Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Bhool Bhulaiyaa () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language psychological comedy horror film directed by Priyadarshan from the screenplay by Neeraj Vora and produced by T Series. It is an official remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993). The film 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 32 crore, Bhool Bhulaiyaa earned 82 crore worldwide, thus becoming the eighth-highest grossing Hindi film of 2007. It received positive reviews from critics upon release. Over the years, the film has attained a cult status across the audience owing to Kumar's psychiatrist character, Balan's portrayal of Avni and Manjulika, and its music. The film spawned a standalone sequel titled Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022) which was directed by Anees Bazmee starring Tabu, Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani and Rajpal Yadav. The third film in the series is set to release on Diwali in 2024. 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. This marriage has broken the heart of Siddharth's childhood love interest and Badri's adopted daughter Radha. Avni develops an interest in the legend of Manjulika. She has a conversation with Janki, who reveals that the Chaturvedis' ancestor, Raja Vibhuti Narayan, was infatuated with Manjulika, a dancer in his court. Manjulika loved Shashidhar, another dancer of the court. The king, who had learned of their affair, publicly beheads Shashidhar on the night of Durgashtami and imprisons Manjulika, who swore vengeance before hanging herself. Raja Vibhuti Narayan mysteriously died, and rumors of the palace being haunted spread. Priests locked up Manjulika's and Shashidhar's spirits on the third floor of the palace. Avni gets a duplicate key from Batukshankar's daughter, Nandhini. Despite Badri's warnings, she opens the door and is berated by Radha, because the locksmith who made the key mysteriously died. Unnatural events start taking place. Things inexplicably break and fall down, an apparition of a woman frightens everyone in the palace, and Avni's sari catches fire during the day. Suspicion falls on Radha, who was found at every scene of the incident. 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. As soon as he arrives, a mysterious figure tries to kill Nandhini by knocking her unconscious and imprisoning her in a room, and is saved by Aditya and Siddharth. Aditya's unconventional nature leads the household to think of him as a fool. An attempt to kill Siddharth is made by poisoning his tea, which is foiled by Aditya. One night, Aditya hears the sound of a Ghungroo and the voice of someone singing in Bengali from Manjulika's room. Posing as Raja Vibhuti Narayan, he converses with Manjulika, who vows revenge on the next Durgashtami. During the engagement of Nandhini to poet Sharad Pradhan, Sharad mysteriously disappears along with Avni. Siddharth and Aditya find Avni being sexually harassed by Sharad. Settling the confusions, Aditya reveals that Avni has dissociative identity disorder and associates herself with Manjulika. Aditya started 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 Raja Vibhuti Narayan and Sharad with Shashidhar, for he resides in the same house Shashidhar used to live in. Meanwhile, Badri brings renowned exorcist Yagyaprakash Bharti to solve the problems in the palace. To everyone's surprise, Aditya and Yagyaprakash are longtime friends, and they deeply discuss the matter, in which Aditya intends to cure Avni by using an unconventional method of psychiatry. Siddharth believes Aditya after he provokes Avni, who transitions 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, Aditya puts a pair of ghungroo on Avni's legs and sees her assume Manjulika's identity, dressed as her and dancing in the courtroom. Sharad appears in front of Avni, who sees him as Shashidhar and dances to Manjulika and Shashidhar's song. Sharad lures Avni to Yagyaprakash, who makes Manjulika promise to leave if she gets the opportunity to kill the Raja and gives her a sword. She sees Siddharth as Raja Vibhuti Narayan and tries to kill him before Yagyaprakash blows smoke and ash on her, and Aditya opens a trapdoor to let Siddharth escape and trick Manjulika into thinking she is killing the King, whereas she is slaying a dummy. Avni gets cured after the orchestrated murder, thinking Manjulika has taken her revenge. 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 waves him with a smile from the balcony. 