Bhool Bhulaiyaa

''Bhool Bhulaiyaa'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language psychological thriller film directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under the T-Series Films banner. A remake of the 1993 Malayalam film ''Manichitrathazhu'', adapted by Neeraj Vora and Manisha Korde, it stars Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja, Ameesha Patel, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Manoj Joshi, Asrani and Vikram Gokhale. The film score and soundtrack were composed by Ranjit Barot and Pritam respectively, with lyrics written by Sameer and Sayeed Quadri.

Made on a budget of 25–32 crores, ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa'' earned 82.8 crores worldwide, thus becoming the 6th eighth-highest grossing Hindi film of 2007. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise for its direction, screenplay, humor and soundtrack, with particular praise directed towards Kumar and Balan's performance. At the 53rd Filmfare Awards, ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa'' received 1 nomination – Best Actress (Balan).

Over the years, the film has attained a cult status accross the audience owing to Kumar's portrayal of a psychiatrist, Balan's dual portrayal of Avni and Manjulika and the title track composed by Pritam.

A standalone sequel named ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2'' starring Tabu, Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani and Rajpal Yadav was released in 2022, with Yadav reprising his role.

Plot

Badrinarayan "Badri" Chaturvedi heads a former royal family of Varanasi whose ancestral palace is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Manjulika, a classical dancer from Bengal. Siddharth, son of Badri's elder brother, and his archeologist wife Avni, return to the palace from the United States. Siddharth's childhood love interest and Badri's adopted daughter Radha is heartbroken by this marriage.

Avni develops an interest in the legend of Manjulika. The Chaturvedis' ancestor, Raja Vibhuti Narayan, was infatuated with Manjulika, a dancer in his court. Manjulika loved Shashidhar, another dancer of the court. On the night of Durgashtami, the king, who had learned of their affair, publicly beheads Shashidhar and imprisons Manjulika. Manjulika hangs herself and swears vengeance. Raja Vibhuti Narayan mysteriously dies and rumours of the palace being haunted spread. Priests lock up Manjulika's and Shashidhar's spirits on the third floor room of the palace. Avni opens that room and unnatural events once again start taking place. People suspect Manjulika's spirit has been released.

Siddharth, who does not believe in superstitions, suspects Radha has become mentally unstable after her heartbreak and is behind the strange occurrences. He brings his psychiatrist friend, doctor Aditya Shrivastava, to treat Radha. Aditya's unconventional nature leads the household to think of him as a fool. One night, he hears a ghungroo and a voice singing a Bengali song from the third floor room and later speaks with Manjulika from behind the door. The voice vows revenge on the next Durgashtami.

During the engagement of Siddharth's cousin to poet Sharad Pradhan, it is revealed that Avni has dissociative identity disorder and associates herself with Manjulika. Aditya had begun suspecting her after she showed a little too much enthusiasm in Manjulika's room, and visited Avni's hometown to gather information about her. She associates Siddharth with King Vibhuti Narayan and Sharad with Shashidhar, for he resides in the same house Shashidhar used to live in. Siddharth believes Aditya after personally witnessing Avni transition to Manjulika. Aditya explains that DID is a lifelong condition, but Avni might be cured if they satisfy Manjulika's purpose for existing: killing Raja Vibhuti Narayan.

On Durgashtami, everyone sees Avni assume Manjulika's identity, dressed as her and dancing to Manjulika and Shashidhar's song. Avni tries to kill Siddharth, seeing him as Vibhuti Narayan. Aditya makes Manjulika promise to leave if she gets the opportunity to kill the king. He lays out an intricate plan to trick Manjulika into thinking she is killing the Raja (Siddharth) when she is actually slaying a dummy. After the orchestrated murder, Avni gets cured, thinking Manjulika has taken her revenge, and the ghost is proven to be fake.

The family members, now pleased with Aditya, thank him for his help. Aditya tells Radha that he will send his parents over with a proposal if she is interested in marrying him, and she smiles.

Cast

*Akshay Kumar as Dr. Aditya "Adi" Shrivastav
*Vidya Balan as Avni Siddharth Chaturvedi
*Shiney Ahuja as Siddharth Chaturvedi
* Ameesha Patel as Radha Chaturvedi
*Paresh Rawal as Batukshankar Upadhyay
* Manoj Joshi as Badrinarayan "Badri" Chaturvedi
*Rajpal Yadav as Chhote Pandit
*Asrani as Murari
*Vikram Gokhale as Acharya Yagyaprakash Bharti
*Rasika Joshi as Janki Batukshankar Upadhyay (née Chaturvedi)
*Tarina Patel as Nandini Sharad Pradhan (née Upadhyay)
*Vineeth as Professor Sharad Pradhan / Shashidhar
* Kaveri Jha as Girja Upadhyay
*Jimit Trivedi as Chandu Chaturvedi
*Baby Farida as Avni's Grandmother

Production

Casting

Originally, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Katrina Kaif were the first female choices for ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa''. They turned down the offer due to working load, and were replaced by Vidya Balan and Ameesha Patel, respectively.

Music

Score

The film score was composed and produced by Ranjit Barot.

Songs

The songs featured in the film composed by Pritam, were released in July 2007. The title song, commonly known as "Hare Ram Hare Krishna Hare Ram", sung by Neeraj Shridhar, was one of the biggest hits of the year starring Akshay Kumar. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 12,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's eighth highest-selling.

The title song "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" is lifted from Korean band JtL's song "My Lecon". Songs "Allah Hafiz", "Labon Ko" and "Ami Je Tomar/Mere Dholna" also became chartbusters of the year.

Release

The film was worldwide released on 11 October 2007. The DVD of the movie was released by Eros Home Media. The distribution rights of the movie were acquired to Disney India .The television premiere of the movie was occurred on Star Plus on 15 February 2008. The film was first made streaming available on Netflix on 15the September 2019. Later the film was removed from Netflix on 22 July 2020. On 3 March 2022 the film was made streaming available on Disney+ Hotstar.

Box office

''Bhool Bhulaiyaa'' was a super-hit at the box office, netting in India. It was the 8th highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2007.

The total overseas gross was $3,910,000. The lifetime overseas breakup was $1,380,000 in UK, $1,130,000 in North America, $820,000 in UAE, $151,000 in Australia and $429,000 in other markets.

The film collected worldwide.

Awards

Sequel

A standalone sequel starring, Tabu, Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani titled ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2'' was released on 20 May 2022.

On 27 May, the producers Bhushan Kumar & Murad Khetani announced that ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3'' would star Kartik Aaryan, Akshay Kumar and Shraddha Kapoor

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