6 classic thrillers you must revisit

 

 

 

 

 

Directed by Kamal Amrohi and starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala, it could be said to be our first film carrying reincarnation elements. Ashok Kumar buys a new palatial house in Allahabad and learns a ghost story associated with it. He finds a portrait hanging in the house which looks exactly like him. Later, he begins seeing the ghost of a girl said to be the lover of the man in the portrait. What follows is a tragic turn of events that ultimately prove fatal to him. The film helped propel both Madhubala’s and singer Lata Mangeshkar’s career into stratosphere. The song, Aayega aanewala, used as a leitmotif is still very much popular today. 

 

 

Bimal Roy, who directed this film, was an editor for Mahal. He must have been dissatisfied with the way the film took shape as he borrowed elements from it and went onto create something that is considered a text book for reincarnation thrillers. It’s a story of how a ghost not only exacts revenge on her killers but also coaxes her lover to join him in the afterlife. The sudden reveal in the climax still manages to send goose bumps. 

 

 

Directed by Biren Nag, the film was produced by Hemant Kumar, who was also responsible for composing its haunting music. A grandson arrives to live in the same house where his father and grandfather was killed and begins to get haunted by the same vengeful spirit. How he investigates the truth and exorcizes the ‘ghost’ forms the crux of the story.  

Woh Kaun Thi (1964)

Directed by Raj Khosla, it starred Manoj Kumar, Sadhana Shivdasani, and Prem Chopra and was a proper psychological thriller where the protagonist is being persuaded that he was going mad before the truth comes out. The haunting, Lag ja gale ke phir ye haseen raat ho na ho sung by Lata Mangeshkar remains one of her best romantic songs till date. 

 

 

 

Directed by Raja Nawathe, and starring Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Helen and Mehmood, it was an adaptation of the book And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It was a true slasher flick, what with the cast members being killed off one by one in a deserted island by a mysterious killer. 

 

 

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma and starring Revathi and Om Puri, the film has become a cult classic over the years. Varma didn’t go overboard with the supernatural elements, relying instead on sudden jolts in the plot to creep you out. It brought out both exorcism and scientific treatment of those afflicted by ghosts, claiming that there is a large grey area lying between two extremes of which we have no knowledge. Revathy was superb as the girl haunted by supernatural entities and her expressions won the day.