| Haunted – 3D | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Vikram Bhatt |
| Produced by | Vikram Bhatt Arun Rangachari |
| Story by | Amin Hajee |
| Starring | Mahakshay Chakraborty Twinkle Bajpai Achint Kaur Arif Zakaria Sagar Saikia |
| Music by | Chirantan Bhatt |
| Cinematography | Praveen Bhatt |
| Editing by | Kuldeep Mehan |
| Distributed by | ASA Production and Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Dar Motion Picture BVG Films |
| Release date(s) | May 6, 2011 |
| Running time | 143 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | 8.50 crore (US$1.62 million)[1] |
| Box office | 35 crore (US$6.65 million)[2] |
Haunted – 3D is a 2011 Indian 3D horror film directed by Vikram Bhatt,[3] and starring Mahakshay Chakraborty, Twinkle Bajpai, Achint Kaur, Sagar Saikia and Arif Zakaria.[4] The film is India’s first stereoscopic 3D horror film[5].[6] The promos and first look of the film were released on 7 February 2011.[7] The film was released on 6 May 2011 to mixed reviews but turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office.[8]
Contents |
Rehan (Mahakshay Chakraborty) is sent to a mansion by his father (Sagar Saikia) who is in the real estate business. A caretaker has died two days ago, and the mansion is being sold to a family in 10 days. Rehan's father suspects this as the doing of their rival, so he sends Rehan to investigate. He meets a rag-picker on the way who tells him that only he can do it. Mysterious things happen that night. He sees a girl playing piano who vanishes when the door is opened; a book drops from the bookshelf on its own and Rehan finds a letter inside. The letter, written by Meera (Tia Bajpai), tells her story from 1936 when her parents left for Delhi which resulted in her being left alone with her nanny, Margaret(Achint Kaur), a servant and a driver. In the absence of her parents, her piano teacher Iyer( Arif Zakaria), tries to rape her. However she saves herself by hitting Iyer with a candle stand on his head, which results in his death. Soon, the police conclude that Meera was correct as the police recover explicit sketches of her from Iyer's house. However, Iyer returns in the form of an evil spirit, killing both the servants and the Nanny. The spirit rapes Meera repeatedly, resulting in her suicide. But even after her death, her spirit is tortured and trapped in the mansion by the evil spirit.
After reading the letter, Rehan feels sympathetic and brings a psychic to help, but the lady leaves after realizing how strong the evil spirit is and asks Rehan to do the same. Rehan ignores her warning and stays there, challenging the evil spirit by uttering its name as it is believed that uttering an evil spirit's name makes it more powerful.
Next morning, when he wakes up, he finds the rag-picker in front of him who casts a spell. Rehan finds himself sent 75 years back in time to 17 August 1936, the day when Meera's parents leave for Delhi. Rehan befriends Meera by following her and pretending to be lost as he is new to the town. The next day, in order to prevent the death of Iyer, Rehan comes to Meera's house with a basket of chocolates for showing him the way to city. Rehan says that he would like to listen to Meera's performance as he is also interested in music, but Iyer is opposed to him and asks him to leave. Rehan insists on staying outside the door so that he would not interfere in their class and could still listen to the music. As Rehan listens to the music, Iyer hits him, throwing him out on the lawn. Iyer bolts the door from inside and tries to rape Meera while Rehan tries to prevent Iyer's death. But, as written in fate, Meera kills Iyer. A hurt Rehan is admitted to the hospital where he dreams about the evil spirit.
Rehan explains everything to Meera and asks her to meet him the next day at noon. The next day, Rehan, Meera, and Margaret meet a priest, who tells them that far from the town there is a Dargah, a mosque where there is a Sufi baba who could help them. He tells them to start the journey at 3 in the afternoon, because spirits have the strongest power at 3 in the morning and weakest at 3 in the afternoon. As the travelling turns out to night, the trio stays in a hotel, but the evil spirit kills Margaret and tries to rape Meera. Rehan fights it and takes Meera the rest of the way to the Dargah. The next day, the priest is killed by a snake. Margaret's body, now owned by the spirit, tries to stop them from entering the Dargah, but Rehan somehow manages to put Margaret's leg at the doorstep of the Dargah thereby destroying her body. Inside they find the rag-picker who sent Rehan into the past.
He tells them that miles away is a town which was being chanted by Khwaja and there is a well in which Meera has to show the way to Iyer's spirit, which is connected to Meera by a blood stained pendant that Meera is still wearing. As they reach the town, Rehan has to drop the fire, mud, and the pendent. As Rehan is performing the act, Meera is attacked by Iyer, but Meera manages to throw the pendant in the well. She gets stuck later and Rehan throws the pendent in the well. After saving her, Rehan falls into the well and reaches back to the year 2011. He finds another letter in the same place and discovers that Meera lived a happy life after that event. The house is no longer haunted.
Upon release, the film opened to mixed critical reviews. The Times of India while giving it three stars out of five stated "if the film works -- and it works quite well -- is only because of the special effects of the film. Experiencing the horror in 3D is indeed a novel experience for the viewer, specially since it is smartly done."[9] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it three and a half stars and concluded that "Haunted is for today's movie savvy audience. It succeeds in keeping you tense and edgy, as a true poltergeist/horror flick should. There are scenes and situations aplenty to shock and astound the viewer coupled with the 3D effects, the prosthetics, the background score, an absorbing screenplay and deft handling of the subject material."[10] Shubhra Gupta of the Indian Express rated it with two stars saying that "the only new thing about `Haunted’ is that it is Bollywood horror in 3 D. The rest of it, by which we mean the principal stuff that makes it a film—story, location, characters—are all same old same old."[11] Anupama Chopra of NDTV Movies awarded the film one and a half stars describing it as "an absolutely ridiculous horror movie that works better as comedy, unintentional of course."[12] Preeti Arora of Rediff also gave it one and a half stars saying that "Haunted fails at reviving the age old haunted-house premise, bringing nothing new to the platter."[13]
According to boxofficeindia.com, Haunted - 3D recorded the highest opening ever for an Indian horror film. Released with over 1044 prints, the film grossed 13 crore during its opening weekend.[14] By the end of its first week, the film grossed 14.30 crore.[15] In the second weekend, the film experienced a drop of 55% from its first weekend collections, grossing 3.50 crore for a ten day total of 18 crore.[16] After four weeks, the film grossed 26.25 crore in India, [17] and 35 crore worldwide.[2] It was declared a Hit by Boxoffice-india. [18]
The music is composed by Chirantan Bhatt while the lyrics are penned by Shakeel Azmi and Junaid Wasi.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Jaaniya" | Junaid Wasi | Siddharth Basrur | 5:07 |
| 2. | "Mujhe De De Har Gum Tera" | Junaid Wasi | Siddharth Basrur | 4:58 |
| 3. | "Sau Baras" | Junaid Wasi | Tia Bajpai | 5:05 |
| 4. | "Tera Hi Bas Hona Chahoon" | Junaid Wasi | Jojo, Najam Sheraz | 5:39 |
| 5. | "Tum Ho Mera Pyaar" | Shakeel Azmi | KK, Suzanne D'Mello | 5:06 |
| 6. | "You're So Beautiful" | Junaid Wasi | Nikhil D'Souza | 4:30 |
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