In the digital era, cyber crimes like hacking, phishing, online fraud, and data breaches have become rampant. Bollywood and regional Indian cinema have increasingly reflected these realities, blending suspense, technology, and social commentary. Here are some notable Indian films that have explored cyber crimes convincingly.
Hacker (2016) – Directed by Aalap Tripathy, this low-budget thriller is one of the earliest mainstream Hindi films centered entirely on cyber crime. It follows a teenage hacker who exposes corruption but gets entangled with dangerous cybercriminals. The film introduced audiences to concepts like phishing, DDoS attacks, and dark web dealings.
Password (2019) – A Marathi police procedural directed by Kamlesh Kunte, it remains one of the most realistic Indian portrayals of cyber crime investigation. The film tracks the Mumbai Cyber Police as they solve a case involving blackmail through hacked webcams and morphed explicit videos. Its attention to actual police procedures and digital forensics earned praise from law enforcement.
Forensic (2020) – This Malayalam-Tovino Thomas starrer, remade in Hindi in 2022 with Vikrant Massey and Radhika Apte, uses cyber forensics as a key plot device. A series of child murders is cracked using digital evidence from phones, social media metadata, and CCTV footage analysis, highlighting the growing importance of cyber forensics in Indian investigations.
Badla (2019) – Though marketed as a murder mystery, Taapsee Pannu and Amitabh Bachchan’s film heavily involves hacked phones, deleted WhatsApp chats, location tracking, and cloud data recovery—common tools in modern cyber investigations.
More recent films like Bhakshak (2024) and Sector 36 (2024) briefly depict online child exploitation networks and missing person cases solved through digital trails, reflecting India’s alarming rise in cyber crimes against children and women.
The Hindi film Hacked (2020) serves as a cautionary tale, focusing on a young woman whose life is systematically destroyed by an obsessive, jilted teenage hacker. It illustrates the terrifying consequences of cyber obsession, including the publicizing of private data and hacking into social media accounts. The Malayalam film Keedam (2022) focuses on a female cybersecurity expert who finds her own privacy compromised in a cyber-stalking incident, using her skills for digital retaliation.
One of the most common and gripping themes is financial and data theft. The Tamil techno-thriller Irumbu Thirai (2018), starring Vishal, stands out. It revolves around an army officer who becomes a victim of online fraud and embarks on a mission to hunt down the master cybercriminal responsible for misusing people's private data. Similarly, the 2021 Malayalam film Operation Java takes a highly realistic approach, drawing inspiration from actual incidents handled by the Kochi cyber cell to depict the intricacies of solving various cybercrime cases, often involving educated young graduates turned criminals. Chakra (2021) also delves into a massive digital robbery, highlighting the growing network of cybercriminals.