Bhoot
Tags: paranormal, murder, haunting

Plot synopsis:
The story is about Vishal (Ajay Devgn) who is married to Swati (Urmila Matondkar). The couple rents a high rise apartment at a ridiculously low price. The caretaker of the apartment, Mr Thakkar (Amar Talwar) explains to Vishal that a widow named Manjeet Khosla (Barkha Madan), the previous resident, committed suicide after killing her own son. Vishal hides this fact from Swati, as she will object to buying such a residence. But Mr.Thakkar accidentally slips in the secret.
Swati is livid at Vishal, although he disbelieves the notions of ghosts and bad luck. Then, Swati starts behaving strangely. Vishal consults Dr Rajan (Victor Banerjee). But soon enough, Vishal witnesses Swati killing the watchman of the apartment in a supernatural way, and his skepticism is rudely challenged. Inspector Qureshi(Nana Patekar), who reaches the apartment to investigate the death, becomes suspicious of the duo and their strange behaviour. He follows Vishal and Dr. Rajan.
Vishal's maid witnesses Swathi shouting and throwing Vishal away. She helps him tie her. She tells him that Swathi was shouting like Manjeet and tells him that an exorcist can help her but not doctors. Finally, Vishal's maid calls an exorcist named Sarita (Rekha). Sarita sees the ghosts of Manjeet and her son. She advises Vishal to meet Manjeet's mother (Tanuja), since she can placate her daughter's spirit. Vishal complies and meets Manjeet's mother. He learns from Manjeet's mother that Manjeet was not the type of woman who would commit suicide. He explains the situation to her and asks her help. She comes with him and somehow placates Manjeet's spirit. They come to know that Mr.Thakkar's son, Sanjay tries to molest Manjeet and when she resists she accidentally falls off the balcony and dies. Hence, Sarita advises Vishal to call him. Vishal makes an unknown call to Sanjay and tells him that his father is sick. When Sanjay arrives, Vishal cleverly tells Mr. Thakkar and Sanjay to help him take Swathi to the hospital.
It is then revealed that many years ago, Sanjay came to visit his father and lusted for Manjeet, after he saw her in the apartment. He broke into her house, and attempted to profess his lust, but when she rejected him, he pushed her and she accidentally fell off the balcony and died. Manjeet's young son witnessed the murder, upon which Sanjay hired the watchman to kill him. Manjeet, who has still possessed Swati's body, sees Sanjay and chases him. Qureshi tries to stop her, having no idea of the real story. Swathi tries to kill Sanjay by strangulating him. But, Sarita asks Manjeet to leave him as the blame will come upon Swathi.
Sanjay escapes, only to find himself surrounded by Vishal, Sarita, Manjeet and Qureshi who now knows the truth. A terrified Sanjay confesses to the crimes, upon which Manjeet's mother urges her to stop. Sanjay is arrested by Inspector Qureshi, and thrown into jail. Manjeet leaves Swati's body, and Vishal and Swati live a good life in the apartment. Meanwhile, in the lockup, Qureshi tells Sanjay that death sentences are light penalties for a criminal like him. He wishes that Sanjay gets a bigger punishment. After Qureshi leaves the darkened cell, Sanjay finds himself face to face with Manjeet. He starts begging for mercy, but his voice soon fades out as Manjeet draws closer; it is implied that she kills Sanjay.

Review: Ram Gopal Varma has always been a favourite, and Bhoot is his most intense attempt at horror.
However, I would still not call Bhoot a horror film - because it wasn't really scary.
Urmila Matondkar plays Swati, a ghost-possessed woman whose husband does not know what to do to save her.
this intense thriller, horror remains only in the first half of the movie.
hail Ram gopal verma.the true master of horror genre movies in recent times.
the background score is an character in itself which propels the movie to greater heights.some may find this remark awry but i feel that the background score is the spinal cord for a horror movie.an ensemble of great acting talents of the likes of Nana,Rekha,Tanuja,Ajay & finally Urmila.lets not talk about Fardeen.great editing,cinematography add to the haunting mood of the film.overall an classic product from RGV's factory.don't miss it.greatly recommended but certainly not for the faint hearted.watch it in an multiplex and then u will realize what i meant..
For all the talk of songless-ness and being different and reinventing the genre (if remaking it in the standard Hollywood mode can be called reinvention; perhaps 'rescuing it from the Ramseys and the white-sari-clad woman with a blood-streaked face' is more appropriate) - all of which were true - what mattered in the end was whether this film could sustain the tension and make you empathise with the characters.
The background score is really effective; camerawork is creative; the leads act flawlessly; there's a liberal sprinkling of red herrings, the characters are believable, and we're spared the quasi-religious mumbo-jumbo that mars so many films in this genre.
While making a horror film is inherently a derivative process, Bhoot manages to avoid seeming cliched, both by the standards of Hindi filmdom (okay, that's not hard - the absence of either a dak bangla or a kabristan, as well as the aforementioned white sari, pretty much ensures that) as well as, to a lesser extent, Hollywood (which it is closer to in 'spirit').
One is always on tenterhooks and many a times the viewer gasps or mayhaps even lets out a small scream.After a long wait, the Indian horror movie segment has come out with a real gem of a movie.
Not being a huge fan of horror films, and still smarting from my 'Jungle' experience, I began watching 'Bhoot' with some trepidation.
This disclosure comes as a complete surprise to Swati, as Vishal has withheld from her the details of the circumstances in which he came by their new apartment..
Prior to `Bhoot', I had seen only 1 ½ Ram Gopal Varma films:  years ago, I'd enjoyed watching `Rangeela', a frothy confection with a delightful Aamir Khan and a newly voluptuous Urmila Matondkar (I say `newly' because until then, I only knew of Urmila as the bubbly child actor from the memorable `Masoom'); the ½ film was `Jungle', a movie so gratuitously and graphically violent that I'd walked out of the movie theatre.
Other than that, all I know about Ram Gopal Varma is that he has a predilection for single-word titles for the movies he directs: `Daud', `Khauff', `Satya', and so on.Not being a huge fan of horror films, and still smarting from my `Jungle' experience, I began watching `Bhoot' with some trepidation.
`Bhoot' translates to either `ghost' or `spirit', so right away, one knows the subject matter of the film.
`Bhoot' translates to either `ghost' or `spirit', so right away, one knows the subject matter of the film.
They inherit the previous occupant's maid, so apart from some grocery shopping, there isn't much for Swati to do while she waits for Vishal to return home from work.
They inherit the previous occupant's maid, so apart from some grocery shopping, there isn't much for Swati to do while she waits for Vishal to return home from work.
This disclosure comes as a complete surprise to Swati, as Vishal has withheld from her the details of the circumstances in which he came by their new apartment.With this new knowledge, softhearted Swati, a gamine little thing with a waifish hairdo, starts brooding over the possible circumstances of the young woman's tragic death.
`Bhoot', a sort of remake of that earlier film, is his way of getting it right this time, and boy, does he get it right!
The tension builds insidiously and in barely perceptible increments, until, like its unlucky inhabitants, all we want to do is run screaming from the apartment.Urmila Matondkar is simply astounding as Swati.
The supporting players are fine:  I have not seen a film in years that has used Rekha's hypnotic voice and eyes to such potent effect.
Bhoot is one of the Ram Gopal Vermas milestone, and also the only good movie which is of genre horror and also a professional Bollywood film.
Before Bhoot, the horror movies made in Bollywood were mostly will fit in comedy.
So before watching Bhoot I have prepared for a movie which will scare you less and make you sleep more.
The movie doesn't have ghosts with painted faces, neither it has females wearing bare minimum clothes and throwing other people around like basketball, neither it has Mantriks with skull in their hands.
It is more comparable to Kaun than any other Bollywood horror movies you have seen.
A couple getting into a new apartment house, which is haunted, and the wife gets possessed by the ghost.
The most important aspects of ghost stories is the environment making, and thats the most positive part of this movie.
Urmila is pretty good, Ajay Devgan is very believable.
"Bhoot" is a supernatural horror movie set in urban jungle of Bombay.Vishal(Ajay Devgan),a stock analyst and his wife Swati(Urmila Matondkar)move into a new apartment.The fact that the previous occupant died jumping off from the balcony doesn't deter Vishal.He doesn't inform his wife about that tragedy.Eventually,she finds out and then creepy things do happen.She loses sleep and begins to experience strange incidents,illusions and nightmares.The truth is horrifying."Bhoot" is a wonderfully suspenseful horror film made by Ram Gopal Verma("Raat").The cinematography is breathtaking and the atmosphere is so thick that you could cut it with a chainsaw.The climax is pretty disappointing,though.A must-see for fans of Hindi horror.8 out of 10..
The movie was really good and so intensively scary about a couple who moved into a new home and the woman is possessed by a ghost of the person who lived at the apartment.
It was short, thick and curly; probably to suit the character and long hair won't look good in a horror film.
It has to be one of Ram Gopal Verma's best films..
If you haven't watched "Raat/ Raatri", you will certainly love "Bhoot" (perhaps the only decent horror RGV made and a successful one!)..
Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot steps away from conventional Hindi cinema and stands as an outstanding piece of work.All the actors perform perfectly, the camera work remains consistent and the music as well as the long silences hold the tension.
and the worst thing is it didn't scare me.I think, the Horror genre is a very difficult one for the director.
Either too gory (which just makes me puke with disgust rather than fear) or something like Bhoot, which tries to scare u but fails.
Back to the movie at hand, 'Bhoot' is a well crafted film.
For example, while in most horror films the setting is usually a large dark space, Manjit's house is quite small but cosy enough for a couple.
I also liked how certain scenes were shot without resorting to spraying blood on screen.Urmila Matondkar plays Swati with all guns blazing.
2003 was the peak of her acting career where she delivered equally strong but very diverse performances in films like 'Pinjar', 'Bhoot' and 'Tehzeeb'.
A lesser actress could have easily messed up Swati and made her into the caricature damsel in distress but Matondkar is simply transcendent and dominates a film that also stars the likes of Nana Patekar, Rekha, Ajay Devgan, Seema Biswas, Victor Bannerjee and Tanuja.
This is Ram Gopal Verma's homage to horror films..
Ask those who have watched the movie you like so that there will be no hard feelings in the next minute of your life..
After the moving Satya and the excellent Company, this horror film by Ram Gopal Varma is a huge disappointment.
And the second part becomes then ridiculous, like a bad italian horror film made in the seventies.
I have to give credit to Ram Gopal Verma for trying out different types of movies.
This time with a horror movie he does well but still there are many flaws in the movie and a lot could have been done to make this movie good and above all scary...
I am still awaiting an Indian Horror movie that will really scare me!!!
'Bhoot' is the Hindi word for 'ghost', so this Bollywood spook-movie has a generic title ...
'Bhoot' offers a pick-'n'-mix of scenes inspired by earlier (and better) movies, including 'The Tenant', 'The Exorcist', 'Carnival of Souls', 'Repulsion', 'Don't Look Now', 'Vertigo', 'Rosemary's Baby', 'Cat People', 'Rebecca' and the greatest ghost movie of them all: 'The Innocents'.
but it's nothing to do with the rest of the movie.Vishal and Swati are a young Bombay married couple, very much in love.
until Vishal finds this guy dead with his head twisted back-to-front; if the ghost can do things like this by herself, why does she need to possess Swati's body?
Vishal and Swati have his-'n'-hers nightmares, in two separate sequences -- Swati's nightmare clearly inspired by 'Carnival of Souls' -- but these are merely bonus 'boo!' bits, irrelevant to the storyline.There are several excellent set-pieces in 'Bhoot', and the director is talented.
I liked the breezy montage effect when Vishal and Swati bring the furniture into their new flat.
There's a well-edited and (for a Bollywood film) surprisingly erotic sequence when Vishal and Swati make love while watching the BBC World News: very impressive, but leading to nothing.
All of the dialogue is post-dubbed, very badly.'The Innocents' was a very frightening film, because we never learn with certainty whether the ghosts in that movie were genuine phantasms or merely hallucinations of the disturbed governess.
In 'Bhoot', we (the audience) see the ghost before any of the on-screen characters see her, so we know straight off that the spectre is real.
Too much of 'Bhoot' is derivative and generic, yet the director shows sufficient talent that I look forward to his next film.
India's best horror movie in true terms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Like ghosts which u rarely see, Bhoot is a bollywood production, a bollywood piece with such hight quality and standards that u rarely see!!!!RGV is great as we always knew but in this movie he give us just another proof that he is one of the world's best directors, comparing to Hollywood directors!!!
Far from being a horror die-hard, I can't avoid the impression of having seen the same story in many, many other films before.
In comparison to horror from countries like the USA and Japan, Bhoot is weak.
However, in comparison to other horror flicks from Bollywood, it should be said that Bhoot is different and...
Ram Gopal Varma has raised Indian horror to an entirely new level, which is still way below Western standards, but way beyond Indian horror flicks from the 1980s and 1990s.The acting work is pretty much okay.
In "Bhoot", our skeptic is played by Ajay Devgan.
He is merely there to be the skeptic, but that is about all the depth there is to his character, and that makes him hard to identify with.Urmila Matondkar plays the leading role of a woman, who is possessed by a "bhoot", a ghost.
With all the weird faces she makes with the bhoot inside, she looks more funny than scary.
But then again, that is not the actress's fault, but rather of the whole concept of the movie.The most memorable roles are in my opinion: Nana Patekar in the role of inspector Qureshi, Rekha as a "witch doctor" (this woman has such a screen presence that she merely has to be there to steal the show), and Victor Banerjee as the psychiatrist.However, the best thing about "Bhoot" is undoubtedly the music by the duo Salim and Sulaiman.
Obviously, the director asked them to make the most horror-like music imaginable, and so the brothers were free to do what they were really good at.
Of course, sometimes a horror film is more effective when the music doesn't give away everything in advance, because then at least there is an element of surprise.
If you want some really horror-like music, Bhoot is one of the best examples I have ever seen or heard.All in all, 3/10 for the story, 6/10 for the acting, 7/10 for the direction, and 9/10 for the music..
Many may recall Ram Gopal Verma made a horror movie in 1992 called 'Raat'.
Bhoot is very much in the same league and there is no doubt that Verma was inspired from his previous movie to make this.
Devgans attention is brought towards a woman played by Rekha that helps to uncover the truth behind the previous tenants death and Urmila's possession.
Taking a look at Bollywood titles that I could watch for a poll being held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best films of 2003,I was thrilled to spot a movie which by pure chance I had recently picked up,which led to me excitingly getting ready to be haunted by the bhoot (ghost.)The plot;Searching round for a flat where he and his wife can live,Vishal notices a flat that the estate agent weirdly keeps away from discussing.Pushing the estate agent,Vishal finds out that the flat has been taken off the market,thanks to the previous occupant being a woman who mysteriously died by jumping off the balcony.Dismissing the agents tale as superstitious nonsense, (whilst making sure to keep it hidden from his wife Swati)Vishal tells the agent that he will go for the flat right away.Moving into the house,Swati tells Vishal that the atmosphere in the flat feels oddly unsettling.Telling his wife that she just needs to get used to the place,Swati begins to doubt her husband words,when Swati starts to see,what appears to a ghostly woman wondering around the flat,and entering her dreams.View on the film:Closely working with sound designers Vikram Biswas and Dwark Warrier,director Ram Gopal Varma builds a haunting atmosphere by creating a scrambled soundtrack,with the score and slips of sound from the TV being smashed into an Ambient soundtrack, (featuring no songs!)which perfectly expresses the disorientating nightmare that Vishal and Swati are facing in the flat.Matching the soundtrack,Varma and cinematographer Vishal Sinha use tightly coiled angles which reveal the claustrophobic Horror that Vishal and Swati find themselves trapped in.Along with the tightly coiled angles,Varma and Sinha use brittle wide shots to chillingly place the viewer face to face with the evil getting unleashed.Whilst he does very well at attempting to build a mysterious atmosphere,Varma disappointingly dampens his target by openly showing the 'baddie' within the first 15 minutes,which ends up taking away any chance that the audience has in gradually creating an image of who (or what) is haunting the young couple.For the screenplay writers Lalit Marathe (who also gives a very good performance in the movie) and Sameer Sharma keep away from taking the title in a gory direction,by instead taking a delightfully poetic route,with the flat setting being an excellent backdrop for Swati and Vishal's crumbling relationship,with the writers also striking a chilling note by gradually reveal the background to the figure haunting the flat.Giving the title a shot of sass,Nana Patekar gives a very good performance as Inspector Liyaqat Qureshi,with Patekar doing very well at showing Qureshi's increased desperation to uncover what is taking place in the flat.Entering the film as a care-free young couple,Urmila Matondkar and Ajay Devgn both give excellent performances,with Devgn shattering Vishal's over-confidence by showing a sense of confusion to slowly seep in,as he finds himself being unable to come up with an answer for his wife's terror.Joining Devgn,Matondkar gives an incredibly icy performance,with Matonkar superbly showing Swati crumble at the psychological horror,as she finds herself face to face,with bhoot..
two people moving into a haunted house..the wife being posessed..n the ghost taking revenge but the treatment and execution have a very scary and exciting ride in store for u.The film has been inspired from earlier hollywood and bollywood films..thogh all of them have predictabile scnees..this one treats them differnt,,jsut when u expect the ghost to come it dosnt n then it does n catches you.Some scenes have been brilliantly executed: 1) the opeining sequence..high class editing 2) the scene where the couple moves in their furniture( editing again) 3) The scene where Swati-touches the mirror and u expect to see the ghost but u hear the door beelll which scares u to hell 4) The maid..leads a mislaeding character..lookin possesed but is not.
8) the last scene when the ghost leaves swati..again has some very very high class acting..as soon as the ghsot leves u can see the difference on her face which jumps form evil to cute in a split second..very convincing.On the whole bhoot is a very well made film..with no songs..no subplots..perfect acting.9 / 10 for a horror movie 10/10 for a hindi -bollywood horror movie 8/10 for an international film..
This film is a great achievement on so many levels and I just feel like applauding the production team and Ram Gopal Varma for pushing the envelope and creating this masterpiece.
****NOTE: THE FAINT HEARTED SHOULD REFER TO THE DISCLAIMER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM BEFORE WATCHING.****We meet Vishal (played excellently by Ajay Devgan) as a successful entrepreneur on a house-hunt.
Now, for horror and scary-movie buffs, you all know at this point that this would be a major no-no.
He furnishes it and moves in with his wife Swati (played to perfection by Urmila Matondkar) and all is well for the first few nights.