Film

Goodachari

Name: Goodachari
Genre: Thriller, Action, Crime
Released: 2018
Cast: Adivi Sesh, Prakash Raj, Jagapati Babu, Supriya Yarlagadda, Sobhita Dhulipala

A slick Indian spy thriller about a young man who inherits his father's unfinished business with the RAW agency. Smart, tautly plotted, and visually assured—*Goodachari* is the kind of film that makes you understand why people love spy cinema. It's for anyone who wants international intrigue that doesn't require subtitles to feel fresh.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like spy thrillers built on a quiet, loyal protagonist and sharp action, and you enjoy a story where family loyalty and duty pull against each other.

Skip it if you want a fast, nonstop action ride, since this takes its time with character and setup before the set pieces arrive and runs close to two and a half hours.

What it asks of you: Patience for a slow-building story and a lot of talk between the set pieces; it rewards attention to who is loyal to whom, and it stays sober rather than playful.

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

If you liked this

Raees2017

Shah Rukh Khan as a crime lord operating in the grey zones between law and survival. Stylish, propulsive, and deeply invested in its protagonist's moral descent. The action sequences feel consequential.

But It's a Bollywood film, and if that genre's conventions actively annoy you rather than delight you, this won't change your mind. Also quite long.

Article 152019

An Indian police procedural that unfolds like a genuine investigation rather than a thriller. Ayushmann Khurrana as a cop confronting systemic rot. Smart, angry, and visually precise in the way *Goodachari* is.

But It's deliberately unglamorous and heavy. The pacing is methodical. Not a film that wants to entertain you out of thinking.

Chandni Bar2001

An unflinching crime thriller set in Mumbai's underworld, with genuine stakes and a protagonist you believe in. Tabu is extraordinary. Raw and morally complicated in ways Indian thrillers rarely attempt.

But It's genuinely dark and disturbing. Contains sexual violence. A harrowing watch that doesn't soften its subject matter for comfort.

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Jai Bhim2021

Both are Tamil/Telugu films from the 2020s that trust audiences with complex plotting and refuse to dumb down either the narrative or the questions at its centre. But where *Goodachari* is espionage machinery, *Jai Bhim* is about the machinery turning against the powerless.

A legal thriller about a lawyer fighting an unjust system to save an innocent man falsely imprisoned. Built on the same DNA as *Goodachari*—intelligent, visceral, visually confident—but with the genre flipped and the stakes humanized. This is about who wields power and against whom.

But It's not a conventional thriller. There are no elaborate action sequences or double crosses. The tension is structural and moral, not mechanical. Slower than you might expect.

Special 262013

A heist thriller about fake cops running gold robberies in Delhi. Clever, fast, with genuine twists and a performance from Akshay Kumar that trusts the audience. Engrossing plotting.

But It's lighter and more playful than *Goodachari*, which might feel like a step down if you want sustained tension. Also very Indian in its sensibility.

No One Killed Jessica2011

A crime thriller loosely based on a real Delhi murder case. Rani Mukerji in a role that showcases her range. The investigation unfolds with genuine momentum and moral weight.

But The tone can be uneven. It wants to be both a thriller and a social statement, and doesn't always balance them gracefully.

D-Day2013

An espionage thriller with Irrfan Khan as an undercover agent tracking a terrorist. Morally complicated, visually stylish, and built on the tension of maintaining a false identity.

But It's intricate, sometimes to the point of being hard to follow. Rishi Kapoor's villain is theatrical in a way that occasionally breaks the spell.

Baby2015

Akshay Kumar in a taut action-thriller about a secret task force hunting terrorists across the globe. The film moves fast, the action is inventive, and it has a genuine sense of danger.

But The second half relies on increasingly outlandish plotting. Some character decisions feel convenient rather than earned.

Rang De Basanti2006

Aamir Khan and a group of friends descend into activism and espionage after a tragedy. It's a thriller that believes in the possibility of individuals changing systems. Earnest and propulsive.

But The earnestness can feel dated now. It's also a romantic comedy for a while, which tests patience. Nearly three hours long.

The Night Manager2016

*Goodachari* borrows the international spy structure and the idea of a protagonist drawn into duty against their better judgment, but condenses it to feature-film speed. *The Night Manager* is what that same story looks like with six hours to breathe and British restraint.

Tom Hiddleston as a former soldier recruited into espionage. Directed by Susanne Bier, it's a six-hour spy series that moves like a thriller. Precise, elegantly plotted, and genuinely dangerous-feeling.

But It's slow-burn BBC drama, not action cinema. Long scenes of people in rooms. The violence is sparse. If you want constant movement, this isn't it.

Stalker1979

Both are films about someone whose father pulled them toward a dangerous world, and about the question of whether pursuing inherited duty is wisdom or compulsion. But where *Goodachari* is external, *Stalker* is entirely interior—the real journey is psychological, not geographical.

Andrei Tarkovsky's science-fiction masterpiece: a guide taking two men through a mysterious zone toward a room that grants wishes. It's a thriller about desire and the cost of pursuit. Hypnotic, philosophically dense, visually extraordinary.

But It's 163 minutes of slow, meditative Soviet cinema. No plot in the conventional sense. Demands active attention. If you're watching *Goodachari* for spy-craft, this is almost aggressively the opposite.