BOLLYWOOD AND HORROR: A NON-APPRECIATION POST

By Milana Prakash (Team Creative)

Horror is a genre that very quickly garners an audience’s attention and intrigues them. Since horror plays with the universal emotion of fear, it often works well with most audiences and this explains why so many horror films are released every year. Bollywood, too has produced quite a few horror films right since its early days. Unfortunately, filmmakers never seem to have a genuinely eerie script or enough money to use satisfying CGI. Barring very few films, they’re usually dull, grotesque, devoid of logic and clichéd.

Here are the features of every traditional Bollywood horror film:

 1) Most Bollywood horror films that we see today seem like borderline B-grade films. The horror does not lie in the film, but in the shallowness of storytelling. It’s heartbreaking to realize that the CBFC often ends up awarding the film an ‘A’ certificate not for the spooks but for the explicit content. E.g.: the Raaz franchise or Ragini MMS. 

2) They are a poor attempt at copying successful horror films. It’s an undeniable fact that Bollywood across all genres seeks ‘inspiration’ from other industries; however, they manage to practically ruin it because the scripts are never adapted to suit the Indian sensibilities. The Bipasha Basu starrer ‘Alone’ was a dismal attempt to recreate the successful Thai horror film, ‘Alone’.

3) Every horror film features a tantrik, clad in orange. If the makers are extra-pious there is also a soothsayer who tries to warn the protagonists, but tragically, no one cares about her. The solution to every ‘bhoot’ or ‘Kaali Shakti’ is either a black string or Hanuman Chalisa. If that wasn’t enough, there are also mysterious lemons that spew blood when cut or ‘Diyas’ that refuse to stay lit.

4) If Bollywood horror films were to be a brand, Bipasha Basu should have been the brand ambassador. Somehow, every third Bollywood film appears to feature Bipasha Basu. Right from ‘Gunaah’ to ‘Raaz’ and then ‘Aatma’ to ‘Alone’. Unfortunately, they almost always end up as a disaster at the box office. 

5) They have no sense of logic. To begin with, the leading character ridicules the idea of the paranormal. For no plausible reason, the leading couple decides to move into a cottage in the middle of nowhere. For no explicable reason, there’s a creepy watchman or a housekeeper trying to drop subtle warnings; and when something abnormal happens, the characters decide to act brave and wander in the dark (without even bothering to turn on their flash lights – Hail Bravery!) to find out what’s happening (where ideally one should call someone else or run).

Nevertheless, there are Bollywood horror films that can make a shiver or two run down your spine, like 13B or Pizza, that thankfully have better logical explanations and relatively better and engaging stories. These are the ones we’d suggest you watch.