JOIN USA look at Bollywood's recent stint with horror comedy
Bollywood, once obsessed with the romance genre, have begun to show consistent interest in horror comedy of late. Earlier, in the late 90s and early 2000s, the likes of 'Hello Brother', and 'Paheli' explored the genre with middling success.
Fast forward to the present, the horror comedy seems to be the Hindi film industry's favourite theme. 'Bhediya', about a man who gets bitten by a wolf and begins to transform himself into a werewolf, did decent business at the box office while 'Phone Bhoot', a story about a ghost who reaches out to two ghost hunters with a business plan, was a flop.
Here is a look at Bollywood's hits and misses with the horror comedy genre in the last decade or so.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022)
Directed by Anees Bazmee, the movie is a second installment in the 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' Franchise. The film follows a guy who pretend to be a tantrik chasing away ghosts. He is set to face Manjulika, who wants her revenge. In a year that saw a string of flops in Bollywood, 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' was a welcome change for the industry as it crossed the 200-crore mark to be a huge hit. The film also put Kartik Aaryan back in form.
Roohi (2021)
Directed by Hardik Mehta, the film is about ta ghost, who kidnaps brides on the night of their honeymoons. Roohi received a lot of negative reviews by the audience. Despite the presence of an emerging star in Jahnvi Kapoor and a gifted performer in Rajkummar Rao, the film was panned by critics and fans alike. Some even called it one of the worst films of that year.
Bhoot Police (2021)
In 'Bhoot Police', directed by Pawan Kripalani, two brothers is shown hunting down evil spirits in a remote village.The brothers, played Saif Ali Khan and Arjun Kapoor, soon face a challenge in a village in Rajasthan and the rest of the film is about how they overcome it. The film, which dropped directly on Disney+Hotstar, received mixed responses from movie buffs.
Stree (2018)
Stree was inspired by the urban legend of Karnataka. The legend has it that a witch would come knocking on the door and pretend to speak in the voice of your loved ones, to lure you out of your home and kill you. That's when people came up with the idea of writing 'Naale Baa' (Come tomorrow) on the walls for the witch to read it and go away. The film translates 'Naale Baa' to 'O Stree Kal Aana'. Starring Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor, the film had plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and went on to become on a blockbuster.
Phillauri (2017)
Phillauri is a story about a ghost, who claims, to be a man’s wife after he marries a tree. Its upto the male protagonist to help the spirit return to her own world. Directed by Anshai Lal, the movie failed to set the box office on fire. Starring Anushka Sharma, the film had an original and promising premise but it failed in its execution.
Golmaal Again (2017)
The fourth installment of the 'Golmaa' franchise, this Rohit Shetty's film was a blockbuster. The film is about five orphans who can see a ghost. They decide to help her taste redemption by taking revenge. While people loved the film's humour, many felt 'Golmaan Again' had several loopholes and was technically tacky.
Push to the genre
Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)
Directed by Priyadarshan, the remake is nowhere close to the Malayalam original 'Manichitrathazu' (1993) but the success of the film perhaps convinced Hindi filmmakers to believe in the genre.
The story begines with an NRI (Shiney Ahuja) and his wife (Vidya Balan) deciding to stay at their ancestral home without paying heed to their elder’s warning about the ghost of Manjulika. Situations leads him to call Dr Aditya, played by Akshay Kumar, a psychiatrist and an expert in parapsychology, to solve the mystery of Manjulika. Akshay's comic timing, Balan's versatility and Pritam's score won immense praise from the audiences and the film was a blockbuster.