Everyone knows they enjoy a great following among the ladies but diamonds are a thief’s best friends too.
Our Hindi films can vouch for that thought.
Quite a few plots revolve around a cleverly planned robbery of a sought-after sparkler.
In Saif Ali Khan-Jaideep Ahlawat’s Netflix caper Jewel Thief, the duo engage in a game of outwitting over a diamond heist.
Sukanya Verma looks at Bollywood’s best-known diamond robberies in film.
Sikandar Ka Muqaddar
Following the events of a high profile diamond theft in 2008 Mumbai, an investigation to nab the guilty among a bunch of morally skewed suspects occupies the focus of Neeraj Pandey’s drama starring Jimmy Shergill, Tamannaah and Avinash Tiwary.
Crew
Though its gold not diamonds, the girl gang of Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon deserve a mention for their sassy act as airhostesses of a broke airline making a killing after they willingly embroil themselves in a smuggling racket.
Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga
Twists and turns are doled out by the second in Yami Gautam-Sunny Kaushal’s sinister heist meets hijack mashup involving a scheme to steal a stash of diamonds on a flight.
Happy New Year
Farah Khan blends dance and diamond robbery in her goofy brand for the multi-starrer held together by the stardom of Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani, Abhishek Bachchan and Sonu Sood as golden-hearted burglars posing as reality dance show participants.
Bang Bang
The Hrithik Roshan-Katrina Kaif starrer may not have impressed the critics but its hunky hero does the unthinkable — he hoodwinks world-class security and easily steals the contentious Kohinoor diamond from UK’s Tower of London.
Dhoom 2
What’s with Duggu and bling anyway? Roshan Jr plays a mastermind thief in the second film of the Dhoom franchise and changes into a variety of prosthetic getups, including sculpture, to steal a diamond from a much-guarded museum.
Fool & Final
In Ahmed Khan’s shameless and shoddy remake of Snatch, its entire cast of actors ranging from Jackie Shroff to Shahid Kapoor is engaged in a mad struggle to get their hands on a precious diamond.
Cash
In Anubhav Sinha’s muddled-up Cash, Ajay Devgn ropes in a bunch of robbers, Ritesh Deshmukh, Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza and Esha Deol, to swoop in some super expensive diamonds, also eyed by Suniel Shetty and Shamita Shetty.
Jewel Thief
One of the many best films to come out of the Dev-Vijay Anand collaboration, the slick Jewel Thief lives up to its title with unforeseeable twists and mind-boggling suspense. Its sequel Return of the Jewel Thief, of course, turned out to be a epic embarrassment.
Andaz Apna Apna
Paresh Rawal’s evil twin designs a grand kidnapping scheme to run away with his wealthy brother’s valuable diamonds to realise his lifelong dream of setting up a poultry farm before Crimemaster Gogo drops in and demands his share of the booty in Rajkumar Santoshi’s comic gem.
Kaalia
Jahan teri yeh nazar hai meri jaan mujhe khabar hai, remember? Loaded in charm, Amitabh Bachchan woos the lady with a glittering diamond necklace and snubs rival Amjad Khan during this classic Bollywood style chori song sequence from the 1980s.
Shalimar
It’s all about stealing the prized Shalimar diamond in a film of the same name. Despite its international cast and curious gimmickry, especially when Dharmendra paints himself in a monochrome tile pattern to blend with the surrounding of the hugely guarded gem he endeavours to smuggle, the caper bombed badly at the box office.
Victoria No 203
Its remake is as forgettable as they come but the breezy original starring Ashok Kumar, Pran and Saira Banu revolves around crooks, of all shapes and sizes, following a mad trail of missing diamonds.
Jugnu
In the Dharmenda-Hema Malini superhit, the brawny hero leaps off his horse to get inside a fast moving train and then nabs a box containing diamonds as well a suitcase filled with money from a man and a moll.
Waqt
Who better than Raaj Kumar to teach the trick of how to have one’s cake and eat it too? As the smooth burglar of Waqt, he easily nicks a lady’s gorgeous diamond necklace and then returns it to her just as conveniently by saying the thief dropped it on his porch and wins her favour.
