Film

Gentleman

Name: Gentleman
Genre: Romance, Thriller
Released: 2016
Cast: Nani, Nivetha Thomas, Surbhi, Srinivas Avasarala, Tanikella Bharani

Amateur-sleuth mystery

A Telugu thriller built on an ingenious premise: two women discover their boyfriends are identical strangers, then one boyfriend dies, and Catherine becomes obsessed with uncovering why. It's part romance, part mystery, all momentum—a film that trusts its audience to keep pace with escalating reveals. For those who like their twists stacked and their stakes personal.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a puzzle built out of ordinary conversation that gradually tightens, and you don't mind a romance running alongside the investigation.

Skip it if you want a lean, fast thriller, since at two and a half hours the middle can feel padded and the romance softens the tension.

What it asks of you: A long, unhurried runtime of about two and a half hours, with romance taking its time before the suspense properly takes hold.

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

If you liked this

Natrang2010

A Malayalam thriller about doppelgängers and obsession, with the same DNA of uncanny doubling. Gripping, carefully constructed, and genuinely unsettling in ways that sneak up on you.

But At nearly three hours, it demands patience, and the pacing shifts between languorous and frantic in ways that won't appeal to everyone.

Kahaani2012

A Bollywood thriller that shares Gentleman's commitment to plot mechanics and misdirection. Vidya Balan navigates a city of lies with the same investigative intensity Catherine brings to her mystery.

But It's a procedural at heart, which means stretches devoted to bureaucracy and legwork rather than confrontation.

Chandramukhi2005

A Tamil psychological thriller that traffics in similar territory: identity confusion, the unreliability of perception, twists that recontextualize everything you've seen. Genuinely eerie in stretches.

But The tone lurches between horror-movie setpieces and family drama in ways that can feel tonally jarring.

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Man Who Fell to Earth1976

Both films are obsessed with the question of whether you can ever truly know someone, and both use the doppelgänger or the imposter as their way in. Where Gentleman asks 'who is he really?', The Man Who Fell to Earth asks 'can anyone ever be real to us?'

David Bowie plays an alien inhabiting a human life, and the film is deeply interested in the performance of identity and the impossibility of being known. A meditation on doppelgängers in the metaphysical sense—what happens when you wear a face that isn't yours.

But It's glacially paced, formally experimental, and makes no real effort to entertain you in the traditional sense. Pure cinema for people who want to sit with discomfort.

Pink2016

Released the same year, this Hindi thriller is also interested in women investigating truth and uncovering conspiracy. Sharp, angry, and structurally inventive in its courtroom back-and-forth.

But It's explicitly didactic about its message in ways that can feel heavy-handed, especially in the final act.

Rang De Basanti2006

A Bollywood ensemble where young people stumble into a mystery that pulls them into danger. The investigative drive and the way ordinary life collides with violence echo Gentleman's trajectory.

But It's three hours, and the tonal shifts from romance to political thriller to action film can feel scattered if you're not already invested in the ensemble.

Andhadhun2018

A Hindi thriller about perception and what you can't see, where every character is lying and the frame keeps reframing what happened. Formally inventive and gripping.

But The twist-upon-twist structure can feel like a magic trick that leaves characters hollow; if you need to care about people, this might frustrate you.

Saahasam Swaasaga Saagipo2016

A Telugu film that pairs mystery with action and romance in similar proportions. The lead investigates a disappearance while trying to stay ahead of danger. Fun, propulsive, genuinely entertaining.

But It's built to be fun rather than psychologically complex, so depths you might want won't be there.

Drishyam2013

A Malayalam thriller about a man who must unravel a lie to protect his family. The cat-and-mouse game and the way ordinary people outwit institutional power mirrors Catherine's scrappy investigation.

But It's become a template so familiar that watching the original now feels like visiting a place you've already been.

Mulholland Drive2001

Like Gentleman, it's built on the collision between two women and a mystery that spirals outward, but where Gentleman is propulsive and answers questions, this one generates more questions the closer you look. Both traffic in doubling and the unreliability of what we're being shown.

A Los Angeles noir where identity splinters and reality fractals. Two women, a mystery, and the slow realization that nothing is as straightforward as it seemed. Formally brilliant and genuinely haunting.

But David Lynch does not believe in clear answers or linear time. If you need resolution, stay far away. It's a puzzle with pieces that don't fit, by design.

The Invisible Man2020

Both films turn on a woman investigating something others dismiss or can't see, and both use visual language to show us the invisible. But where Gentleman is a plot machine, this is a statement about power and survival—a different register entirely, but the same narrative skeleton.

A contemporary reimagining of Wells' story as a tech-era abuse thriller. One woman investigating an invisible threat, piecing together evidence others refuse to see. Formally inventive and genuinely urgent about gaslighting and institutional failure.

But It's relentlessly tense and angry; there's no lightness or rest. The camera work can be deliberately disorienting, which some will find exhausting rather than immersive.