The 10 MOST VIOLENT Films in Bollywood

It may be called an 'entertainment' industry but not all films are designed to amuse.

Some subjects are much too grave or gritty and compel the filmmaker to draw a graphic use of sex and violence to make his point. On the other hand, some directors turn a regular story into a gore picture with their liberal depiction of man at his volatile worst to generate a higher impact.

Though too brutal for everyday consumption they do leave an indelible mark.

Here's a look at 10 of the most violent offerings from Hindi films.

Bandit Queen

Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen, based on the life of dacoit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi, faced a lot of controversy and censorship woes owing to its ferocious depiction of gang rape, excessive violence and crude language.

Its unsettling material left the viewers both shocked and troubled but leading lady Seema Biswas was the one most affected from the ordeal. It took her a while to get back in the groove after delivering an emotionally-draining performance.

High society isn't violence-proof either.

Zeenat Aman plays a beauty queen and Padmini Kolhapure her minor sister -- they both become targets of an industrialist's (Raj Babbar in the most unpleasant role of his career) heinous lust.

B R Chopra's torturous portrayal of rape, twice in the film, as well as ZA's subsequent retribution makes Insaaf Ka Tarazu one of the most disturbing films of all time.

Shah Rukh Khan's bad boy avatars in Darr and Baazigar appear diluted in comparison to his nefarious deeds in Rahul Rawail's critically/commercially panned Anjaam. He slices his wrist with shards of glass, roughs up Madhuri Dixit with kicks and punches and breaks Deepak Tijori's skull with a bat.

The gore doesn't stop here. Dixit lands in prison where the ruthless lady-jailor beats her even though she's pregnant till it ends in a blood soaked abortion. And then, one by one, all her offenders die in the most violent manner. At one point, she even bites off a man's hand.

Anjaam is so offensive, even its memories are gruesome.

In a land without women, a poor lady is bought to a house and married off to five men. How they and their father sexually exploit her relentlessly and inhumanly is the crux of Matrubhoomi.

Although Anurag Kashyap's directorial debut is yet to hit the cinemas, it's various screenings at film festivals has many viewers vouching for its hard-hitting nature lending it the reputation of little-seen classic.

The adamant, almost glamorous violence, conveyed through Kay Kay Menon's evil character, along with its explicit language made Paanch rather unpopular with the censor board demanding cuts but Kashyap refused to comply. 

After a powerful debut in Ankush, which comments on the corrupt social structure, N Chandra made a potent women-oriented drama about a college lecturer and her fight for justice.

Pratighaat, however, relies on extreme violence to make its point.

In one of its most disconcerting and talked-about scene, the heroine (played by Sujata Mehta) is publically stripped bare on the streets. A lot more follows before she eventually has her revenge by smashing an axe into the villain's head.

Whether you find it comic, cult or crazy, Kanti Shah's Gunda starring Mithun Chakravarthy breathes in violence.

Set against dark workings of the underworld, Ramgopal Varma's Satya stays true to the visceral, graphic tone of the crime industry with his equally compelling and harsh depiction.

Violence, for some, is just a way of life. And Satya, whether a character runs a razor on another's face or shoots him down without as much as a second thought, caters to this ideology with unremorseful precision.

Torture and revenge are the backbone of Sanjay Gupta's Zinda, which is nearly a scene-to-scene rip-off of South Korea's Oldboy.

So you have Sanjay Dutt, reproduce some of the original's highpoints, like assaulting an entire bunch of goons with a merciless hammer or yanking a man's teeth in a fit of bloody rage.

Despite its graphic contents, Ghajini turned into a huge blockbuster. Perhaps the novelty of watching the usually docile Aamir Khan transform into a murderous killing machine with memory issues attracted the viewer.

Be it Asin's torturous killing when a man bangs her skull with an iron rod, Pradeep Rawat's ferocious motives or Aamir's creepy tattoos and gory visuals of asphyxiating, blood-filled executions.