Raat

Raat review :

The Ramsays dominated the 80s so much that horror genre got synonymous with them. Scary movies meant Anirudh Agarwal with a mud pack on his face, a bath happy heroine and a religious symbol or idol which turned savior in the end.

Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) tried to do something different with Raat - a film having none of the above elements - which paved the way for the future horror movies in Bollywood.

Revathy played Mini who gets possessed when her family shifts to a new house. Without relying on a hideous looking ghost, RGV evoked tremendous fear in minds of viewer through effective camera angles and sound effects. Revathy was outstanding in the lead role and she reportedly, faced lot of anxiety issues during the filming.

Om Puri's tantrik was memorable too. He only appears at the end but makes his strong presence felt. "Darkness never vanishes, it's only diminished by light in a particular radius" is his interesting explanation to the paranormal.

Raat was released with much publicised 70MM print and 6 track stereophonic sound at Mumbai's New Excelsior cinema. Taking cue from a stunt employed by certain Hollywood film, the makers had parked an ambulance outside New Excelsior for any exigency emerging to weak hearted viewers while watching the film.

Sadly, the film didnt work at the box office but later caught on in the video circuit to emerge a cult classic. In one of his later interviews, RGV admitted that the publicity of film should've focused on its good content rather than the 70MM stereo. He remade Raat (with minor changes) as Bhoot in 2003 which became a super hit. But Raat will always remain special as the one which ushered in a new change in Hindi horror.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

'Raat' reeks atmosphere and is intense at several places. Revathi is brilliant and truly convincing in her efforts. This is one of the best horror movies and the milestone of Indian Cinema. Overall, this film will make you shiver for sure, the performances are very memorable.

I have recently been revisiting Bollywood because I felt I had been neglecting such a large and prestigious industry as a film fan. I first saw Raat with English subs on TV when I was on vacation in Bangalore, India, and was impressed by it, so impressed, in fact, that I went to the video store nearby and bought a VCD of the film. Years later, after much searching, I found a very scratched CD in my collection with no cover and it was "Raat", so I decided to watch it.

Ram Gopal Varma is apparently something of a legend over in Bollywood, but I've only seen two other films of his (Sarkar, the Indian remake of "The Godfather", and another very good horror film, "Kaun", which I have fond memories of), so I can't really vouch for that, but his direction here is stylish and he sets the mood perfectly. The movie itself reminded me a lot of several different Hollywood films, the possession scenes were reminiscent of "The Exorcist" and the majority of the opening half hour eerily reminiscent of "Evil Dead", but it has enough respect for those classics not to blatantly copy them, and it's successful because it learned from the very best, and applied it damn well.

9/10

I remember seeing this the first time, when I was just seven years old and for some weeks, I couldn't sleep with the lights off. 'Raat' is undoubtedly one of the very rare genuine horror films of its time that can never be forgotten, because of quite a few reasons and a primary reason being it's impeccable cast performance, specially Revathi who gives a brilliant and effortless performance as the protagonist of the story. A fabulous performance from Om Puri as well, who breathes even more life into the story without a doubt. this is a film that always reminds us of of Ram Gopal Varma as one of the very few good directors of all time.

Overall, this film will make you shiver for sure, It is not a great film, but the performances are very memorable.

Pick anything out of Ramgopal Verma Part I and you will find a gem mostly, as was Raat, which to my mind is the best ever ghost movie Bollywood has produced. Revathi is the star of the show, stupendous acting, and the eeriness felt throughout is unmatched in even the directors's later movies. 8/10