Film

Daud

Daud is a high-octane 1997 Hindi heist thriller where a career thief gets pulled into a dangerous game of theft and survival. It's relentlessly paced, crammed with action sequences and double-crosses, anchored by Sanjay Dutt's charismatic lead and a supporting cast firing on all cylinders. It's for anyone who wants Bollywood kinetic energy without apology.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sprawling 1990s Bollywood crime capers where a cool, roguish thief and a menacing gangster circle each other through heists, wit and sudden bursts of violence.

Skip it if you want a tight, economical thriller; this one wanders into long stretches of melodrama and indulgent set pieces that can feel like they're stalling the plot.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a three-hour runtime with a leisurely build, then a bigger, louder second half; it rewards patience more than close attention to every twist.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Rangeela1995

Similar era, similar energy. Aamir Khan and Urmila Matondkar (your co-star) in a film that's visually dazzling and structurally inventive. Bollywood at its most confident and playful.

But It's a romance-thriller hybrid; the action is sprinkled rather than concentrated. You're signing up for emotional beats, not pure adrenaline.

Rangeela poster

Death Race2008

Abbas Tyrewala's template for intelligent heist cinema with a Bollywood budget. Multiple plot threads, genuine stakes, and a cast (Saif, Akshaye, Katrina) all operating at maximum wattage.

But Eleven years later, it's slicker and colder. Lacks the raw, lived-in roughness that makes Daud feel urgent and slightly out of control.

Death Race poster

Commando - A One Man Army2013

Vidyut Jammwal's athletic prowess in a government-agent-on-the-run thriller. Genuinely innovative action choreography and a protagonist who feels dangerous rather than decorative.

But It's more technically polished than Daud, which means less scrappy charm. The plotting is thinner—you're watching for movement, not narrative.

Commando - A One Man Army poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Daud

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Hera Pheri2000

Same heist-and-escape blueprint, same crew-of-misfits energy, but Hera Pheri chose humour over violence. It proves the template is flexible, and shows what the form became when filmmakers prioritized wit.

Suniel Shetty, Tabu, and Akshay Kumar in a con-artist comedy that has Daud's structural DNA but inverts the emotional register. Propulsive, preposterous, endlessly charming. This is where Hindi cinema's heist template found its soul.

But It commits entirely to comedy; if you watch Daud primarily for adrenaline, the laughter might feel like a brake. Also three years on, which means budget constraints are visible.

Hera Pheri poster
More like this (5)

Sooryavansham

Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn in a revenge narrative with propulsive forward momentum. The kind of film where plot twists arrive exactly when the pacing needs them.

But It's almost entirely plot machinery with minimal character depth. The logic starts to fray if you think too hard about it.

Lootere1993

Sunny Deol and Juhi Chawla in an earlier template for the heist-thriller hybrid. Rawer and more direct than Daud, with genuine physical stakes that feel lived-in rather than choreographed.

But Visibly older—the action grammar feels archaic now. What felt dangerous then reads as slightly stiff and dated.

Lootere poster

Hey Ram2000

If you want to see what Manoj Bajpayee does when given the lead (he's Pushkar in Daud). An immensely ambitious political thriller that swings for fences on every level.

But Kamal Haasan directs; it's sprawling, digressive, and philosophically heavy. Completely different register from Daud's entertainment machinery.

Hey Ram poster

Waterloo Road1945

Same structural engine: ordinary man with a single weakness gets pulled into circumstances that spiral beyond control. But separated by continent, era, and aesthetic. Both prove the pattern is timeless, not fashionable.

A British wartime noir about a petty criminal drawn into one last job. The DNA of Daud sits here—the wrong man, the inescapable setup, the momentum that builds because saying no is fatal. Lean, tense, humane.

But It's 1945 and in black-and-white. The pacing is patient by modern standards; it trusts silence and glances. If you need constant stimulation, it will feel glacial.

Waterloo Road poster

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro1983

Both films about ordinariness meeting chaos and surviving through wits rather than virtue. But Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro is subversive about its own machinery; it questions whether the escape matters if the system remains intact. Daud doesn't ask those questions—it just runs.

Kundan Shah's darkly comic thriller about two journalists caught in a criminal conspiracy. Urgently paced, brilliantly acted (Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani), and operating at the exact frequency between farce and genuine menace. A masterpiece.

But It's forty years older and structurally uneven—the tone skitters between registers. The climax deliberately refuses conventional catharsis. If you want narrative resolution and satisfaction, it withholds both.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro poster

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Trimurti, Policewala Gunda