Movies like Maayavan (2017)
The best movies like Maayavan (2017) are Maanaadu (2021), The Time Shifters (1999) and 24 (2016). If Maayavan hooked you with its science fiction and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThesis (1996)7.5/10 from 1,011 votes
- NewestOscar Shaw (2026)Released 2026
- In TamilMaanaadu (2021)Also in Tamil
Maanaadu (2021)
A Muslim man, who is stuck in a time loop, has to stop a political rally from taking place in order to save the state's chief minister and prevent religious violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Time Shifters (1999)
Tom Merrick gets caught up in a time-traveling conspiracy and must set the timeline right before it is irrevocably altered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this24 (2016)
Scientist turned Entrepreneur Dr. Sethuraman tries to safeguard his newly invented time travel device from falling into the hands of his Evil Twin Brother Aathreya.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpace/Time (2025)
After a fatal test shuts down their project, a disgraced team of scientists enters the criminal underworld to rebuild a forbidden space-bending engine that could rescue humanity or annihilate it entirely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisChief of Station (2024)
After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThupparivaalan (2017)
Detective Kaniyan Poonkundran is hungry for a challenging case to investigate and the mystery of a murdered dog leads to a rival who could be the match for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Name on the Bullet (1959)
When hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace with the Devil (1975)
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVikram Vedha (2017)
A notorious gangster Vedha surrenders himself to encounter specialist Vikram whom he challenges every step of the way by narrating his life events in the form of riddles that needs to be solved in order to capture him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDhuruvangal Pathinaaru (2016)
A former cop looks back on the case which left him disabled and forced him to quit the force.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPor Thozhil (2023)
Loganathan, a senior cop is asked to mentor Prakash, an academically bright but faint-hearted rookie and this unlikely duo team up to investigate a series of murder cases, and realize all of them are interlinked and that a psychopath serial killer is on the run.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blue Lamp (1950)
P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic ordinary hero but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of the 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForeign Correspondent (1940)
American crime reporter John Jones is reassigned to Europe as a foreign correspondent to cover the imminent war. When he walks into the middle of an assassination and stumbles on a spy ring, he seeks help from a beautiful politician’s daughter and an urbane English journalist to uncover the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaanagaram (2017)
Upon moving to Chennai, four lives get intertwined as they strive to achieve success in the city. However, when a vicious gangster threatens them, the group must work together to defeat him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImaikkaa Nodigal (2018)
A CBI officer goes in search of a ruthless serial killer. Things get worse when the murderer targets the former and her family
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndemnity (2022)
An ex-fireman with PTSD goes on the run when accused of a crime he doesn't even remember committing, leading him down a rabbit hole of conspiracy to the highest degree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mechanic (1972)
Arthur Bishop is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and lonely that he takes on one of his victim's sons, Steve McKenna, as his apprentice. Arthur puts him through a rigorous training period and brings him on several hits. As Steven improves, Arthur worries that he'll discover who killed his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMersal (2017)
A few individuals in the medical profession are murdered or kidnapped, and the cop investigating the case suspects a doctor and arrests him. But is he the one who is behind these crimes? And why are they being committed?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOscar Shaw (2026)
After retiring from the police force, a relentless detective haunted by the tragic loss of his closest friend sets out on a perilous quest for vengeance, seeking redemption and fighting to restore justice to the streets he once swore to protect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Satan Bug (1965)
A US government germ warfare lab has had an accident. The first theory is that one of the germs has been released and killed several scientists. The big fear is that a more virulent strain, named The Satan Bug because all life can be killed off by it should it escape, may have been stolen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVirtuosity (1995)
The Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre (LETAC) has developed SID version 6.7: a Sadistic, Intelligent, and Dangerous virtual reality entity which is synthesized from the personalities of more than 150 serial killers, and only one man can stop him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisAttack Force (2006)
Marshall Lawson is the commander of an elite military unit. Marshall Lawson loses his strike-team in a cold-blooded and seemingly random attack, and he takes it upon himself to investigate the attack, with the help of his girlfriend Tia and his friend Dwayne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisKiller Clown (2010)
A serial killer dressed in a clown mask and a long black robe terrorizes a small town and murders people randomly and for no apparent reason. A man whose girlfriend gets killed by the clown seeks revenge and enacts his own brand of vigilante justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Species II (1998)
Having just returned from a mission to Mars, Commander Ross isn't exactly himself. He's slowly becoming a terrifying alien entity with one goal -- to procreate with human women! When countless women suffer gruesome deaths after bearing half-alien offspring, scientist Laura Baker and hired assassin Press Lennox use Eve, a more tempered alien clone, to find Ross and his brood. Before long Eve escapes to mate with Ross.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisLady Frankenstein (1971)
When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue his experiments.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisSuspect Zero (2004)
A killer is on the loose, and an FBI agent sifts through clues and learns that the bloodthirsty felon's victims of choice are other serial killers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeath Pool (2017)
Johnny Taylor has a big problem: he LOVES to drown good-looking girls. When he sees water and attractive females together, something in his head begs him to kill - the psychological result of a traumatic near-drowning during his childhood at the hands of a twisted babysitter. Fighting the urge to act on his sinister thoughts most of his adult life, Johnny finally succumbs to his dark instincts when the only work he can find is around water, cleaning pools. Filled with colorful characters, beautiful women and set against the backdrop of the LA party scene, Death Pool encapsulates the desire for fame, the lust for desire, and the urge to kill.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Thesis (1996)
While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Honeymoon Killers (1970)
Martha Beck, an obese nurse who is desperately lonely, joins a "correspondence club" and finds a romantic pen pal in Ray Fernandez. Martha falls hard for Ray, and is intent on sticking with him even when she discovers he's a con man who seduces lonely single women, kills them and then takes their money. She poses as Ray's sister and joins Ray on a wild killing spree, fueled by her lingering concern that Ray will leave her for one of his marks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFriday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood (1988)
Tina Shepard, a telekinetic teenage girl, accidentally unchains Jason from his watery grave, allowing him to go on another killing spree in the area.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Maayavan?
The closest matches to Maayavan are Maanaadu (2021), The Time Shifters (1999) and 24 (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Maayavan?
Start with Maanaadu (2021), the closest match to Maayavan.
What is the highest-rated movie like Maayavan?
Thesis (1996), rated 7.5/10 by 1,011 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Maayavan?
Oscar Shaw (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Tamil movies like Maayavan?
Yes: Maanaadu (2021), 24 (2016) and Thupparivaalan (2017).
How are movies similar to Maayavan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Maayavan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.