Bollywood's Most Successful Horror Films

Whatever Bhoot Part One - The Haunted Ship's box office collections may be, the horror genre has not been tested enough in Bollywood.

Ram Gopal Varma and Vikram Bhatt may have tried their hand at it, but very few film-makers really take it up.

Yet, when done well, these horror movies do pretty well at the box office.

Joginder Tuteja looks at the most successful horror films.

 

Stree
Box office collection: Rs 130 crore

The highest grossing horror film of all time, Stree had a liberal dose of comedy.

There was also a dash of romance and a sprinkling of chartbuster music, all the ingredients to make it a masala movie.

Raaz 3
Box office collection: Rs 73 crore
Raaz: The Mystery Continues
Box office collection: Rs 25 crore
Raaz
Box office collection: Rs 22 crore

It was Raaz that started it all.

Vikram Bhatt started this franchise in 2002, and it got even better with Raaz: The Mystery Continues and Raaz 3.

Each of these films were hits, the last one becoming a superhit.

The failure of Raaz: Reboot brought an end to this franchise.

 

Bhool Bhulaiya
Box office collection: Rs 50 crore

An official remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu, Bhool Bhulaiyaa added a dose of comedy in its narratuve.

Akshay Kumar and Rajpal Yadav provided the humour while Vidya Balan brought on the chills.

Director Priyadarshan was in great form in this film. Chartbuster music contributed to its hit status.

 

Ragini MMS
Ragini MMS 2
Box office collection: Rs 46 crore

Ragini MMS started as an experimental film, but it led to a Sunny Leone sequel, which did more than four times its business!

Despite the success of Ragini MMS 2, Producer Ekta Kapoor has not announced Ragini MMS 3 yet.

 

1920
Box office collection: Rs 11 crore
1920: Evil Returns
Box office collection: Rs 30 crore
1920: London
Box office collection: Rs 15 crore

Another small film that led to a franchise was 1920.

Each of Vikram Bhatt's 1920 movies has been successful at the box office, with the second in the series becoming a clean hit.

Recently, a spin-off in the form of 1921 released with Zareen Khan taking over, and it did fair business at the box office.

 

Ek Thi Daayan
Box office collection: Rs 35 crore

Back in the days when Emraan Hashmi was experimenting across genres and delivering hits, Kannan Iyer's Ek Thi Daayan turned out to be a reasonable success.

Even though it was a love story, it had a strong dose of horror in it.

Starring Huma Qureshi, Konkona Sensharma and Kalki Koechlin, the film did not spin a franchise though.

 

Haunted
Box office collection: Rs 30 crore

One of Vikram Bhatt's biggest hits till date, Haunted is the only success that Mithun Chakraborty's son Mahaakshay has to his credit.

Made in 3D, Haunted was a surprise success at the box office.

A sequel was announced, but never made.

 

Pari
Box office collection: Rs 29 crore

Not many mainstream actresses do horror films, so when Anushka Sharma decided to produce one, it raised eyebrows.

The actress calls it one of her toughest films till date and was seen in a totally unrecognisable avatar.

 

Bhoot
Box office collection: Rs 15 crore

Ram Gopal Varma directed Bollywood's scariest film, Bhoot, which did well at the box office.

Its cast was impressive with Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar, Rekha, Tanuja, Victor Banerjee, Nana Patekar and Fardeen Khan.

 

Phoonk
Box office collection: Rs 10 crore

While Bhoot was a star-studded show, Ram Gopal Varma made a crow the central figure in Phoonk!

A small budget film, Phoonk worked because of its theme and the mood that the film-maker created in the narrative.

But its sequel, pictured above, did not work at all.