7 Indian Horror Films That Are Actually Good

Horror as a genre has been relegated to camp in much of Indian cinema, never ever reaching the prestige that it rightly deserves. Sketchy makeup, wafer-thin plots, overdramatic background scores, and cheap production design meant that horror stuck exclusively in the territory of B-movie.

Posted On November 20th, 2020

Tumbbad

Tumbbad, directed by Rahi Anil Barve, is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language horror film. In addition, Anand Gandhi acted as the artistic director, and the co-director was Adesh Prasad. Developed by Sohum Shah, Aanand L. Rai, Mukesh Shah and Amita Shah, the film was composed by Mitesh Shah, Prasad, Barve, and Gandhi. Starring Sohum Shah as Vinayak Rao in the lead role, it follows the story of his search for a lost treasure in the British Indian village of Tumbbad, Maharashtra, in the 20th century.

Bulbul

Bulbul is a Hindi film written and directed by Anvita Dutt in 2020. Developed by Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma and starring Tripti Dimri with others such as Avinash Tiwary, Paoli Dam, Rahul Bose and Parambrata Chattopadhyay in leading roles. In several reviews, Tripti Dimri was lauded. Set in the history of the Bengal Presidency of the 1880s, Bulbbul revolves around a child-bride and her path from innocence to power. On 24 June 2020, Bulbbul was released on Netflix.

Pari

While a kind-hearted man is attempting to support a young woman who appears to be a survivor of violence, her unusual conduct reveals that she keeps a dark secret. Her wicked and possessive traits endanger his future as she moves in with him.

Ek Thi Daayan

Ek Thi Daayan is a supernatural Indian horror film directed by Kannan Iyer in 2013, adapted from Mukul Sharma's short story Mobius Trips. Emraan Hashmi, Huma Qureshi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kalki Koechlin are the stars of the film. Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Vishal Bhardwaj and Rekha Bhardwaj co-produced the film. On 19 April 2013, favourable reviews from critics and respectable box-office collections were announced.

Monihara

Nearly 15 mins into Satyajit Ray's Monihara, for the first time, the languid eyes of heroine Monimalika come alive with frenzied lust. Her partner, a wealthy jute trader, Phanibhushan, whipped out a small velvet jewellery case. 'See what I got for you,' he says, but Monimalika fished it out of his hands before he was able to finish the sentence. She is giddy, nearly turned into a new human with passion quivering. As Phanibhushan looks on, entertained, she takes the box and flunks away. The background score is sparse but not cheerful, certainly not representing the enthusiasm of heroine Monimalika.

The House Next Door

In their lovely house under the mountains, Dr Krishna, a qualified brain surgeon, and his wife Lakshmi live happily. After a family moves into the house next door, their happy life together is now broken. Jennifer is Krishna and Lakshmi's depressed teenager neighbour and friend. Losing her mother in her early years, she turned out to be a punk. She never loses an opportunity to throw tantrums at her, even though she does not hate her loving stepmother. Yet she loves Sara, her half-sister. The defiant side of Jennifer lets her do something such as smoking, for example. She catches some of the possessions of a dead person at one of those occasions where she sneaks out of the house for a cigarette. And the lives of the people around her are influenced by a number of paranormal events. Ancient ghosts visit Jennifer's new home, and one of them is bloodthirsty.

13B: Fear Has A New Address

Manohar is moving into a new apartment on the 13th floor, along with his family. However, a spirit who uses the television set as a means to interact with them disturbs their calm.