Shailee’s arrival brings old rivalries and buried family tensions
What would you do if the person you loved most was taken from you? In Gandhari, grief, rage and desperation push a mother into a violent fight to bring her abducted daughter home.
The result is a thriller that combines a deeply personal rescue mission with child trafficking, ancient lore and a town hiding disturbing secrets.
It is also the kind of film that can leave viewers wanting another twist-heavy story once the credits roll.
Thankfully, Indian cinema has no shortage of thrillers that take audiences into equally murky territory.
From murderous schemes and buried secrets to AI technology and the dangerous world of espionage, these films explore very different sides of suspense.
Netflix has several Indian thrillers that could fill the Gandhari-shaped hole in your watchlist.
Here are five to add to your list.
Do Patti
Directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi and written by Kanika Dhillon, Do Patti is a 2024 mystery thriller set in the fictional hill town of Devipur. The film stars Kajol, Kriti Sanon and Shaheer Sheikh.
Kajol plays police inspector Vidya Jyoti Kanwar, who becomes drawn into a troubling case involving Saumya (Sanon) and her husband, Dhruv (Sheikh), the son of a local politician.
Their troubled marriage raises questions that become increasingly difficult for Vidya to ignore.
The mystery deepens when Saumya’s identical twin sister, Shailee, arrives in Devipur.
Also played by Sanon, Shailee’s arrival brings old rivalries and buried family tensions back to the surface.
As Vidya investigates the sisters’ complicated relationship, she begins uncovering Dhruv’s secrets and a darker truth behind the family’s carefully maintained silence.
For viewers drawn to Gandhari’s blend of mystery, family conflict and female-led tension, Do Patti is another thriller where seemingly private problems conceal something far more sinister.
CTRL
Ever wished you could erase a bad ex from your memory? That unsettling idea is at the heart of CTRL, a 2024 Indian digital thriller directed by Vikramaditya Motwane.
The film follows Nella (Ananya Panday), a social media influencer whose relationship with Joe (Vihaan Samat) falls apart after he cheats on her.
Desperate to remove him from her life, she turns to an AI-powered app designed to erase every digital trace of him.
However, what begins as an attempt to regain control quickly takes a darker turn. The technology becomes increasingly intrusive, leaving Nella questioning how much control she really has over her own digital life.
Motwane described the idea behind the film in an interview with Netflix, saying
“With the amount of time we spend on our devices, screen time is now redefined as screen life.
“Are we actually in control of all the digital extensions of our life, or are we being controlled? That’s the [question] CTRL tries to explore.”
With its themes of obsession, technology and hidden dangers, CTRL offers a very different kind of thriller to Gandhari. Yet both films explore how seemingly personal problems can expose darker truths.
Jaane Jaan
If you enjoy thrillers built around murder, secrets and calculated deception, Jaane Jaan is another Indian film worth adding to your watchlist.
Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, the 2023 Bollywood mystery thriller stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma. It follows a single mother who becomes caught up in a murder investigation, while her neighbour attempts to help her conceal what happened.
Things become increasingly complicated when a determined police officer begins investigating the case.
As the investigation closes in, the three characters become caught in a tense web of secrets, loyalty and suspicion.
Set in Kalimpong, Jaane Jaan is based on Keigo Higashino’s bestselling Japanese novel The Devotion of Suspect X.
Ghosh’s adaptation leans into the film’s cerebral mystery, with its characters constantly calculating their next move.
Khufiya
If you prefer your thrillers with espionage, betrayal and secrets, Khufiya offers a darker and more complex mystery.
Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, the 2023 spy thriller stars Tabu, Ali Fazal and Wamiqa Gabbi.
It follows operative Krishna Mehra (Tabu), who is tasked with tracking down a mole selling India’s defence secrets.
The mission becomes personal when an undercover operative is killed during an assignment.
Krishna is determined to uncover the traitor responsible, while also confronting the emotional complications of her own life as a spy.
Set against the tense world of Indian intelligence in the late 1990s, Khufiya explores loyalty, betrayal and the sacrifices made by those living double lives.
The film is based on Amar Bhushan’s espionage novel Escape to Nowhere and was inspired by real events involving India’s intelligence community.
However, Bhardwaj adapted the material and reworked its central character as a woman played by Tabu.
Monica, O My Darling
For a thriller that mixes murder and deception with plenty of dark humour, Monica, O My Darling is a particularly entertaining choice.
Directed by Vasan Bala and written by Yogesh Chandekar, the 2022 neo-noir comedy thriller stars Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte and Sikandar Kher.
The story follows robotics executive Jayant (Rao), who finds himself being blackmailed by company secretary Monica (Qureshi), who claims to be pregnant with his child. He soon discovers that he is not the only executive caught in her web.
Jayant and two fellow executives realise they are all being blackmailed by Monica. Fearing the consequences for their personal and professional lives, the three men hatch a plan to eliminate her.
However, their attempt to commit the perfect murder quickly becomes far more complicated than expected.
As suspicion and paranoia build, their carefully constructed plan begins to unravel.
Based on Keigo Higashino’s 1989 Japanese detective novel Burutasu No Shinzou, Monica, O My Darling combines classic murder-mystery elements with workplace intrigue and Bollywood-style dark comedy.
If Gandhari had you hooked from the moment its story began, these five films are a good place to continue your Indian thriller binge on Netflix.
Each brings its own take on suspense, from tightly wound mysteries and murder plots to espionage and technology-driven paranoia.
They may not recreate the exact experience of Gandhari, but that is part of the appeal.
If you enjoyed being pulled into its dangerous world and never quite knowing what would happen next, there is a whole range of Indian thrillers waiting to do the same.
