When people think of Indian cinema in the West, often their first thought is Bollywood – colourful clothing and elaborate dance breaks interchanged with drama. Or if they’re a little more informed, they might think of South Indian cinema such as RRR or Bahubali. The sub-continent has a vast landscape of cinema and does its fair share of remakes of popular international titles, converting them to fit the local languages and cultural practices more. From Hollywood to South Korea and any other major film hub around the world, they’ve been translated to a more Indian feel.
This of course also includes horror, and within that the thriller genre as well. And it goes back as far as cinema exists. But that little bit of Indian spice or the Bollywood interpretation more often than not makes it a new movie on its own. Think Evil Dead, but sexier, or Child’s Play but now with songs. Indian horror remakes are a league of their own and require watching with a group of friends, some good snacks, and maybe even some booze, keeping things interesting.
Papi Gudia – Child’s Play
Child’s Play made such an impact on global horror, that not just one but at least four different versions were made about the killer doll in several different Indian languages. But my favourite is the Bollywood version Papi Gudia where they attempted to do almost a shot for shot remake, while still adding a love story, and a few songs! This time it is not a mom, but a big sister and little brother being terrorised by the doll, and the detective investigating the murders is the sister’s ex. Gasp!
Raaz – What Lies Beneath
One thing Bollywood has always done well is sell you a dream, preferably a sexy dream, with immensely gorgeous people. And Raaz is here to do exactly that. It started off as a loose sexy adaptation of What Lies Beneath and has eventually turned into its own saga of sexy ghost thriller. You are not ready for Raaz, and that is totally fine. Come for the horror, stay for Bipasha Basu and Malini Sharma (this is her only cinema credit). Raaz won several major film awards when it was released, and like the majority of this list, is considered a blockbuster worldwide.
Hawa (2003) – The Entity
Some Indian director (Guddu Dhanoa) saw the cult horror The Entity, where a woman is repeatedly assaulted by unseen ghosts at night, and he said “bet”. So add in some spice, a slightly different family dynamic, and some catchy songs and you have Hawa (translates to “wind”).
Alone (2015) – Alone (Thai)
Thailand is underrated when it comes to horror, but India has them on their radar, and thankfully so! Because again, they saw the Thai twin horror Alone and thought “what if we made this sexier?”. And of course they cast Bipasha Basu (from Raaz) in a double role. Are you sensing the theme here? Bipasha plays conjoined twins who get separated and unfortunately one of the sisters dies. Years later, the surviving sister is being haunted. What broken promise is keeping this spirit so restless? Fun fact, the two sexy leads of this movie, Bipasha and Karan, end up as a real-life couple and eventually married.
Sangharsh – The Silence of the Lambs
Let’s go further back in time again to 1999, post hype of the new Hannibal adaptation, aka The Silence of the Lambs. But what if we made Hannibal younger and sexier? And make the dynamic between him and Clarice more sexually loaded. A-list Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta give a very sensual and serious performance that makes you question why this hasn’t been in Hollywood (Mads Mikkelsen & Angelina Jolie?), because obviously this is the better adaptation. Don’t @ me!
Ghajini – Memento
Take notes, Christopher Nolan.
Samay: When Time Strikes – Se7en
Replace Brad Pitt with former Miss Universe (1996) Sushmita Sen, take heavy inspiration from Se7en, but make it more detective-driven and captivating. Sushmita, gorgeous but also a great actress, really carries this crime thriller into its own identity. It has songs. Unlike some of the other mentions, though, they don’t break reality, and add into the narrative in their own way. Fans of more serious remakes might find their fill with Samay.
Aetbaar – Fear
And we are closing off with one more Bipasha title. She is the queen of sexy horror at this point. Before Raaz and Alone, there was a young Bipasha in Aetbaar. The movie is more a face-off between the legendary Amitabh Bachchan and the hunky John Abraham. Each play the toxic characters of an overbearing father and psycho boyfriend. The movie has misty songs, secret meetings, sensual panting, and psycho red eyes… lotsa psycho red eyes.
And not to be dismissed, here’s a bonus. Both of these are so bad that they’re hilarious. It’s not for serious watching but for fun with a crowd.
Bollywood Evil Dead – The Evil Dead
Ragini MMS – Paranormal Activity
Check out Rabia’s Full Letterboxd list of Indian Horror/Thriller remakes: https://boxd.it/Rnrlk
