Cinearium Picks Movies Like...
50 movies and series like Gangs of Wasseypur: sprawling gang wars, small-town revenge sagas and darkly funny crime epics from across India and the world.
Gangs of Wasseypur plays like a family saga written in blood: decades of revenge in the coal towns around Dhanbad, told with swagger, songs and pitch-black humour. These 50 picks share its hinterland grit, generational feuds or crime-epic scale, from Vada Chennai, Subramaniapuram and Angamaly Diaries to Mirzapur and City of God. Every note is spoiler-safe.
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Why it belongs on this list
Lijo Jose Pellissery follows a young man and his friends through turf fights, pork-trade rivalries and loyalty in a Kerala town, with a cast made up almost entirely of newcomers. Its famous long single-take climax is pure energy.
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Rajeev Ravi traces how Kochi's growth swallowed a Dalit neighbourhood, through two friends who grow up to become gangsters. Dulquer Salmaan and Vinayakan lead a sad, furious crime saga.
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Abhishek Chaubey's 1970s drama follows a gang of dacoits on the run in the Chambal ravines, torn between loyalty and guilt. Sushant Singh Rajput and Manoj Bajpayee lead a bleak, beautiful Indian western.
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Vishal Bhardwaj moves Othello to the political gangland of western Uttar Pradesh, with Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan's unforgettable Langda Tyagi. Earthy dialogue and deadly politics make it Wasseypur's cousin.
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Why it belongs on this list
Tigmanshu Dhulia, Wasseypur's Ramadhir Singh, directed this story of a student in Allahabad caught between campus politics and gang wars. Irrfan's volcanic performance is the reason to watch.
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A lawyer's two sons are drawn into the carpet-and-guns empire of Mirzapur's don and his volatile heir. The web series most Wasseypur fans reach for next.
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A drifter arrives in Mumbai and rises through the underworld beside the unforgettable Bhiku Mhatre. Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 landmark rewired how Indian cinema showed gangsters.
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One day in Chennai's underworld, involving an ageing don, a missing stash and some very unlucky people. Thiagarajan Kumararaja's debut is witty, violent and unlike anything else in Tamil cinema.
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Macbeth reimagined in the Mumbai underworld, with Irrfan as the ambitious lieutenant and Pankaj Kapur as the ageing don. Vishal Bhardwaj's first Shakespeare film is quieter than Omkara and just as dark.
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Why it belongs on this list
Irrfan plays a national-champion steeplechaser who becomes one of the Chambal's most famous rebels. Tigmanshu Dhulia's true story has the same wry humour inside tragedy.
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A Mumbai cop gets a call from a legendary gangster warning of disaster in 25 days. Co-directed by Anurag Kashyap, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Ganesh Gaitonde.
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Rakshit Shetty tells one violent event in a coastal Karnataka town through several witnesses, Rashomon-style. Stylish, patient and full of local colour.
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Two boys grow up in a Rio favela in the 1960s and '70s; one wants to be a photographer, the other a kingpin. The international film most often compared with Wasseypur, and just as kinetic.
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A boxer from Bareilly falls for the niece of the local strongman who controls his career. Anurag Kashyap mixes sport, caste and small-town politics with his trademark bite.
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An honest police inspector posted to Bihar collides with the politician-gangster who runs the district. Manoj Bajpayee leads this raw 1999 film about crime and politics in the heartland.
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An unemployed young man in Bihar is drawn into the kidnapping business run by a powerful politician. Prakash Jha's film captures the same lawless heartland as Wasseypur.
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A new police superintendent takes on the gangster-politicians of a Bihar district, and his men start taking the law into their own hands. Inspired by real events, gritty and morally tangled.
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Why it belongs on this list
Ram Gopal Varma's two-part saga, loosely based on Paritala Ravi's life, follows a young man's rise through Andhra Pradesh's faction wars. Brutal and operatic; Suriya joins in the second part.
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An aspiring director wants to make a gangster film, so he sets out to study a real Madurai gangster up close. Karthik Subbaraj's dark comedy is as funny as it is tense.
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A runaway teenager in North Chennai claws his way from the gutter to power. Selvaraghavan's grim, stylish film features one of Dhanush's best early performances.
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Mani Ratnam's 1987 epic follows a boy from Tamil Nadu who becomes the protector-don of a Bombay slum. Kamal Haasan's towering performance anchors a film often called India's Godfather.
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Anurag Kashyap's reconstruction of the investigation into the 1993 Bombay bombings, moving between police stations and conspirators. Documentary-sharp and relentless.
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Two small-time crooks on the run hide out with a widow in eastern Uttar Pradesh and get far more than they bargained for. Earthy dialogue and dark wit from Abhishek Chaubey and Vishal Bhardwaj.
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A fading royal in small-town Uttar Pradesh, his lonely wife and a new driver with his own agenda. Tigmanshu Dhulia's twisty noir about decaying feudal power.
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A shy law student in Rajasthan is pulled into student elections and a shadowy political movement. Anurag Kashyap's angry political thriller, with songs by Piyush Mishra.
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A gangster and his protégé build a crime empire that stretches from Mumbai to Hong Kong, and power tests their friendship. Ram Gopal Varma's follow-up to Satya is sleek and cold.
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Why it belongs on this list
Fahadh Faasil plays a coastal community leader across several decades, from young smuggler to feared patriarch. Mahesh Narayanan's saga has Wasseypur's sweep and a bravura long opening shot.
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A dispute over a political wall in North Chennai drags two friends into an old rivalry. Pa. Ranjith's film is rooted in the everyday life of the neighbourhood.
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A labourer in the red-sandalwood trade of the Seshachalam forests rises through a smuggling syndicate. Allu Arjun's swagger drives a mass hit with a rough, rural flavour.
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A Bombay street kid is sent to the Kolar Gold Fields on a mission that could make him a legend. Prashanth Neel's myth-making gangster epic is loud and hugely entertaining.
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In a 1980s Godavari village, a hard-of-hearing young man and his brother challenge a president who has ruled for decades. Sukumar's rural drama has earthy texture and a great Ram Charan performance.
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Identical twins, one with a lisp and one with a stammer, are caught up in a chaotic tangle of drugs, gangsters and cops in Mumbai. Vishal Bhardwaj at his most playful.
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A young man opens a food stall in Mumbai, and one violent night pulls him into the underworld. Sanjay Dutt's intense performance made it a cult classic.
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Why it belongs on this list
Shekhar Kapur's harrowing account of Phoolan Devi's life and her years as a Chambal outlaw. Unflinching and angry; not for the faint-hearted.
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A farmer tries to protect his son after a land dispute with a powerful family turns deadly. Vetrimaaran and Dhanush reteam for a furious story about caste and pride.
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A smuggler with a code and his ambitious young protégé rule 1970s Bombay. A stylish, dialogue-heavy retro gangster film with Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi.
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Why it belongs on this list
A timid police recruit poses as a filmmaker to get close to a gangster in 1970s Madurai. Karthik Subbaraj's spiritual sequel to Jigarthanda is bigger, wilder and part western.
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Why it belongs on this list
A washed-up Delhi cop is handed a high-profile case that leads him deep into India's heartland. Grim, layered and superbly acted.
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When a young girl goes missing in Mumbai, the adults around her care more about their own interests. Anurag Kashyap's bleakest film is a gripping, unsparing thriller.
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A serial killer in Mumbai becomes obsessed with the drug-addled cop hunting him. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is terrifying in Anurag Kashyap's dark cat-and-mouse film.
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Four stories intersect in Punjab's drug crisis: a rock star, a cop, a doctor and a migrant labourer. Rough, urgent and propelled by a great soundtrack.
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Three college freshers in Bengaluru befriend a flamboyant local gangster to get back at their seniors. Fahadh Faasil's Ranga is one of the most entertaining gangsters in recent Indian cinema.
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Why it belongs on this list
Upendra's 1995 cult film follows a young Brahmin who becomes a feared Bengaluru gangster, with real-life rowdies in the cast. A raw classic that shaped a generation of gangster films.
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Why it belongs on this list
The Corleone family faces a changing underworld in 1940s New York as a reluctant son is drawn into the business. The generational crime saga every other film here answers to.
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Martin Scorsese follows three decades in the life of mobster Henry Hill, told with voice-over, music and dark comedy. Wasseypur's energetic storytelling owes something to it.
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Why it belongs on this list
Five interwoven stories show how the Camorra shapes everyday life around Naples. Unglamorous and documentary-like, it is the antidote to movie-gangster glamour.
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Guy Ritchie's London caper about a stolen diamond, a crooked boxing promoter and a lot of fast-talking crooks. For fans of Wasseypur's comic rhythm and colourful characters.
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Why it belongs on this list
The second half of the saga follows the next generation of the Khan family as the war with Ramadhir Singh reaches its end. Treat both parts as one five-hour film and watch Part 1 first.
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Why it belongs on this list
Vetrimaaran's North Chennai epic follows a carrom player drawn into decades of gang politics around the harbour. Dense, violent and novelistic, it is the closest thing Tamil cinema has to Wasseypur.
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Why it belongs on this list
Jobless friends in 1980s Madurai are pulled into local politics and a cycle of loyalty and betrayal. Sasikumar's debut is raw, nostalgic and devastating, and Anurag Kashyap has called it an inspiration.
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Behind the picks
Picks are ranked by how closely they match Gangs of Wasseypur's appeal: rooted small-town crime, feuds that span years or generations, dark humour and a strong sense of place. Indian films and series in five languages lead, followed by international crime epics. Rankings are Cinearium editorial choices.
Movie facts and community ratings come from TMDB. Streaming information is provided by JustWatch through TMDB and varies by country. Missing availability means no option was returned by the provider; it does not prove a film is unavailable everywhere. Dates above refer to editorial updates.
