After carrying on with the boring rate-race through the week, spending time with heart-racing feelings gets in line to enjoy the weekend. When it comes to heart-pounding experiences, watching South Indian thriller movies is the appetite of the mind. In fact, Movie lovers in white-collar need to be fresh at the office after the weekend. Thanks to the South Indian thriller Movies, they fuel the Bollywood industry for good. Let’s explore some of the best thriller films in the south Indian region.
Top 10 Best South Indian Thriller Movies
Drishyam 2 | 2021 | Malayalam | IMDb: 8.6/10
This is a sequel to the 2013 film Drishyam where Georgekutty was struggling to make his name clear from the suspicion for missing Varun Pravakar, the son of the Police Inspector General. This time the Georgekutty family deals with the post-trauma of the murder of Varun. Antony Perumbavoor produced both films directed and written by Jeethu Joseph. Ansiba Hassan, Meena, Mohanlal, and Esther Anil star in the film. Its Telugu version is also being filmed.
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Kaithi | 2019 | Tamil | IMDb: 8.5/10
Inspired by Hollywood film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Kaithi tells a story of a prisoner, who has just been released, getting involved in some deadly conflicts on his way to meet his daughter. Karthi and Narain played the lead role in the movie directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The film has Telugu and Hind versions as well. There were no playback songs in this movie except background music. Kaithi was awarded in South Indian International Movie Awards as the best film- Tamil.
Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya | 2019 | Telugu | IMDb: 8.4/10
Swaroop RSJ directed this humor genre film with his own created story. The comedy film follows a detective facing dangerous phenomena just after taking over the case of a corpse found near a rail line. Naveen Polishetty contributed to the screenplay along with RSJ. He even played the lead role with co-artist Shruti Sharma in the film. It was the first film direction of Swaroop and he got Zee Cine Awards Telugu for the work.
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Evaru | 2019 | Telugu | IMDb: 8.2/10
A corrupted police officer gets himself engaged with the close case of a woman who murdered her rapist. Evaru was filmed based on this story under the screenplay and direction of Venkat Ramji. This Cinema mainly is the Telugu version of the popular Spanish film ‘Invisible Guest’ (2016). Naveen Chandra, Adivi Sesh, Murali Sharma, and Regina Cassandra starred in the film. This PVP Cinema production has remarkable suspense elements that make it a fair adaptation of the original.
Kavaludaari | 2019 | Kannada | IMDb: 8/10
Crossroads is another title of this neo-noir film written and directed by Hemanth Rao. A traffic police officer takes seriously the human bones found near a construction project and goes an extra limit to solve a 40-year old mystery. Suman Ranganathan, Rishi, Anant Nag, Roshni Prakash, Sulile Kumar, and Achyuth Kumar star in this PRK Productions film. Kavaludaari won the best film in Kannada Cinema in Bengaluru International Film Festival 2020. The film has versions in Tamil and Telugu.
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lucifer | 2019 | Malayalam | IMDb: 7.5/10
This blockbuster Cinema was the first directorial work of the South Indian actor Prithviraj Sukumaran.
After the death of a political Godfather, an unknown but mysterious person emerges out of five candidates to be the most eligible successor. The film, screenplays by Murali Gopy, features Mohanlal as the main character. Prithviraj himself also stars in the Cinema.
This film is planned to make a trilogy whereas this first installment becomes the highest-grossing Malayalam movie till now.
Ratsasan | 2018 | Tamil | IMDb: 8.4/10
This psychological thriller movie, directed and written by Ram Kumar, is also known as ‘Demon’. The story of the film advances with a passionate filmmaker becoming a cop and ending up running after a vicious serial killer. Amala Paul, Vishnu Vishal, Saravanan, Kaali Venkat, Ramdoss, and Vinodhini Vaidyanathan star in the movie. Ratsasan has Telugu and Hindi remakes as well. This Cinema became the best thriller in the Oniros Film Awards.
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KGF Chapter I | 2018 | Kannada | IMDb: 8.3/10
This action film by Prashanth Neel was dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam languages. The film is all about turning an underprivileged poor soul into a Mumbai gangster and his using the power for revolution. The film stars Srinidhi Shetty, Yash, Ananth Nag, and Achyuth Kumar. This commercially successful movie was awarded as the best film in National Film Awards, SIIMA Awards, and Filmfare Awards South. KGF Chapter II is expected to be released on April 22, 2022.
Vikram Vedha | 2017 | Tamil | IMDb: 8.3/10
This neo-noir movie presents an unorthodox perception of good and evil. One of the two main characters is Vikram; the cop, and the listener. And the other one is Vedha; the gangster and the storyteller. Madhavan played the Vikram and Vijay Sethupathi stars as Vedha. The movie based on popular Indian folklore Vikram-Beetal was directed and written by Pushkar–Gayathri. The film won an Edison Award, two Techofes Awards, four Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards, and four Filmfare Awards South.
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Theeran Adhigaram Ondru | 2017 | Tamil | IMDb: 8.3/10
Another title of this movie, based on Operation Bawaria, is Braveman. Tamil Nadu Police suppressed the organized dacoity, and murder from 1995 to 2006 by the notorious gang of lorry drivers of the Bawaria community. The film stars Karthi, Abhimanyu Singh, and Rakul Preet Singh under the direction of H. Vinoth. This movie was also released in the dubbed Telugu version. The film won two Edison awards, a Techofes award, an Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award, and a Filmfare Awards South.
Takeaways
Besides fulfilling the traditional demands of music lover Indians, these South Indian thriller movies come up with some pulse-raising suspense. With the attachment of movie technology, South Indian filmmakers have already started to unleash their creativity in full stream. The local audience is getting mesmerized to experience the special effects with better cinematography in the domestic film industry. Not to mention the amazing film stories in South India, the region is rich in great tales.
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