Serial killer movies can be thrilling. That's perhaps why we have seen quite a few of them.
The genre became popular with Rajesh Khanna's Red Rose and Bollywood, clearly, has not tired of it yet. Which is why we will be seeing some more serial killers on our screen soon.
Akshay Kumar's Cinderella is an official adaptation of the Tamil film Ratsasan, which tells the story of a serial killer who rapes and murders girls.
While Akshay plays the cop, the identity of the villain has not been unveiled yet.
Sujoy Ghosh is also making a movie on this genre, a spin-off on the quirky character Bob Biswas from the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani.
While Saswata Chatterjee immortalised the character in that mystery thriller, all eyes on what Abhishek Bachchan brings to the table with his interpretation of Bob in the new film.
Joginder Tuteja looks at just how much the audiences have loved Bollywood's serial killers.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Raman Raghav 2.0
Anurag Kashyap directed an unsettling drama called Raman Raghav 2.0, where Nawazuddin Siddiqui played a serial killer.
The character was inspired by the original Raman Raghav from the 1960s, who had murdered at 41 people and was later sentenced to life imprisonment.
While Nawaz played Raman, Vicky Kaushal played Raghav, the cop.
Priyanka Chopra in 7 Khoon Maaf
Priyanka Chopra went on to kill her many husbands in 7 Khoon Maaf.
The Vishal Bhardwaj-directed film was based on a plot adapted from a novella and starred many actors, including John Abraham, Irrfan Khan and Neil Nitin Mukesh.
While it did well, the film, on a whole, was a disappointment.
Riteish Deshmukh in Ek Villain
Playing a man whose mental stability is disturbed after an ugly experience with his wife, Riteish Deshmukh displayed his mean side brilliantly in Mohit Suri's Ek Villain.
He was truly maniacal in this heart-stopping thriller, which had the right mix of thrills and love, thanks to Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor.
The film was a hit and inspired a sequel.
The second installment stars John Abraham and Arjun Kapoor.
Vishal Jethwa in Mardaani 2
Vishal Jethwa held his own from the beginning to the end of Mardaani 2, as he played a serial killer and stood up to none other than Rani Mukerji in an author-backed role.
As a ruthless youngster out to rape and kill young women, Vishal really brought on the scares.
Prashant Narayanan in Murder 2
It is a pity that Prashant Narayanan isn't seen on screen as often as he deserves to be.
He has a certain unpredictability that goes in his favour and that was visible in Murder 2 as well.
As a serial killer, he went quite extreme, even chopping off his private parts!
Ashutosh Rana in Dushman, Sangharsh
In one of Ashutosh Rana's earliest films, Dushman, he made quite an impression as a deadly serial killer.
His eyes and terrific dialogue delivery made everyone take note of him in this film starring Kajol in a double role.
Later, he played a serial killer in Tanuja Chandra's Sangharsh as well.
Urmila Mathondkar in Kaun
Was she a cannibal in the film? Did she eat the cat? Would she have made mincemeat out of Manoj Bajpayee and Sushant Singh as well?
As the hunted who turned out to be a hunter, Urmila Matondkar was perfect in this Ram Gopal Varma thriller.
Randeep Hooda in Main Aur Charles
With style and his swag, Randeep Hooda embodied the character of Charles Sobhraj in Main Aur Charles.
Randeep was perfect in his portrayal of the real-life character, who befriended women only to use them for his benefit and later kill them.
The film, however, had an uneven narrative.
Virendra Saxena in The Stoneman Murders
This underrated film, starring Kay Kay Menon and Arbaaz Khan, was full of suspense, as the audience played the guessing game about who the killer really was.
As a man who killed the homeless in the dead of the night, Virendra Saxena was terrific in The Stoneman Murders.
