the italian job (2003)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham & Edward Norton

What: The remake of the Michael Caine-Noel Coward 1969 film of the same name focused on a gang of thieves who embark on a carefully planned mission to steal back the gold from a former associate who had double-crossed them.

Top scene: The extended climax on the busy streets of Los Angeles, culminating in the adrenaline-pumping helicopter and Mini Cooper chase.

Trivia: The Italian Job was remade in Bollywood as the disastrous Players starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor and directed by Abbas-Mustan.

the ocean’s trilogy (2001,’04, ’07)

Starring: The biggest names in Hollywood — George Clooney to Brad Pitt, Matt Damon to Julia Roberts, Al Pacino to Andy Garcia.

What: Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy — Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, the story of Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his gang of thieves who pull off one daring heist after another with thrilling precision and trademark swag.

Top scene: The daredevil sequence in Ocean’s Eleven in which Danny’s comrades pull off the robbery in the casino vault while he pretends to be locked up. A straightfaced Danny saying, “I have no idea what you talking about,” even as he knows he’s netted millions, is a classic.

Trivia: Bruce Willis, who was the first choice to play Danny Ocean, featured in a cameo in Twelve where he played himself. Opposite Julia Roberts, okay not quite!

the usual suspects (1995)

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri & Pete Postlethwaite.

What: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” The cult neo-noir film directed by Bryan Singer traced — mostly in flashback — the daring robbery pulled off by a gang of five. The twist at the end — copied in many films since — is top class.

Top scene: The “line-up scene” (in picture) is an obvious choice, but we pick the classic five minutes towards the end when customs agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) realises he’s been taken for a ride by “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey). Now knowing who the real Keyser Soze is, he runs out of the police headquarters to chase Kint, but “just like that he’s gone!”

Trivia: The idea for the film germinated from the concept of a movie poster of five guys in a line-up!

now you see me (2013)

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine & Morgan Freeman

What: A team of illusionists called The Four Horsemen pull off extraordinary bank heists in the middle of their performances and reward their audiences with the booty.

Top scene: The act in which the illusionists turn the tables on insurance magnate Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), “robbing” his bank account in front of his eyes and transferring the money to the accounts of those he had cheated.

Trivia: In the original draft of the script, there was no female in The Four Horsemen. Isla Fisher’s Henley— an escapist and stage magician — was pencilled in on subsequent drafts.

special 26 (2013)

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajesh Sharma & Jimmy Shergill

What: Inspired by a real-life con group in the 1980s, a team of 26 — “Special 26” headed by Akshay’s Ajay — poses as CBI agents and pulls off a heist in the middle of Mumbai city under the nose of CBI officer Manoj Bajpayee in this Neeraj Pandey film.

Top scene: For us, the Calcutta connection. The scene where Ajay and P.K. Sharma (Anupam Kher) land up in Calcutta’s Burrabazar and con a small-time businessman of crores in the name of a CBI raid.

Trivia: Ajay Devgn was considered for Akshay Kumar’s role.

dog day afternoon (1975)

Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning & Chris Sarandon

What: A man (with two accomplices) attempts to rob a bank to pay for his girlfriend’s sex reassignment surgery.

Top scene: Using the teller as a hostage, Sonny (Pacino) exits the bank. The cops try and initiate a dialogue with him to surrender, but Sonny is in no mood to back down. As the cops mount pressure on him, Sonny suddenly starts screaming: “Attica! Attica!” in reference to the 1971 Attica Prison riot in which convicts demanded better living conditions. The crowd outside the bank, till then hostile towards Sonny, starts cheering for him.

Trivia: Dog Day Afternoon is based on a real-life bank robbery — John Wojtowicz had watched The Godfather (1972) to get ideas for the heist he pulled off at the Chase Manhattan bank. Coincidentally, both Pacino and Cazale starred in The Godfather.

thE thomas crown affair (1999)

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo & Denis Leary

What: Billionaire playboy Thomas Crown (Brosnan) keeps himself entertained by stealing priceless artwork, but meets his match in the super sexy insurance sleuth Catherine Banning (Russo).

Top scene: The cops have a 24x7 surveillance on Thomas Crown and spring into action when he enters the museum. But he hoodwinks them by planting doppelgangers — all in bowler hats and with a briefcase — throughout the museum. Also, for ‘sheer’ sex appeal, Brosnan-Russo burning the dance floor.

Trivia: The film is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Dunaway features in the 1999 remake in the role of Crown’s psychiatrist.

inception (2010)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy & Michael Caine

What: The ultimate heist of stealing dreams. Through his dream-sharing technology, Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) steals corporate secrets but now has to do the reverse — plant an idea in the mind of a billionaire head honcho.

Top scene: Dom takes Ariadne (Page) on her first dream-sharing experience — with mindboggling special effects where one city block is shown folding on top of another. Christopher Nolan at his best.

Trivia: The snow-based third-level dream in the climax was inspired by the snow scene in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

the dhoom films (2004, ’06, ’13)

Starring: All the biggies in the business — Aamir Khan to Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, with Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra the common factor.

What: The highest grossing film series in Bollywood history traces top cop Jai Dixit (Abhishek) and sidekick Ali’s (Uday) attempts to foil the heists by a super-thief (John’s Kabir, Hrithik’s Aryan andAamir’s Sahir-Samar) in each of the three films.

Top scene: In Dhoom:2, Aryan plants himself in a heavily-guarded museum by merging with the stone sculpture on the wall. He moves a remote-controlled device to make off with a rare diamond.

Trivia: Dhoom:3 is the first Indian film to be released in the IMAX format. And yes, it’s the highest-earning Bolly film.

the score (2001)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett & Marlon Brando

What: An ageing safe-cracker wants to hang up his boots and live off his robbed booty but can’t resist the lure of one final heist.... stealing a sceptre considered to be a French national treasure.

Top scene: The film’s penultimate scene in which Jack (Norton) realises that Nick (De Niro) has beaten him at his own game, double-crossing him and making off with the sceptre even as he himself becomes the prime suspect.

Trivia: The Score was Marlon Brando’s last film.

entrapment (1999)

Starring: Sean Connery & Catherine Zeta-Jones

What: An investigator with an insurance company is sent to track down a professional thief who specialises in international art. She ends up losing her heart to him.

Top scene: Mac (Connery) teaches Gin (Zeta-Jones) to weave through the mesh of laser rays unharmed. Blindfolded and in a figure-hugging outfit, she displays remarkable agility and poise to come out unscathed.

Trivia: The lovemaking scene between Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones has been voted the “second worst” in the history of cinema, just behind the Sharon Stone-Joe Pesci romp in Casino.

reservoir dogs (1992)

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen & Quentin Tarantino

What: Tarantino’s second film as director is a cult classic — the story of eight men who suspect each other of being a police informant once their planned heist goes wrong.

Top scene: The slo-mo walk in the opening credits scene... iconic and copied across many films. PS: We loved QT’s easy walk and talk in that scene.

Trivia: Tim Roth, who plays Mr Orange, had to film so many scenes and for so long while lying in pools of fake blood that the blood dried out and he had to be peeled off the floor!

ronin (1998)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean & Jonathan Pryce

What: Two special agents join hands to steal a heavily guarded suitcase even as new alliances are forged and loyalties questioned.

Top scene: The pulsating car chase through the streets of Nice and Paris.

Trivia: As many as 80 vehicles were destroyed in the process of making this film.

the good, the bad and the ugly (1966)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef & Eli Wallach

What: Two bounty hunters get into an uneasy alliance against a third to be the first to find a fortune of gold hidden in a cemetery.

Top scene: The epic duel in the cemetery — one of the best moments ever in cinema — where Blondie (Clint Eastwood), Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) and Tuco (Eli Wallach) stare each other down before one of the three guns goes off. Ennio Morricone’s thumping track heightens the mood and magic.

Trivia: Eastwood wore the same poncho through all three ‘Man with No Name’ movies, without a single wash!

the fast and the furious films (2001, ’03, ’06, ’09, ’11, ’13)

Starring: An ensemble cast through six films led by Vin Diesel & Paul Walker

What: The testosterone-powered blockbuster franchise about illegal street racing and next-to-impossible heists is a global favourite, having earned a whopping $2.3 billion.

Top scene: Every race scene in every film — action-packed and adrenaline-pumping, fast and furious.

Trivia: Paul Walker — who played the central role of Brian O’Conner — died in a road accident in November 2013. Bolly actor Ali Fazal features in a cameo in the seventh film, that releases in 2015.

lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998)

Starring: Vinnie Jones, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran & Jason Statham

What: Heavy losses in a botched card game compel a group of four friends to plan a daring robbery in this Guy Ritchie-directed caper.

Top scene: The opening sequence where Statham’s Bacon sells his wares with: “Let’s sort the buyers from the spyers, the needy from the greedy, and those who trust me from the ones who don’t, because if you can’t see value here today, you’re not up here shopping. You’re up here shoplifting!”

Trivia: Jason Statham has worked as a street vendor in real life, similar to the role he plays in the opening scene of the film.

a fish called wanda (1988)

Starring: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline & Michael Palin

What: Four thieves get together for the first time for a big heist and then spend the rest of the film trying to double-cross each other and make off with the loot.

Top scene: “The English contribution to world cuisine ... the chip....” The hilarious scene in which Ken (Palin) gets French fries stuffed up his nose. When the film released, a Danish man laughed so hard watching that scene that he had a cardiac arrest and died.

Trivia: John Cleese’s character is named Archie Leach, the real name of Cary Grant!

heist (2001)

Starring: Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo & Sam Rockwell

What: A jewel thief is at loggerheads with his long-time partner who has now become a crime boss.

Top scene: The final scene in which Joe (Gene Hackman) cleverly and skilfully makes off with a truck which has gold rods concealed underneath.

Trivia: In order to perfect his role of a loner and outsider, Hackman kept away from the other members of the cast during the shoot.

shalimar (1978)

Starring: Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Shammi Kapoor & Rex Harrison

What: A thief on the run assumes a fake identity and is challenged by a dying billionaire to steal a ruby — shalimar — from a heavily guarded room in his palace.

Top scene: John Locksley (Rex Harrison) tells his assembled team of thieves about his challenge to steal the shalimar and that they will be rewarded with death if they fail.

Trivia: The Shalimar soundtrack featured in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005 compilation.

aankhen

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Paresh Rawal & Sushmita Sen

What: A disgruntled former bank manager trains three blind men to rob the very bank he served faithfully for years.

Top scene: Vijay Rajput (Bachchan) finds the tables turned on him by his own proteges.

Trivia: Aankhen was initially titled “All The Best”.

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