Filmfare Recommends: Best Bollywood Horror Movies of the Last Two Decades – Filmfare

Bollywood filmmakers have sort of rediscovered the horror genre in the last 20 years. Earlier, it never used to enjoy the patronage of A-list actors and big-budget studios but the last two decades saw that changing. Filmmakers have realised its earning potential and have been keen to invest in the genre. It hasnt fully evolved as yet -- we have miles to go as turning out a well-rounded product is concerned but we will surely get there. Bringing you a list of some of the Best Horror Movies of the last two decades for you to binge-watch this quarantine. 1. Raaz (2002)Director: Vikram BhattCast: Bipasha Basu, Dino Morea

The film is adapted from the Hollywood hit What Lies Beneath. Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) and Aditya (Dino Morea) are a young couple having problems in their marriage. They decide to live together in a cottage in Ooty to sort out the differences. Sanjana keeps having one supernatural encounter after another. She keeps hearing a girl's voice and later sees the spirit as well. Upon the advice of professor Agni Swaroop (Ashutosh Rana), she talks to the spirit and finds out that it belongs to a young girl Malini (Malini Sharma) who was killed in the cottage. Further investigation makes her realise that Malini was having an affair with Aditya and committed suicide when he wasn't interested in taking the relationship further. The professor informs them that they have to burn the dead girl's body in order to exorcise her ghost. Otherwise, she will kill Aditya in all likelihood. How Bipasha Basu, with the help of Ashutosh Rana, exorcises the ghost to save her husband and her marriage forms the crux of the film. Nadeem Shravan composed the music and songs like Jo bhi kasme khai thi humne and Aapke pyaar mein main were much appreciated.

Bhoot was a horror film designed as a revenge drama. Vishal (Ajay Devgn) and Swati (Urmila Matondkar) rent an apartment in a high rise at a meagre price. Later, they come to know to that a girl who was staying there earlier had committed suicide. Vishal doesn't believe in ghosts, but his view changes when he sees Swati behaving strangely. She even kills the watchman in a fit of anger. He knows that his wife is not a killer and calls in a medium (Rekha) for help. The medium and the girls mother find out that the girl didn't commit suicide but was killed. Vishal, inspector Liyaqat Qureshi (Nana Patekar), who is investigating the watchmen's death, the medium and the girl's mother hatch a plan to capture the actual culprit. How that comes about forms the climax of the film. The film was genuinely scary and was admired for its taut screenplay. Urmila also won accolades for her acting.

It was an episodic horror film having supreme narratives woven into one. It was inspired by the Hollywood film Campfire Tales (1997). Six friends regale each other with supernatural horror tales after they have to find shelter in an abandoned house in a forest after their car breaks down. The stories were macabre and splattered with dark humour -- a fashion photographer (Saif Ali Khan) is imprisoned in a hotel owned by a paranoid anti-smoker (Boman Irani). A housewife (Shilpa Shetty) gets haunted by red apples. A rich guy (Vivek Oberoi) giving a lift to a man (Nana Patekar) who may be a ghost -- etc. The participants keep dwindling as a serial killer is stalking them one by one. The seventh story -- one which held the others together was probably the weakest, but overall the film was good, clean fun.

This one had a really unique concept of a TV serial haunting a middle-class family. Manohar, (Madhavan), moves into a new apartment, 13B, on the 13th floor with his family, fulfilling his life's biggest dream. But they encounter a series of strange incidents, such as milk getting spoiled, which are regarded as inauspicious by his family but are shrugged off by Manohar. The elevator in the building doesnt work just for Manohar and this fact too doesnt bother him largely. He begins to see a pattern in whats happening to the family portrayed in a popular TV programme and his own family. The happenings start to mirror each other and sometimes predict things for his family. Spooked, he investigates and finds that a family of eight were murdered in the same place in 1977. And it looks like the spirit which had haunted the earlier family has come to haunt him and his loved ones as well. The film was praised for its atmospheric horror. Madhavans acting came for praise as well.

Its a found-footage horror film that combines the story of a real scandal with strands from Stephen Kings novel Geralds Game. Uday (Rajkummar Rao), wants to make a sex video with Kainaz Motivala without her knowledge. He has set up hidden cameras and takes advantage of innocent girls. He brings Ragini (Kainaz Motivala) to his house situated in a secluded place, handcuffs herself to the bed and starts making out. However, hes killed by a malevolent spirit, who also kills a couple of his friends. Ragini, who is chained to the bed, somehow breaks free but the spirit haunts her as well. She passes out and later is shown getting treated for mental disorders. The film has plenty of moments which send a chill down your spine. And Rajkummar Rao as a sleazy guy is a must-watch as well.

The film is based on Mukul Sharmas story Mobius Trips. Emraan Hashmi plays Bobo, a top magician, who keeps having hallucinations about meeting a witch. It seems that his father had married a witch who has come to haunt him again after 20 years. The witch needs a human sacrifice and prepares his adopted son Zubin (Bhavesh Balchandani) as a victim. Bobo, it transpires, is a supernatural entity himself, and fights the witch to save the child. Only a pure soul can kill the witch by cutting off its plaits and Bobo makes sure Zubin is successful in doing so. However, as she is dying, the witch promises Bobo that she will be back. The film managed to build an atmosphere of supernatural horror despite its convoluted plot. Some scenes did give you genuine chills. The acting of the entire cast was appreciated and Konkona Sen Sharma was singled out for her performance as the original daayan.

The film is a remake of 2012 Tamil film, Pizza, directed by Karthik Subbaraj. Kunal Malkholkar (Akshay Oberoi) is a pizza delivery boy who lives with his wife Nikita (Parvathy Omanakuttan), who is an aspiring novelist and is researching material for a horror story. Kunal himself doesnt believe in the supernatural but circumstances force him to believe in it. He concocts a ludicrous story involving multiple murders by a supernatural entity to dupe his employer only to experience them later in reality.

Its morality tale peppered with stylised horror. Tumbbad draws upon our folklore, mythology, as also morality tales to weave together a saga revolving around greed and how like a curse it gets passed from generation to generation and corrupts everyone it touches. The first ten minutes are sure to spook you. A woman more dead than alive, who looks like a zombie, is tied up in a remote house in a remote village in Maharashtra. The period is the early 1900s. The woman, who's perpetually sleeping, has to be fed periodically...or else. Feeding her one night when his mother has taken his injured brother to the doctor becomes a rite of passage for a young boy. They leave the place after the brother dies but the youth takes a vow to go hunt for ancestral treasure hidden inside the well and he does so when he grows up. The treasure is guarded by the firstborn son of the earth goddess and he's not easily seduced to part with it. The young man flirts with death on each journey inside the ancestral well and for years emerges triumphant. Tragedy strikes when later his teenage son becomes too greedy. The cocky youngster wants all the gold gathered at one go, forgetting that he's trying to outwit a mad god.

Stree is a mix of comedy and horror with a bit of intrigue thrown in. It is said to be based on actual events. A small town supposedly in MP gets haunted by an entity during the four days of pooja dedicated to a local deity. Three friends -- Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), Jana (Abhishek Banerjee) and Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana) take it upon themselves to rid their town of this menace once and for all. They are helped in this journey by a motley crew comprising a bookseller, Pankaj Tripathi, Vijay Raaz, an author who wrote the history of the town and Shraddha Kapoor, the girl Vicky loves. How they combat the spirit and get rid of it forms the crux of the film.

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Filmfare Recommends: Best Bollywood Horror Movies of the Last Two Decades - Filmfare