Raaz (2002 film)

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Raaz
Raaz 2002 film.jpg
Poster
Directed byVikram Bhatt
Screenplay byMahesh Bhatt
Girish Dhamija
Produced byMukesh Bhatt
Kumar S. Taurani
Ramesh S. Taurani
StarringBipasha Basu
Dino Morea
Ashutosh Rana
Narrated byMahesh Bhatt
CinematographyPravin Bhatt
Edited byAmit Saxena
Music byNadeem-Shravan
Production
companies
Distributed byTips Industries
Release date
  • 1 February 2002 (2002-02-01)
Running time
152 min
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹50 million
Box office₹360 million[1]

Raaz (lit. 'secret') is a 2002 Indian supernatural horror film directed by Vikram Bhatt. The film stars Bipasha Basu, Dino Morea and Malini Sharma in lead roles. Aditya and Sanjana as a couple who have moved to Ooty to save their failing marriage. However, what they find in their new home is more than they expected when a ghost starts haunting the place. The wife, Sanjana, suddenly finds that her husband is part of the ghostly conspiracy, which she must fix to escape.[2] The film is an unofficial adaptation of the Hollywood film What Lies Beneath (2000).

It was the third-highest-grossing film of the year 2002 and the first instalment in the Raaz. Basu's performance was highly praised and earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 48th Filmfare Awards. Nadeem-Shravan's music also earned them several nominations at prominent Indian award ceremonies. A sequel to the film was released on 23 January 2009, under the title of Raaz: The Mystery Continues and the third installment of the series titled Raaz 3 was released on 7 September 2012. A fourth film, Raaz Reboot, has been released on 16 September 2016.

Plot[]

The film starts with a group of college students enjoying a picnic in a forest in Ooty. One of the girls, Nisha (Mink Brar), dies under paranormal circumstances. She had inexplicably attacked her boyfriend like a monster and was rushed to the hospital, where just before dying, her face and voice changed completely, confusing the doctors. Professor Agni Swaroop (Ashutosh Rana), who is supposedly an expert in the supernatural is called by police to look into the matter. After investigating, Swaroop declares that she was attacked by an evil spirit. He reveals that this spirit has awakened for a purpose and will not stop until that purpose is fulfilled.

The story turns to Sanjana Dhanraj (Bipasha Basu) and Aditya Dhanraj (Dino Morea) in Mumbai, where, during a business party, Aditya seems too busy to pay attention to his wife. She leaves the party and on her frantic drive home, she hears a voice in her head and loses control of the car. She manages to escape the accident unscathed. After her recovery, Sanjana asks her husband for a divorce; Aditya, however, realises his fault and suggests a vacation to work out their problems. Sanjana chooses to return to Ooty (where their relationship first began) to save their failing marriage. They stay in the same bungalow behind which Nisha was attacked. Initially, the couple enjoys their stay but Sanjana starts experiencing mysterious things, such as hearing a woman screaming in the forest. On the other hand, Aditya brushes her concern away blaming it all on the sleeping pills that Sanjana is addicted to. From another cleaning staff who visits the house on Aditya's order, she learns that their previous caretaker Robert has not been visiting the home to clean and has disappeared without a trace. Sanjana decides to visit Robert's wife who tells her that he changed and became scared whenever anyone used to mention the guest house. She also told her that he used to hear strange voices from the forest, just like Sanjana, and then suddenly disappeared one day. With the help of their friends, Aditya and Sanjana reconcile.

Sanjana's friend Priya advises her to visit Professor Swaroop after she tells her about these strange incidents. Swaroop arrives and announces the presence of a spirit in the house. Before leaving, he gives Sanjana a lemon and advises her to check upon it after the sunset. If the color does not change, then it means that there is nothing to be worried about, however, if the color changes to red, then there is an evil spirit lurking around. A hysterical Sanjana, upon seeing the lemon turned red, rushes to Aditya who is in mid of a meeting and tells him about their home being haunted. However, Aditya is far from believing this and thrashes the Professor for playing with his wife's sentiments and fear. An urgent phone call from Mumbai forces the couple to go back, but because of the landslide, they get stuck on the highway. Later, they decide that Aditya will fly back to Mumbai alone and will come later to take Sanjana away. After he leaves, Priya insists Sanjana to come with her but she stubbornly denies as she wants to know the truth. The night ends in a horror for her.

The next night, Professor Swaroop revisits the same spot in the forest where Nisha was attacked, accompanied by Priya and Sanjana. On his advice, Sanjana goes alone to talk to the spirit and discovers a revolver. They go to an arms store and are told by the shopkeeper that the revolver was licensed to a retired colonel named Arjun Malik. They visit the colonel's house and learn that the spirit is his daughter, Malini, who was mentally ill and had escaped from the mental asylum several times before suddenly disappearing one day. The colonel tells them that from that day, his revolver had also disappeared.

Sanjana summons the spirit, believing that it wants to tell her something. She learns that Aditya and Malini had an extramarital affair; upon confronting Aditya, he admits the affair and that he had stayed at this very cottage. Aditya had rebuked Malini's demands that he leave his wife and an enraged Malini committed suicide in front of Aditya in order to frame him for murder. Aditya, with the help of Robert, buried the body in the forest.

Sanjana breaks up with Aditya. Swaroop tells her that this was an attempt by Malini's spirit to separate Sanjana and Aditya to take him with her into the afterlife. He believes that the spirit's next step would be to kill Aditya and that they should go to him before Malini attacks him.

Sanjana goes to Aditya and tells him that she is doing this just to save him and that they should leave for Mumbai immediately. It is then revealed that Sanjana is Malini's spirit in disguise. The real Sanjana, Priya, and Swaroop arrive at the cottage, where the bewildered maid tells them that Aditya had just left with her.

Malini's spirit causes their car to fall off a cliff and Aditya is hospitalized. To stop the spirit, Sanjana, Priya and Swaroop enter the forest to locate the girl's body to burn it. Swaroop uses lemon tied to a thread to locate the body, believing that it will turn red when they reach the right spot. Once located, Swaroop returned to the car to get kerosene and matchstick, however, Malini's spirit kills him and takes his form, attacking the two girls. While being pursued, Sanjana finds the dead body of Robert hung on a tree.

With a can of petrol, she burns down Malini's body. In the end, Sanjana and Aditya are reunited.

Cast[]

Box office[]

Raaz released on 1 February 2002 and grossed ₹370 million (equivalent to ₹1.1 billion or US$16 million in 2019) and was declared a super-hit at the box-office.[1]

Reception[]

Webindia123.com said that Raaz is "something different from the current trend...Raaz is a psycho-thriller worth a look". The film was praised because of its unique story.[3]

Music[]

The music of Raaz was composed by the duo Nadeem-Shravan, while the lyrics were penned by Sameer. The album was a chartbuster of 2002 with its songs gaining popularity. Tracks like "Aapke Pyaar Mein", "Jo Bhi Kasmein Khayi Thi", "Yahaan Pe Sab Shanti Shanti Hai" and "Main Agar Saamne" became a rage soon after the release and were observed being played in almost all wedding and celebrations. The songs got international acclaim and were even appreciated by Paul McCartney of The Beatles.[4]

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Aapke Pyaar Mein"Alka Yagnik5:30
2."Jo Bhi Kasmein Khayi Thi"
5:37
3."Main Agar Saamne"
5:46
4."Itna Main Chahoon Tujhe"
5:21
5."Mujhe Tere Jaisi Ladki"
5:25
6."Kitna Pyaara Hai Yeh Chehra"
4:21
7."Pyaar Se Pyaar Hum"Abhijeet Bhattacharya5:30
8."Yahaan Pe Sab Shanti Shanti Hai"
4:39
Total length:42:09

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=127&catName=MjAwMC0yMDA5
  2. ^ Hindi movie Raaz Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Raaz is different Retrieved on 15 December 2008
  4. ^ "McCartney watches Bollywood thriller Raaz - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 September 2018.

External links[]

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