The 20 Best Indian Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked

The best Indian horror films They feature great scares with an emphasis on the myths of that part of the world. The horror genre transcends borders and languages, and each distinct society across the world has its own mythologies and horror stories, many of which often revolve around their respective belief systems and cultures. While America and the United Kingdom have created some of the greatest horror films ever made, India also has a strong pedigree of horror titles that can stand up to anything in Western culture.

India is known for its huge film industry, which produces huge spectacles that rival Hollywood’s blockbuster productions, with major international hits such as RRR. Therefore, it is not surprising that they have also produced many notable horror films, using many of the same concepts seen in Hollywood, such as demonic possession and ghost stories. India knows how to create a solid horror filmand there are plenty of great titles for moviegoers willing to find them.

20

Saal Baad Bees (1962)

A vengeful spirit seeks out the men of a family

Saal Baad Bees loosely adapts the Bengali film Jighansa from a decade earlier to a Hindi-speaking audience. This film was also an adaptation, combining elements from the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervillesone of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories, with Nishitini Bivishikaa novel by Hemendra Kumar Roy.

The story of the film shows a rich man sexually assaulting a girl in the local village. After dying by suicide, his spirit returns to take revenge on the man and his entire family line. With each generation, her spirit kills the men in her family, and when the rich man’s grandson falls in love and inherits the property, he has to decide whether to move and risk his own life or try to build a new life far away. The psychological thriller was incredibly popular, nominated for seven Filmfare Awards and winning four.

Saal Baad Bees was the highest-grossing Indian film of 1962.

19

Raaz (2002)

A woman must save her marriage from a supernatural mystery

Like many Indian horror films, Raaz has a more supernatural approach to its story. Although not officially an adaptation of the American film, it shares many commonalities with What’s underneath.

The film follows a couple hoping that moving to a new house will help them start over and repair their crumbling relationship. However, when the house they move into appears to be haunted, the wife must discover what secrets her husband is hiding to save them from the malicious spirit.

The film was nominated for six Filmfare Awards. Raaz helped establish Bipasha Basu as Bollywood’s resident scream queen. She later starred in several other horror films such as Atma, 3D Creatureand Alone. The film also spawned three sequels, which, at the time, was rare in Indian horror films.

18

Kohraa (1964)

A Hindi-language adaptation of a classic

Kohraa adapts the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, Rebeccawritten in 1938, but also gives some supernatural elements to the story. Although the novel has been adapted in several ways, it does not always feature the supernatural.

Here, a newlywed discovers that the ghost of her husband’s first wife still haunts their home. Of course, she only finds out about this after they move into his mansion, and he leaves on a business trip. When she is haunted, she decides to start her own investigation into how her first wife died and begins to discover several secrets about the people around her.

Although the film is initially slow, this is no different Rebecca or all adaptations of it since. It takes a while to get used to the story and lead the viewer into the secrets. Kohraa was nominated for two Filmfare Awards with Lalita Pawar, who plays the housekeeper, winning one of them for Best Supporting Actress.

17

Darna Mana Hai (2003)

A trip with scary stories

It initially received a negative response from critics, but has since become a cult classic among Indian horror fans.

It’s not often that Indian horror films take an anthology approach. In fact, this almost never happens. Darna Mana Hai is one of the first films in India to adopt the anthology approach and also to cast different actors for every story. In total, there are six different stories told in this film.

That’s because Darna Mana Hai centers on a group of friends telling scary stories. Seven friends go on a road trip together, but when their car breaks down in the middle of the night, the group decides to tell scary stories to have fun. It is inspired by the American film Campfire Taleswhich uses the same idea, but only features three stories. It initially received a negative response from critics, but has since become a cult classic among Indian horror fans.

Despite being considered a box office failure, the film received a sequel of sorts three years later. Darna Zaroori Hai. The film features an entirely new cast, new cinematographers for each segment, and new directors.

16

Kaun? (1999)

A suspenseful thriller about a serial killer on the loose

Kaun? is a 1999 horror film that is as much a psychological suspense thriller as it is a horror film. The stars of the film Urmila Matondkar as an unidentified woman who watches TV and sees reports of a serial killer on the loose. The same day, she talks to her mother on the phone before a stranger arrives at her house looking for the owner of the house, who she claims doesn’t live there. Soon, a second man appears and claims to be a police inspector, which leaves her alone with the two strangers.

Director Ram Gopal Verma plays a fun game of misdirection throughout much of the film.

Kaun? has lots of twists and turns, and director Ram Gopal Verma plays a fun game of misdirection throughout much of the film. The film received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising its experimental nature, which attracts the viewer and makes them question everything. It also provides a powerful climax, but leaves things open-ended and offers no answers as to the purpose of the crimes. Since then, it has gained cult classic status and stands the test of time.

15

Raat (1992)

A Hindi film about demonic possession

Raat is a demonic possession film, but the art here is how the director, Ram Gopal Varma, doesn’t reveal this until halfway through the film. Instead, it begins almost like a family drama when the Sharma family moves into an old house with a reputation for being haunted. There are three clues right at the beginning, especially when a neighbor goes crazy after meeting his daughter Mini. Soon, strange things begin to happen, such as the death of the family cat, which causes a duplicate cat to appear.

When deaths begin to occur, there is no doubt that something is very wrong, and the place where Mini’s friend Deepak sees her eyes turn blood red remains a perfect horror moment. From there the mystery is solved and the exorcism is all that remains. Raat received critical praise, with experts pointing out its technical proficiency as well as its success in ticking all the boxes horror fans would want in a film. With great performances and lots of scares, Raat remains a true classic.

14

Ek Thi Daayan (2013)

A supernatural thriller about a vengeful Daayan

Ek Thi Daayan is a Hindi supernatural thriller based on the short story “Mobius Trips” by Mukul Sharma. The story follows Bejoy “Bobo” Charan Mathur, a successful magician in India who hallucinates his younger sister, Misha. When he finally goes to a psychiatrist for help, he is put into regression hypnosis to go back to when he and Misha were children. This is where he remembers that a daayan has arrived in his lifesacrificed his younger sister and killed his father before defeating him.

This leads up to the present day, when the daayan returns to take revenge on Bobo, his wife and son. Ek Thi Daayan It was a box office success and received positive reviews. Critics praised the acting and imagination of the story, which ended with a fresh 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also recognized during awards season, with Konkona Sen Sharma receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 59th Filmfare Awards.

13

Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)

A horror comedy about a ghost exorcist

Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a horror comedy starring Akshay Kumar about a psychologist named Dr. Aditya “Adi” Shrivastav. When couple Avni S. Chaturvedi (Vidya Balan) and Siddharth Chaturvedi (Shiney Ahuja)) move into their new house, they discover that it is haunted. That’s when they call Dr. Adi to help them remove the spirits. The film takes a surprising turn when he decides to use psychiatry to exorcise the ghost from home, with shocking results.

Much praise goes to Kumar’s performance as Dr.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa was a huge box office success and one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 2007. The film has become a cult classic in the years since its initial release. Much praise goes to Kumar’s performance as Dr. Adi, thanks to his comedic timing. Vidya Balan also received praise, winning the Best Actress award at the Anandalok Awards. Bhool Bhulaiyaa became a cult classic since its release and even had a sequel that came out five years later with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2.

12

Pizza (2012)

A pizza delivery driver finds a haunted bungalow

Launched in 2012, Pizza is a Tamil-language horror thriller starring a pizza delivery boy named Michael (Vijay Sethupathi), who doesn’t believe in the supernatural but is afraid of anything paranormal. This doesn’t work out well for him, as his girlfriend, an author named Anu, says she will soon realize that the supernatural is real. Everything goes wrong when he delivers pizza to a bungalow and comes across several dead bodieswith a slice of pizza disappearing with each discovery.

The film plays with the viewer, marking Michael as an unreliable narrator and with the story only happening as he tells it. However, even when the truth is revealed, there is a twist at the end that leaves no bad deed unpunished. Thanks to its low budget, the film was a huge box office success and received mostly positive reviews, with praise for Karthik Subbaraj as a debut filmmaker. It won several awards including Best Story at the 7th Vijay Awards.

11

Street (2018)

A horror comedy about an urban legend about a witch who kidnaps men

Horror and comedy are a fun mix when done effectively, and Road It’s a film that gets the mix right. This Indian horror film is based on a popular urban legend called Nale Ba (meaning “come tomorrow”). Legend has it that people paint this word on the walls of their homes to ward off evil spirits. Road features a village where a witch has haunted it for years as she kidnaps men, while the main story follows a young man who falls in love with a girl only to begin to suspect that she herself may be the witch.

The film offers an ideal balance between laughs and scares, while providing plenty of emotion to the unique and inventive story.helping you stand out in a crowded group. Road received mostly positive reviews, with praise for the direction, the script, the story’s central social message, and the quirky humor. Director Amar Kaushik won the Best Debut Director award at the Filmfare Awards and Zee Cine Awards.

10

Paris (2018)

A film about a girl with demon blood who becomes pregnant

A major directorial debut from Calcutta-born Prosit Roy, Paris is a supernatural horror film about a strange woman named Rukhsana who may not be from this world. Containing elements of demonic horror, Paris concerns a satanic cult called Auladhchakra that sexually assaults and impregnates kidnapped women with descent from an Islamic mythological demon called Ifrit. What is even more disturbing is that there is a group that seeks out pregnant women and holds them prisoner until the baby is born so that they can kill, decapitate and seal them in glass jars.

The story then follows the daughter of a woman who escaped the group’s clutches and is now pregnant. It’s certainly a bizarre and disturbing story, but unique in the horror genre, and the film also features an excellent lead performance from Anushka Sharma as Rukhsana. The Ifrit is a real myth in Islamic culture, likened to jinn as demons of the underworld, bringing some real mythology to the story. It’s worth watching for anyone looking for a good horror film based on demons.

9

9 (2019)

Father and son encounter horrors during the passage of a comet

A fun mix of science fiction and horror, 9 it also contains some touching elements about father-son relationships. The “9“the title refers to the number of days that a passing comet will disrupt all forms of modern technologyincluding electricity and telephone service. The film follows Dr. Albert Lewis, a widowed astrophysicist, and his eight-year-old son Adam, with whom he has a distant relationship because he blames the boy for his wife’s death during childbirth. Albert’s brother-in-law also hates Adam, believing the child is evil.

As father and son investigate the approaching comet, a woman named Ava arrives and begins to torment Adam, but all is not as it seems as Albert realizes that his son’s life may be in danger. 9 It’s well filmed and full of good visual effects, but the real heart of the story is the father-son relationship. It’s an inventive sci-fi horror film with some poignant personal drama which is well played by the protagonists Prithviraj Sukumaran and Master Alok.

8

1920 (2008)

A new couple moves into an old mansion only to find it haunted

Some of the best period horror films include haunted houses and 1920 belongs to this subgenre. Launched in 2008, The film is about a couple who live inside a haunted house. Arjun is a Hindu man who marries a mixed-race British Indian woman and his family tries to kill her to stop the marriage. Arjun abandons his religious beliefs and his family before taking a job as an architect renovating a stately old mansion. While there, they discover that the place is haunted and that something in him wants his wife.

The film runs 140 minutes, which is more than enough time to include plenty of supernatural scares and some interesting character dynamics revolving around marriage. 1920 was a huge hit in its native India and spawned a franchise that now spans four films, demonstrating its palatability as a mainstream horror film.

7

The House Next Door (2017)

A troubled teenager moves in next door to a struggling couple

The house next door is an Indian horror film with many effective scares that can scare and disturb. The story follows Krish and Lakshmi, a neurosurgeon and his wife, who are distraught when a rebellious teenager and her stepmother move in next door. A series of disturbing paranormal events engulf the teenager, resulting in a battle between good and evil. as Krish and Lakshmi try to rid their home of the spirits.

Siddharth not only starred The house next door as a neurosurgeon, but co-wrote the script with the intention of working with Andrea Jeremiah (who played his wife) on a horror film directed by Milind Rau (Kadhal 2 Kalyanam). The house next door received positive reviews with praise for the use of horror in the Kollywood film scene. It’s an engaging, old-fashioned ghost story, and it’s sure to thrill anyone who enjoys a good horror based on the paranormal.

6

Kothanodi (2015)

A story of mothers and children based on indigenous folktales

2015 Kothanodi is based on Grandma’s Talesa very popular piece of Assamese literature that has been appreciated since its publication in 1911. The book is a collection of folk stories written by the Assamese poet Lakshminath Bezbaroa. It would have been very difficult to adapt the book, given its legendary status in Assam. But through some good filming and inventive re-imaginings of classic stories, Kothanodi proves to be an attractive watch. The film’s story is based on four fables from the book (Tejimola, Champawati, Or Kuworiand Tawoir Xadhu).

The four fables are told in interconnected stories. A woman wants to kill her stepdaughter while her husband is traveling, and he meets a mysterious woman who gives birth to an outenga. Another woman in a different village plans her daughter’s wedding with disastrous results and a final mother wants to protect her daughter from her murderous husband. Although it is not a simple horror film, Kothanodi however, it contains some very difficult subjects that are sure to disturb and disturb.

5

Aamis (Ravening) (2019)

A couple soon develop a taste for human flesh

Aamiswhose title in English is Greedypremiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019 to very strong reviews. The story follows a content pediatrician named Nirmali, who has a Ph.D. student studying Indian eating habits. The two quickly form a bond and soon begin experimenting with different types of meat. In a short time, Nirmali develops an obsession with tasting human flesh, which leads to a horrifying conclusion as her secret desires soon become public.

It’s a grotesque plot that will satiate even the most critical horror fan, taking inspiration from the extreme films of the 80s that were banned for their violence and depraved subject matter. Although the ending left something to be desired for some critics, it still received positive reviews for the film’s disturbing story and direction. Bhaskar Hazarika won the best director award at the Singapore International South Asian Film Festival.

4

Mahal (1949)

Bollywood’s first horror film

Often credited as Bollywood’s first horror film, Mahal It’s worth watching simply for its historical importance. Released in 1949, it stars Ashok Kumar as Hari Shankar, a man who has bizarre visions and occurrences inside his new abandoned palace. He begins to have visions of a mysterious woman who claims to have been his lover in a precious life. Mahal builds on themes of reincarnation while presenting a tantalizing mystery full of scares and tantalizing questions.

Mahal was enormously popular in her native India, transforming gothic horror into a popular genre and making Madhubala an icon of Hindi cinema. It ended up being a national hit when it was released, proving that suspense horror films had a place in India, and critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive as the years went on, improving as the years went by and becoming a cult classic. Mahal it remained Madhubala’s highest-grossing film for six years after its release, as he continued to rise through the ranks of stardom.

3

Bhoot (2003)

A demonic possession film

Taking enormous influence from The Exorcist, Bhoot is a worthy addition to the malevolent demonic possession subgenre. This film is about a couple, Vishal and Swati, who move into a haunted apartment and begin to suffer serious repercussions in the form of Swati’s possession. Bhoot contains some solid possession-based scares and is led by a great performance from Urmila Matondkar (playing Swati)who won the Bollywood Movie Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her unnerving performance is sure to give any viewer goosebumps.

Bhoot also won the Bollywood Movie Award for Best Director (Ram Gopal Varma). The film was also so popular that it received a sequel called Return of Bhoot in 2012. There were new Bhoot films released since 2020 but are not part of the original franchise, as Dharma Productions purchased the naming rights to tell some new stories.

2

13B: Fear Has a New Address (2009)

A man observes his family’s future in a soap opera

In addition to the somewhat silly name, 13B: Fear has a new address (whose original title is Yavarum Nalam) is a fun, low-budget Indian film. It looks fantastic despite the obvious lack of money, working wonders with inventive camera angles and beautiful framing. Madhavan also proves himself to be a competent lead actor, playing a man who observes his family’s future through a soap opera that is playing exclusively on your television set. He soon discovers the terrible secret that a family was massacred in their new apartment years earlier.

It mixes elements of J-horror with a unique plot, resulting in an original horror film that is both gruesome and intellectually challenging, as the twist at the end proves that things rarely end well in these supernatural stories. 13B: Fear has a new address It received mixed reviews, but was a huge box office success when released as a Tamil version – as opposed to the much less successful Hindi version.

1

Tumbbad (2018)

A village goes against the goddess of prosperity and suffers for it

Tumbbad premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, becoming the first Indian film to be screened at that particular festival. It speaks not only to the quality of the film, but also to the emergence of Indian horror as a popular genre of film outside the continent. The mythical story concerns the residents of Tumbbad, Maharashtra, who go against the orders of the Goddess of Prosperity and suffer a devastating curse. It achieved critical success, with eight nominations and three wins at the Filmfare Awards.

Tumbbad It wasn’t an easy shoot either, as director Rahi Anil Barve did in 2012, but he wasn’t happy with what he saw at the editing stage. He went back, rewrote, and remade the film in 2015, and this is the film fans can see today. It’s a great Indian film with roots in the country’s tradition, showcasing truly exceptional cinematography and bone-chilling scares, and is one of the country’s greatest horror exports.