It is sometimes difficult to imagine a Bollywood film with no song-and-dance sequence because that has been a winning formula for a number of filmmakers since time immemorial. And with the growing number of mainstream actors choosing scripts that solely depend on a gripping story without a song break, here’s taking a look at them.

Rajesh Khanna in Ittefaq (1969)

Back in the late ’60s, when Yash Chopra was renowned for his elaborate picturisation of song-and-dance sequences, he chose to make a songless thriller called Ittefaq with Rajesh Khanna and Nanda which did pretty well, earning about 2 crores at the box office.

Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachchan in Black (2005)

Another gem by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, for whom songs are almost always an integral element of the script, broke the mould to depict a relationship between a blind and mute girl and her teacher in Black. The film had Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachchan playing the lead characters and the film earned rave reviews from all corners.

Shah Rukh Khan in Fan (2016)

Shah Rukh Khan finally got out of his comfort zone with Maneesh Sharma’s Fan in which a lookalike sets off on mission to meet his favourite actor but is spurned by him, after which he decides to ruin his life.

Sonam Kapoor in Neerja (2016)

Directed by Ram Madhvani, Neerja is a true story about the hijack of an airplane and how the airhostess Neerja Bhanot (played by Sonam Kapoor) did all that she could to stall the terrorists from attacking the passengers on board.

Deepika Padukone in Finding Fanny

Directed by Homi Adajania, Finding Fanny had Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor alongside veteran genius Naseeruddin Shah playing important characters in the films. The film had no songs and was about Ferdie, an old postman who decides to find his long lost love and embarks on a road trip.