Agent Vinod-Saif Ali Khan plays a RAW agent and title character in his 2012 home production ‘Agent Vinod’. He is on a secret mission to identify what ‘242’ stands for with the help of British-Pakistani agent, Kareena Kapoor. With brilliant action sequences and catchy dialogues, this thriller was quite a success at the box office.

Hero: Love Story of a Spy - In this 2003 high-octane thriller, Sunny Deol plays a RAW agent who has to infiltrate a terrorist group across the border to find out valuable information. Deol recruits the village belle Preity Zinta to break into the enemy camp. Predictably, the duo falls in love and there begins the love story of a spy who has to choose between his mission and his girl. This movie marked the Bollywood debut of Priyanka Chopra, who plays the daughter of one of the terrorists.

Jewel Thief- Dev Anand, whose look-alike is a notorious criminal, is recruited by the police to crack the latter’s crime ring. But their identities get muddled when the ‘gangster’ Dev Anand starts impersonating his look-alike. With twists and turns generously thrown in and super hit songs, this 1967 thriller became a huge hit and continues to be inspiration for budding filmmakers.

Gopichand Jasoos- Raj Kapoor, who’s known for his larger-than-life romance dramas, ventured into the spy genre with this 1982 flick. Although not an out-and-out spy thriller, as Kapoor manages to solve the case only through trial and error and not because of his genius, this movie makes for a fun watch. Kapoor plays Gopichand, a middle-aged, portly detective who is assigned to track down diamond thieves.

16 December- In this forgettable spy flick, a bunch of intelligence officers belonging to the IT department are assigned to investigate a series of large and illegal money transfers. How they trace the money and stop criminals from destroying their city forms the crux of the story. With a weak cast and a shaky plot, this movie was a box office turkey.

Farz- Jeetendra, as secret agent ‘Gopal’, is asked to investigate his colleague’s murder. As fate would have it, he ends up falling in love with the main goon’s daughter Babita and he is torn between his duty and love. The movie became a surprise hit and is considered one of Jeetendra’s best films!

Aankhen- A sensational thriller shot across exotic locations, this 1968 spy film was the biggest grosser of that year. Dharmendra, as the ruthless spy, gave one of his finest performances and became a huge star overnight!

Mukhbir- ‘Mukhbir’ (which means ‘informer’) is about a spy (played by Samir Dattani), who is badly tortured by the enemy camp and shunned by the Indian government to fend for himself. The movie failed to make an impact at the box office.

Sarfarosh- Aamir Khan, as the diligent and brave cop, busts a terrorist network spearheaded by evil spy, Naseeruddin Shah. This 1999 flick, which came out post the Kargil war, was a huge hit!