Wohi Bhayanak Raat (1989)

Wohi Bhayanak Raat is a Bollywood horror movie that hit theaters in 1989. The movie starred Kiran Kumar, Rohan Kapoor,  Leena Das, Rakesh Bedi and others.Wohi Bhayanak Raat is a curious movie, because it a remake of a South movie. And a few years later, the South language movie had a dubbed into Hindi release as well. Wohi Bhayanak Raat features a storyline that’s obsessed many a film maker, both in Bollywood and Hollywood – that evil neighbor. The concept of the neighbor is an interesting one in India. Until the late 2000s, the neighbor was almost a family member, part and parcel of life. Because Indians don’t shift very quickly, you will find that people have the same neighbor for even ten to fifteen years, and in some cases, even a lifetime.  In Indian cities, even if you lived in a rowhouse, you did bump into the neighbor now and then. If you live in an apartment, there’s only a wall separating you and your neighbor. This is an important dynamic to note while watching Wohi Bhayanak Raat. And how’s the experience? Read our Wohi Bhayanak Raat review to find out.

Synopsis:

Vickey, a young man  shifts to Mumbai. He makes new friends and enemies, as he joins the local college. One day, as he is driving home, he meets a mysterious woman, clad in a white saree. As he converses with her, the woman gets  irritated that he doesn’t recognise her. After a few days, he meets the same woman, this time in a contemporary avatar in college.  Soon, Vickey finds out that the woman is Roopali, the woman whom his parents have chosen as his wife. Vickey and Roopali fall in love.  But life has other plans.  Vickey suspects his neighbor is a killer. The city experiences brutal killings of women. Vicky becomes obsessd with the idea of a murderer neighbor. The twist is the tail is that Vickey sees Roopali’s photo in the neighbor’s house. He now suspects that Roopali is two-timing him.

Torn between finding out the truth about his neighbor and wondering whether he will lose the love of his life, the pursuit for the truth becomes all the more personal for Vickey. What happens next? Is Vickey’s neighbor really a killer? And if he is and if Roopali loves him, will he survive his clutches? To know more, you’ll have to watch the Bollywood horror movie, Wohi Bhayanak Raat.

Watch Wohi Bhayanak Raat:

Review:

Wohi Bhayanak Raat is an interesting c0ncept – and a very relevant concept even today. With the idea of a neighbor being a part of the family washed out out a cosmopolition India, the idea is insanely relevant today. Yes, The Ramsays made their brand of Bollywood horror movie on this concept in 2014, Neighbors They Are Vampires.

Wohi Bhayanak Raat tries to be the haunting psychological thriller that it could be, but has to finally give way to the mandate of the eighties – a love story, a college tiff, so on and so forth. The movie moves in auto-drive mode and Vickey’s obsession, or the fear and thrill of living around a demon, doesn’t come out in the way it should.

That said, Wohi Bhayanak Raat is more proof that there were at least some prosthetic artists in Bollywood proud of their work. Wohi Bhayanak Raat is one of the few Bollywood horror movies that do not use the bells and whistles to hide bad prosthetics. There’s one CGI scene as well as well, so the end product is rather raw and has a charm of its own.

Also, the backstory, the reason why Vickey’s becomes so personal looks like an after thought. Though its elaborate and actually performed out quite well, the audience will feel cheated – because they didn’t see it coming. Also, the backstory is a staple for Bollywood horror movies, so the story in itself isn’t a surprise for the audiences.