Junoon

Horror movies in the early 90s were typically Ramsay Brothers low budget fares starring B list actors. Junoon was the rare exception, produced by the Mukesh Bhat and with a quite strong cast, including the then rising young stars of Bollywood, Rahul Roy and Puja Bhat. The story was pretty good too, with a quite original take on the werewolf myth, only with tigers. Rahul Roy plays a spoilt rich brat, who is attacked by a cursed tiger during a nocturnal hunting expedition. The next full moon, he himself turns into a tiger and must hunt for prey. The rest of the story is his wife (Puja Bhat) and her ex boyfriend racing against time to stop him. Not really that scary, but the original story and very good special effects, considering the times make this the best Indian horror movie of the 90s, and one of the better ones of all time. Recommended.

I first saw this in 1992 with my brother in a theatre after skool n we both had a blast laughing out loud.

The poor effects n a huge tiger face made outta rubber during the transformation scene is a big wtf.

Revisited it recently on a fast forward mode.

The best lol moment Bollywood did is they added religious mumbo jumbo climax, very contrary to the simpler one in An American Werewolf in London.

The makers of An American Werewolf in London shud definitely check this blatant rip off n mayb they shud try adding the weretiger in the remake, of course they shud buy the rights first.

I liked the song "prem prem" which was a huge hit in the early 90s. Check out the side actors in that song with their Bollywood attire.

The lead actor Rahul Roy was famous for his long hair n i tried to ape his long hairstyle but got suspended from skool for one day for the long hair.

Studying in Catholic skools was an amazing growing experience for us kids those days, specially with all the rules n regulations.

Why doesn't Bollywood make movies like this any more? Had me hooked from the very beginning. I love both shapeshifter and wildlife adventure movies. This is both. They should make a part two. Maybe Hritihik Roshan as the new tiger-hybrid with Rahul Roy playing his dad, with gray hair! Funny enough, when they show Pooja Bhatt reading the " Do sau saal purani angrez ki likhi hui kitab" about the tiger legend, she is actually sifting through " Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynecology", showing pictures of the human childbirth process on one page, if you freeze the frame, Lmao!

It's a windy night and it's a creepy forest. And the ghost of a man eating tiger awaits them.

Loosely but efficiently adapted from American Werewolf in London. Junoon boasts of good production values and a strong cast for a movie of the early 90's.

Vishesh Films usually deliver films of good quality and with Mahesh Bhatt at the helm of Junoon, it turns out to be a very good flick.

The pace and rhythm in the second half are relentless and it certainly ranks as one of the best horror movies that Bollywood has churned out.

The special effects are noteworthy for a Hindi film of that period. It is one of the first Indian venture to hire a crew of well known foreign technicians and make-up artists for the special effects and these still look good for today's standards. They shot a lot of the scenes that needed special effects at Pinewood Studios, London.

Rahul Roy's first transformation into a tiger still looks scary.

This easily ranks as Roy's best career best performance. You can see he whole heartedly digs his teeth into the role. He looks handsome, mysterious and scary and seems to have put his heart into the performance.

Amongst the rest of the cast, Tom Alter, Homi Wadia and Mushtaq Khan are effective.

The film has a couple of good songs from duo Nadeem-Shravan. The background music score by Viju Shah is another plus point of the film.

Altogether, it makes a very good watch. Gripping, adventurous and scary. Recommended.

Junoon review :

A commendable attempt by Vishesh Films (Bhatt bros) to create a 'desi' werewolf; Junoon was the only horror film Mahesh Bhatt directed in his entire career. Rahul Roy was cast as the anti hero who turns in to a Tiger at midnight and preys on women. Pooja Bhatt is the common love interest of both Roy and Avinash Wadhawan.

The tiger transformation sequences were brilliantly choreographed for the '90s. The Bhatts had hired foreign technicians for the same. I still remember one scene where Tom Alter sees a Tiger/ Rahul Roy slowly walking towards him in slow motion. Its spine chilling!! Another striking moment is Rahul Roy going to a pub and then killing a lady (Roma Manek) after dancing with her. "O meri dilruba..tu dil ke kareeb hai" was the best of Nadeem Shravan's compositions for this movie. Another catchy number was "Yeh jaan gaye sab" which had Pooja Bhatt in a sexy yellow saree seducing Rahul Roy.

Junoon could've been significantly better if not for that hushed up badly executed climax in a makeshift cave where Avinash and Pooja search for some divine dagger to kill the tiger. That end ruined the overall experience of an otherwise fine film!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.