Raat (film)

Raat (Hindi: रात) is a 1992 Indian supernatural thriller written, produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma starring Revathi in the role of protagonist Manisha (Mini) Sharma.

Plot

A family of four moves into a house that is allegedly haunted. Manisha Sharma (Revathi) aka 'Mini' is a girl doing her college. Akash Khurana plays her father Mr. Sharma and Rohini Hattangadi is her mother Shalini Sharma. Deepak (Kushant) is Mini's classmate and her boyfriend. Mini's nephew Bunty (Master Atit) finds a cat in the house basement. The cat has an eerie look on its face with its spot-staring eyes. One day the cat ventures behind the father's car rear wheel and is killed accidentally while car is reversed. The cat is buried in the backyard without the knowledge of Bunty. Their neighbor and Rashmi's grandmother (Nirmalamma) spooks them with a fearful response after hearing Mini is their new neighbor.

One other day Mini and Deepak decide to enjoy a ride to the city limits. Returning home, Deepak's bike rear tyre goes flat. Deepak rides with a passerby to get a spare tyre from a village nearby and asks Mini to wait for him. On returning, Deepak finds Mini sitting beside a tree near a pond, clutching her face and apparently weeping. This is one of the best scenes in the movie that Ram Gopal Verma, aka RGV, (the director) has worked on so brilliantly so as to shiver the audience in their seats. Approaching her Deepak stares at her fierce, reddening eyes and slips into the pond. All of a sudden, Mini turns normal and calls to Deepak to come out of the pond. Meanwhile, Bunty finds another cat which bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead cat. The family gets its first shock.

The next day Mini attends her classmate Rashmi's friend's marriage accompanying her. Rashmi is brutally killed on that day, her neck broken and head turned all the way back. The police investigating officer who visits Mini's home for questioning meets with an accident while riding out and dies. These events lead Mini's parents to seek professional help. Shalini approaches their neighbor, the old lady while Mr. Sharma takes the help of a psychiatrist (Ananth Nag) nonsensing the occult thoughts that his wife believes is the reason for their daughter's horror-stricken behavior. The neighbor old lady advises Shalini to seek the services of Sharji (Om Puri) who lives in Falaknuma. Sharji first visits his 'guru' who has taken samadhi in the remote Falaknuma and gets fire power ashes as a weapon. Sharji then locates the ghost in Mini's house basement underfloor and finds it to be that of the woman who was the previous owner's keep and who was murdered brutally. The ghost is brilliantly played by Sunanda. After a brief horror flick involving the ghost trying to kill Deepak, Sharji finally neutralizes her with the help of holy chants and the ashes. The ghost finally leaves Mini's body with a thundering flash.

On the one hand, scientific methods involving MRI, and other medical procedures are conducted on Mini. This Mr. Sharma believes is the only way Mini could be 'cured'. However, Sharji has his own explanation of darkness beyond the light, that doesn't vanish but is only diminished to an extent. RGV has spun the web of horror played with confusion, dilemma and plight of the affected persons to a great extent possible as required of a horror movie.

Other information

Very few know that RGV has introduced Mani Sharma as music director who previously worked as an assistant to many music directors. You can locate a song 'Antham' in movie executed by Verma tuned by Manisharma which actually replaced his name with R.D. Burman in the title card shows a token of gratitude. Mani Sharma's full name is Y. Balasubramaniam Sharma also called as Mani by his friends.

Verma agreed to direct a movie with Chiranjeevi with Mani Sharma as the music director for Vyjayanti Movies (Aswani Dutt). Due his hectic schedule with Sanjay Dutt (Daud (film)|Daud) he terminated the movie with Chiru. You can see Aswini Dutt's name as co-producer for the movie Company to fill Dutt's loss. Chiranjeevi was so much impressed with the work of Mani sharma and he did lot of movies with him.

Suspense proceeds

Viewers are left in a suspense as to why Mini has killed her friend. During a conversation with the psychiatrist, Mini replies to a question that Rashmi beat Mini and so she killed her. When the question has been stressed she doesn't give a proper answer. In the climax, you can see the same cat again which had been killed accidentally under the car tires.

External links

• Raat at the Internet Movie Database