The Bollywood horror genre is not relying on the spook factor alone

From adding humour to subverting genres and twisting age-old tropes, Bollywood filmmakers seem keen to experiment with the genre

Watching the Hollywood cult classic Evil Dead as an eight-year-old at a cousin’s house during summer vacations did two things to this writer–gave her endless nightmares and, ironically, turned her into a lifelong horror-film buff. Years later, it was Ram Gopal Varma’s 1992 film Raat with Revathi’s stellar act as a woman possessed, and over ten years later, Bhoot, where a ghostly spirit scared the daylights out of Urmila Matondkar, with both films having somewhat similar impacts.

Popular as horror might be, in Hindi cinema, it still remains an underserviced genre. Over the years, films that made the cut were so few and far between, they could be counted on one’s fingers. Raaz, 1920, Vaastu Shastra, 13B, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Go Goa Gone and Ragini MMS are some notable mentions that also received critical appreciation. Tanujj Garg, producer and managing partner at Ellipsis Entertainment says, “Given the inherent popularity of the genre it’s almost baffling and ironical that Bollywood does not really dish out as much horror content as it should, which also explains why fans of the genre across India consume content from the West, such as The Conjuring and Annabelle.”

When it comes to the box office , horror is traditionally counted as a safe bet because of its relatively low budget and the non-requirement of known names. There is, however, still a profound lack of understanding of the genre, feels Garg, both from filmmakers as well as actors. “Both are generally scared to dive into the genre unless they are horror aficionados. It [the horror genre] also runs the risk of becoming unintentionally comical and tacky if not correctly executed, which spooks a lot of filmmakers who are not familiar with it,” he adds.

In recent years though, movies such as Tumbbad, Ek Thi Daayan, Pari, Stree, Ghost Stories, Bulbbul and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2–which was one of the highest grossing films of 2022 with a worldwide collection of ₹ 263 crore–among others, have treated the genre in a way that has made it more palatable for an audience looking for something beyond a couple of jump scares. The tropes might be similar, but it is how the subject is treated that seems to have made all the difference.   

Let the horror begin

Much before the Ramsay Brothers—a pseudonym used for the seven brothers and filmmakers given by their producer father FU Ramsay—began their scarefest of movies, it was the Ashok Kumar-Madhubala starrer Mahal (1949) that came to be known as Bollywood’s first horror film. An ancient mansion, visions of a beautiful mysterious woman and a lilting soundtrack–who can forget Lata Mangeshkar’s melodious voice pining for her lover with the song Aayega, Aanewala–made this film a huge success, paving the way for others to explore the genre in films such as Madhumati and Woh Kaun Thi.

Years later, the Ramsay Brothers became synonymous with horror films in the ’70s and ’80s. Films such as Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche, Veerana, Purana Mandir, Bandh Darwaza and Mahakaal were made with sparse crews and small-time actors and were often peppered with sexual content. In her book Ghosts in our Backyard, author and FU Ramsay’s granddaughter Alisha ‘Priti’ Kirpalani writes, “The Ramsays have often been tagged as ‘B-grade’ filmmakers, but theirs was a purposeful endeavour to make films for the masses and on a limited budget; they never claimed to be making classics.”

Delving into our own

It is hardly a secret that Bollywood has often been inspired by the West for content, in the horror genre or otherwise. However, when Anvita Dutt was making her first film Bulbbul, she didn’t have to look too far from our own storyscape. “The number of demons or creatures that we have in our culture is huge as compared to the West. So while I can be inspired by writers like Angela Carter who take fairy tales, spin them on their head and make them as dark as the source material, I would not look Westwards for inspiration,” says the director.  

Vishal Furia, who remade his own Marathi film Lapachhapi into the Hindi horror Chhorii,and is currently shooting its sequel, believes that it is stories of the soil that find a connection with the audience, irrespective of the genre. “Since childhood, we have been hearing horror stories and tales about the evils of society from our grandmothers and elders. These have a deep-rooted effect on us and it is when we touch those emotions that fear strikes,” he says.

The nani-dadi ki kahaaniyaan about chudails, aatma and amaavas ki raat certainly find an instant connection with most of us who have grown up listening to these tales from the elders in our families. However, they may not really work if showcased in their traditional format, feels writer and producer Tanveer Bookwala. “They need to be contemporised to make them acceptable. A lady asking for a lift in the middle of the night is an age-old trope but if I make her an Uber driver, it becomes relatable and contemporised. That’s the kind of horror I want to see and make,” says the Ragini MMS 2 writer who plans to lead the change with his upcoming short film The Haunting of Moushmi Mohanty and a feature film titled Barzat.

A touch of humour

While ‘horror comedy’ is a term that is increasingly used now for films such as Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Stree, Bollywood explored this genre way back in the 1965 Mehmood-starrer Bhoot Bungla. In the current scenario, the abovementioned movies, along with Bhootnath, Roohi, Bhoot Police, Phone Bhoot and Go Goa Gone, have served scares with a side of humour.

With the willingness of both genres to go over the top, a blend of the two certainly seems to be working its charm on the audience, but for how long, is something only time will tell. Bookwala cites the example of Roohi, which followed soon after Stree but failed to deliver on either comedy or horror. “I feel that the horror comedy genre in India will reach a point where people will get bored and horror will have to reinvent itself as musicals, love stories or survival dramas,” believes Aniruddha Guha, screenwriter of films such as Rashmi Rocket and Malang.

The horrors within

While comedy has often been used as a tool to depict subjects on screen that might not always be easy to digest for Indian audiences–think films such as Badhaai Do and Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan–horror, too, is being seen as an equally and, sometimes, even far more impactful genre to convey certain ugly truths. From the critically-acclaimed Tumbbad with its overarching theme of greed to the feminist subversion of Bulbbul and the man-versus-nature conflict depicted in the creature comedy Bhediya, horror films are making the right noise with the subject.

Kaushik, who made a self-assured debut with Stree–a tale about misogyny and toxic masculinity–and followed it up with Bala and Bhediya, says that it is more fun for him as a filmmaker to entertain the audience while showing them a mirror. “When my dadi-nani would tell me stories during my childhood, it would be followed by the question, ‘what did you learn from this story?’ That aspect held an attraction for me. Similarly, if I am telling a story, I feel there should be an intent behind telling it,” he says.

Furia, whose Chhorii deals with female infanticide, believes that comedy cannot always be used to depict the intensity of the actual horrors in the society. “When I read that about three million girls are killed every year because of female feticide and infanticide, it really shook me to the core and I thought the best genre to depict the gravity of the situation would be horror,” says the filmmaker.

‘Monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win’, horror writer Stephen King famously said. Dutt agrees. After all, she likes to humanise the demons in her movies. “I always feel that it’s not the thing floating from a tree or hiding under the bed that is scary; it is you who’s scary,” she says, adding that horror as a genre is begging to be utilised to say things of note. “Fear is such a beautifully basic emotion. Just like love, you feel fear from a very young age. Take that basic emotion and use your story to ride on that emotion. It is an interesting genre to say what you want to say,” she shares.

The way ahead

Guha probably has the last word on what lies ahead for the genre in Hindi cinema. He believes that there are two kinds of horror films that are going to continue being made in India. “One is high-concept films like Pari or Bulbbul where the entire film is riding on the plot which is meant to give you the chills. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is going to be the kind of film which is going to find great fandom on streaming services. The other kind of horror movie involves going to theatres and will have to give you a little bit more than just scares. We make multi-genre films anyway and that is the way ahead for horror on the big screen as well,” he concludes.

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