Loved The Conjuring 2? You need to watch these 5 Hindi horror films too
If you loved The Conjuring 2, you are damn well going to love these 5 Hindi horror films that can give The Conjuring series a run for its money any day.
The Conjuring 2 that released last week has notched up USD 51.5m at the global box office, double the international weekend gross of its predecessor. In India itself, it has made Rs 24.3 crore in its first four days, leaving behind the Bollywood releases of the week, TE3N and Do Lafzon Ki Kahani.
ALSO READ: The Conjuring 2 Movie Review
ALSO READ: The Conjuring 2 trumps TE3N and Do Lafzon Ki Kahani at Indian box office
Clearly, the audience loves to get scared. As much as they would want to stay away from horror flicks, as much as they'd quip, "No yaa, I'm scared of ghosts. After watching a horror film, I can't sleep in the dark," something inevitably pulls them towards horror films. It can be their friend, lover, spouse or simply their repressed urge to confront their deepest fears through the big screen.
The Conjuring 2 has earned laurels from critics and audiences alike. Hollywood, and internationally, Japanese and South Korean cinema has perfected the horror genre. Remember Ring? Grudge? Audition? The Exorcist? The Omen? These films are the pinnacle of popular horror film-making all over the world.
India itself has a big history of horror stories, thanks to our rural folklore, tales that have passed down generations, thanks to our grandmas. The wailing woman in a white saree, the tantrik with his curses, the djinn of Islamic theology, the chudail and the daayan, among others, are time-tested supernatural characters in our homogeneous Indian culture. That apart, each specific culture has its own set of ghosts and spirits.
So why do our horror movies SUCK? Why do we have to sit through Vikram Bhatt's abysmal horror films (Horror Story, Creature 3D, Shaapit) and Ram Gopal Varma's horror sequels that simply should not exist?
Nevertheless, this story is not about India's worst horror films. You don't need to know about India's worst horror films. In all probability, you have already been assaulted by one or more over the years.
Let us instead tell you about some of the best horror films Hindi cinema has had to offer; quality horror films that will always be scary, regardless of the time of the day you see them. Scared to read ahead? Then this is not for you.
Raat - Ram Gopal Varma (1992)
Hands down, one of the best horror movies ever made. If the barometer of brilliance for a horror film is how scary it is, then this film is a 10/10. Yes, the visual effects are cheesy, but cut the film some slack. Indian movies neither had big budgets back then nor did they have CGI. Ram Gopal Varma knew this very well. Hence, the film barely has any effects-heavy scene. Instead, the film relies on classic suspense and spine-chilling anticipatory horror. RGV teases you so badly from scene to scene that at the end of it, you will admit this is a master craftsman at work who is plain evil. Watch out for stellar performances by Revathi as the young protagonist who gets haunted, Rohini Hattangadi underplaying her role as Revathi's mother, Akash Khurana as her unassuming husband and Om Puri in the scenery-chewing role of a sage who exorcises Revathi's character.
Bhoot - Ram Gopal Varma (2003)
Ram Gopal Varma in his last few years of sanity made this stellar horror classic. Bhoot is so tight, so well-directed and acted, that you would not mind its not-terrible-but-not-really-great writing. The biggest assets of the movie are RGV's restrained direction and the ensemble cast of such fine actors as Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar, Nana Patekar, Rekha, Tanuja, Fardeen Khan, Seema Biswas and Victor Banerjee.
Mahal - Kamal Amrohi (1949)
We take a detour and go back in time when films were shot in black and white, when people did not know what computer graphics were. Mahal, this beautifully shot, moody and atmospheric film, is India's first reincarnation thriller and our first gothic film. Its rich, dark look, thanks to German cinematographer Josef Wirsching, went on to inspire Raj Kapoor, Chetan Anand, and most importantly, Guru Dutt in the following decade. The film also made superstars of Lata Mangeshkar and Madhubala. With a host of able, talented people behind the camera, along with a star performance from Ashok Kumar, Mahal, today, is a classic. It was also included in the British Film Institute's list of 10 great romantic horror films.
13B - Vikram Kumar (2009)
Fast forward to the 2000s and we have Vikram Kumar's bilingual horror film 13B / Yavarum Nalam. One of the best Indian entries into the horror genre, 13B is a joy for horror movie fans. It is a nice spin on the haunted house story, going into interesting directions, and R Madhavan and Sachin Khedekar elevate the film to cult status. The subdued, desaturated look of the film, thanks to veteran cinematographer PC Sreeram, adds to the mood of the film. The icing on the cake is the soundtrack by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and their songs are used smartly throughout the movie.
Darna Mana Hai - Prawaal Raman (2003)
The most forward-looking, innovative, and ahead-of-its-time film in the list, Darna Mana Hai was one of RGV's many fearless experiments that did not work at the box-office, sadly. The mad man produced this collection of six short horror films that traversed over different sub-genres within horror itself. While most Indian horror films are reduced to bloated exercises in haunted house films or even worse, sex-horror films, here, the shorts were well-made exercises in subverting horror tropes. The low-budget effort had an ensemble cast and Boman Irani, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Nana Patekar, Sanjay Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani and Raghuvir Yadav gave some of their career-best performances in Darna Mana Hai. The day RGV returns with something like this, we can safely call it the second coming of Christ.