TonightOnScreen Catalog
Explore Entertainment • Mystery
Search our curated catalog of cinema releases, binge-worthy series, and where to stream them.
Drishyam
Directed by the late Nishikant Kamat, the 2015 Hindi suspense thriller Drishyam is celebrated as one of the sharpest, most gripping mystery masterclasses in Indian cinematic history. Adapted from Jeethu Joseph's legendary Malayalam original, the film stars Ajay Devgn as Vijay Salgaonkar, an uneducated, street-smart cable television operator and devoted family man living in a quiet Goan village. Vijay's peaceful life is shattered when an arrogant boy named Sameer—the only son of Goa's ruthless Inspector General of Police Meera Deshmukh (a formidable, steely Tabu)—blackmails Vijay's teenage daughter Anju with illicit camera footage. During a late-night confrontation, Sameer is accidentally killed by the family in self-defense. Drawing upon his encyclopedic knowledge of cinema thrillers, Vijay orchestrates an audacious, foolproof alibi around the dates of October 2nd and 3rd, conditioning his family to withstand brutal third-degree police interrogation while hiding the body under the very foundation of the police station itself. A riveting psychological chess match between a desperate father and an implacable mother, Drishyam achieved cult classic status and huge commercial success. Celebrated for its tight narrative pacing and peerless screenwriting, Drishyam became a widespread cultural reference point across India for police procedure and tactical alibis. Ajay Devgn's restrained, simmering performance and Tabu's ferocious maternal grief turned this psychological thriller into an enduring cult classic that continues to captivate mystery enthusiasts.
Article 15
Anubhav Sinha's hard-hitting 2019 crime procedural drama Article 15 stands as one of the most courageous, socially provocative, and critically lauded films in modern Hindi cinema, winning three Filmfare Awards. Inspired by true events, the film stars Ayushmann Khurrana as Ayan Ranjan, a privileged, foreign-educated IPS officer who receives his first posting in the rural hinterlands of Lalgaon, Uttar Pradesh. When two teenage Dalit girls are found gang-raped and hanged from a banyan tree, local subordinate officers—led by the deeply corrupt, casteist Circle Officer Brahmadutt Singh (Manoj Pahwa) and Jatav officer Nishad (Zeeshan Ayyub)—attempt to cover up the crime as an honor killing to protect high-caste landlords. Horrified by the entrenched, dehumanizing caste hierarchy that dictates who can touch whom or draw water from which well, Ayan invokes Article 15 of the Indian Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. Navigating swampy fields, political threats, and departmental apathy, Ayan leads a tireless manhunt for a missing third victim, delivering an unsparing, searing indictment of institutional caste prejudice. Anubhav Sinha's uncompromising directorial vision, Ewan Mulligan's gritty cinematography, and Ayushmann Khurrana's measured intensity make Article 15 a watershed moment in socially conscious Indian cinema that confronts prejudice with unflinching honesty.
Maryada Ramanna
Maryada Ramanna is a masterclass in high-concept comedic suspense and clockwork narrative tension directed by S. S. Rajamouli, which proved that the visionary filmmaker could deliver an industry-wide blockbuster without massive star power or colossal battle sequences, relying purely on impeccable writing, situational irony, and edge-of-the-seat storytelling (later remade into the Hindi box-office hit Son of Sardaar starring Ajay Devgn). The premise is rooted in the fierce, blood-soaked faction feud culture of Rayalaseema, where an ancient tribal code dictates that even your worst mortal enemy cannot be harmed while they are a guest inside your home. The protagonist is Kovelamudi Ramu, a gentle, painfully naive, and impoverished young man struggling to make ends meet in Hyderabad with his loyal bicycle. Ramu discovers that he has inherited five acres of ancestral land in a distant Rayalaseema village and travels there on a train, striking up a warm, charming friendship with a spirited co-passenger named Aparna. Upon reaching the village, Ramu is hospitably welcomed into the palatial mansion of Ramineedu, a fearsome factionist patriarch and Aparna's father. While enjoying the family's lavish feast, Ramu is horrified to discover that Ramineedu's brother was killed twenty-eight years ago by Ramu's father, and Ramineedu and his bloodthirsty sons have sworn a blood oath to butcher the killer's heir on sight. However, because Ramu entered as a guest, the code of hospitality forbids them from killing him indoors. What ensues is an exquisitely tortuous, hilarious psychological thriller as Ramu invents absurd excuses to remain permanently trapped inside the house, while the family waits with gleaming axes just outside the front door.
Ghajini
Written and directed by A.R. Murugadoss as a remake of his own 2005 Tamil blockbuster, 2008's psychological revenge action thriller Ghajini created historic box office history, becoming the first film in Bollywood history to cross the ₹100 crore nett mark and establishing Hindi cinema's coveted '100 Crore Club'. Aamir Khan underwent an unprecedented, punishing eight-month physical transformation, crafting an iconic chiseled six-pack physique and cropped buzzcut to portray Sanjay Singhania, a wealthy telecommunications tycoon who suffers from anterograde amnesia—a condition that prevents him from forming new memories lasting longer than fifteen minutes—after being brutally beaten with an iron rod during the murder of his fiancée Kalpana (Asin in a sparkling, endearing Bollywood debut). Unable to retain short-term memory, Sanjay navigates his bloodthirsty quest for vengeance through a complex system of Polaroid photographs, instructional handwritten notes, and explicit vengeful tattoos etched directly into his own skin. Hunted by both Mumbai police and the ruthless crime lord Ghajini Dharmatma (Pradeep Rawat), Sanjay unleashes terrifying, berserker physical violence against those responsible. Boasting A.R. Rahman's hit soundtrack ('Hai Rama', 'Guzarish') and Murugadoss's high-octane action choreography, Ghajini is an exhilarating, emotionally charged blockbuster that transformed modern Indian action cinema.