By: Rhea Sabherwal
Bollywood isn’t really known for making the best movies in the horror genre, but over the years there have been a couple of memorable horror movies. With Halloween coming up, here’s the list of Bollywood horror movies you need to watch if you haven’t yet!
- Ragini MMS
While this movie maybe inspired from Paranormal Activity, but it still held its originality enough to not be called a copy. The first half is a great build up for the horror that ensues in the second half. Its success can be attributed to the fact it was very different from the run-of-the-mill bollywood.
2. 1920
Considered as one of the scariest Bollywood horror movies, 1920 became very successful due to its sheer finesse in the scary scenes. Its a classic tale of a newly married couple moving into a haunted mansion and what ensues is a spine chilling journey thereafter.
3. Raaz
Bipasha Basu starrer Raaz went on to become a huge hit. The theme of this movie is said to be picked up from the Hollywood movie – What Lies Beneath. Reviews of the movie raved about the technical aspects and the background score. And lets not forget this is the movie that kickstarted bipasha’s horror movie career. (most of which, after Raaz, failed miserably.
4. Bhoothnath
One of the very few horror movies in Bollywood that caters to children and teenagers, Bhoothnath can be considered a family drama to some extent. The climax is terribly long and boring and some parts do seem too kiddish. But the reason this movie is watchable is because of the main lead. There is some wonderful delight hidden in watching Amitabh Bachchan, the former angry young man, do all kinds of silly things, dance in hoodies and act like a child.
5. Kaal
This movie was a horrific failure at the box office and even the critics bashed the actors and the director for the movie. But years later it has found its place with many people saying how they loved it a lot. Perhaps all the logical loopholes and the bad acting is what makes it funny in an ironical kind of way. The actresses clad in bare minimum clothing while in a forest, John Abraham’s lack of expressions and Ajay Devgn’s monotonous acting make it a must watch for me. I can’t say how it classifies as horror without giving away the ending, but let me assure you the main scary part about this movie is how badly all the actors have done their job.
6. Stree
The most recent of the lot, Stree was the horror comedy that Bollywood desperately needed.Hilarious performances by Rajkumar Rao, Aparshakti Khurrana and Pankaj Tripathi are the best part of the movie. This one will leave you in splits for sure. I found it to be more of a comedy than horror, but it has adequate parts of ‘scary’ in the movie to be called a horror comedy.
7. Bhool bhulaiya
My personal favorite out of this list, Bhool Bhulaiya was the perfect mixture of horror, drama and comedy. Many a times we see how bollywood horror movies are not huge money makers. Bhool Bhulaiya was a proper commercial movie, with catchy songs, A listers in main roles and a good dosage of comedy. It worked because of how the makers incorporated the exact amount of horror needed to keep the audience engaged. Its strong story line, Vidya Balan’s flawless acting skills and Akshay Kumar’s impeccable comic timing contributed to the movies success.
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