8

A gang boss and his protege's falling-out plays out like a slow-motion civil war.

Directed by Joel Schumacher · 1h 56m · Rated PG-13

Where to watch

Rent or buy: Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Satya (1998)

TMDB ★ 8.2

A nobody drifts into Mumbai's underworld and rises fast, in one of the films that started the genre.

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma · 2h 50m

Where to watch

Stream: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads

▶ Trailer Letterboxd

Streaming availability data from JustWatch, via TMDB. Availability changes often, so check the service before you plan a movie night.

Vlad Zakh

Founder, Movieix

Founder of Movieix. He started the site because most recommendation pages felt like noise. Here, lists are sorted by who's in the film, where it's from and what mood you're in tonight.

10 Best Indian Crime Dramas

Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016)

Ugly (2013)

Raazi (2018)

Talvar (2015)

No One Killed Jessica (2011)

Vaastav (1999)

Ardh Satya (1983)

Black Friday (2004)

Company (2002)

Satya (1998)

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