Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language psychological  comedy horror film directed by Priyadarshan from the screenplay by Neeraj Vora and produced by T Series. It is an official remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993). The film stars Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja, Ameesha Patel, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Manoj Joshi, Asrani and Vikram Gokhale. The film score and soundtrack were composed by Ranjit Barot and Pritam respectively, with lyrics written by Sameer and Sayeed Quadri.

Made on a budget of ₹32 crore, Bhool Bhulaiyaa earned ₹82.837 crore worldwide, thus becoming the eighth-highest grossing Hindi film of 2007. It received positive reviews from critics upon release.

Over the years, the film has attained a cult status across the audience owing to Kumar's psychiatrist character, Balan's portrayal of Avni and Manjulika, Rajpal Yadav's comic timing, and its music. The film spawned a standalone sequel titled Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022) which was directed by Anees Bazmee starring Tabu, Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani and Rajpal Yadav. The third film in the series is set to release on Diwali in 2024.

Plot
Badrinarayan "Badri" Chaturvedi heads a former royal family of Varanasi whose ancestral palace is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Manjulika, a classical dancer from Bengal. Siddharth, son of Badri's elder brother and the current successor of the royal dynasty, and his archeologist wife Avni return to the palace from the United States after a whirlwind romance. Their marriage breaks the heart of Siddharth's childhood friend and Badri's adopted daughter, Radha, who was in love with him.

Avni develops an interest in the legend of Manjulika. Decades ago the Chaturvedis' ancestor, Maharaja Vibhuti Narayan, was infatuated with Manjulika who was a dancer in his court from bengal. However she loved Shashidhar, who was her co-dancer. Angry and frustrated, the king publicly beheaded Shashidhar on the night of Durgashtami and imprisoned Manjulika in order to forcefully marry her. Manjulika heartbroken swore vengeance towards any successor of the royal family before hanging herself. The king mysteriously died and hereafter powerful sorcerers and high priests were summoned and they sealed away Manjulika's spirit on the third floor of the palace. Avni gets a duplicate key from Batukshankar's daughter, Nandhini, and opens the door on the third floor hereby breaking the confinement of manjulika's spirit .As a result unnatural events start taking place thereafter, including an apparition of a woman that frightens everyone in the palace. Suspicion falls on Radha, who is somehow always at the scene of every incident.

Siddharth suspects Radha has become mentally unstable after her heartbreak. He brings his friend, psychiatrist Aditya Shrivastava, to treat her. Aditya's unconventional ways leads the household to think he is a fool. An attempt to kill Siddharth by poisoning his tea is foiled by Aditya. One night, Aditya hears the sound of a ghungroo and a voice singing in Bengali coming from Manjulika's room. Posing as King Vibhuti Narayan, he converses with Manjulika, who vows revenge on the next Durgashtami.

During the engagement of Nandhini to poet Sharad Pradhan, Avni accuses Sharad of sexually harassing her. Sharad vehemently denies this and Aditya explains to an angry Siddharth that he is telling the truth. In reality, Avni has dissociative identity disorder and associates herself with Manjulika. Aditya had become suspicious after Avni's behavior and visited her hometown to gather information about her. She associates Siddharth with the evil King Vibhuti Narayan and believes Sharad to be Shashidhar, for he resides in the house Shashidhar used to live in.

Badri brings renowned exorcist Yagyaprakash Bharti. To everyone's surprise, Aditya was Yagyaprakash's disciple a long time ago. Aditya intends to cure Avni using an unconventional method of psychiatry. Siddharth believes Aditya after witnessing Avni transition to Manjulika. Aditya explains that DID is a lifelong condition but Avni might be cured if they satisfy Manjulika's purpose for existing: killing King Vibhuti Narayan.

On Durgashtami, everyone witnesses Avni assume Manjulika's identity, dressed as her and dancing to Manjulika and Shashidhar's song. Yagyaprakash makes Manjulika promise to leave if she kills the King. She envisions Siddharth as the King and Yagyaprakash and Aditya trick her into thinking she is killing him when in fact she is slaying a dummy. Avni is cured after the orchestrated "murder," believing Manjulika has taken her revenge.

The family, now pleased with Aditya, thank him for his help. Aditya, who has come to like Radha, tells her that he will send his parents if she is interested in marrying him.

Cast

 * Akshay Kumar as Dr. Aditya "Adi" Shrivastav
 * Vidya Balan in dual roles as Avni S. Chaturvedi & Possessed Manjulika
 * Shiney Ahuja in dual roles as Siddharth Chaturvedi & Raja Vibhuti Narayan
 * Ameesha Patel as Radha Chaturvedi
 * Paresh Rawal as Batukshankar Upadhyay
 * Manoj Joshi as Badrinarayan "Badri" Chaturvedi
 * Rajpal Yadav as Chhote Pandit
 * Asrani as Murari
 * Vikram Gokhale as Acharya Yagyaprakash Bharti
 * Rasika Joshi as Janki Batukshankar Upadhyay (née Chaturvedi)
 * Tarina Patel as Nandini Sharad Pradhan (née Upadhyay)
 * Vineeth in dual roles as Professor Sharad Pradhan and Shashidhar
 * Kaveri Jha as Girja Upadhyay
 * Jimit Trivedi as Chandu Chaturvedi
 * Baby Farida as Avni's Grandmother
 * Ashmita as Manjulika's double

Casting
Originally, the. main Female lead roles were offered to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Katrina Kaif. They turned down the offer due to working load, and were replaced by Vidya Balan and Ameesha Patel respectively.The Shooting of the Movie started on February 18 2007 and ended on March 30 2007.

Score
The film score was composed and produced by Ranjit Barot.

Songs
The songs featured in the film composed by Pritam, were released in July 2007. The title song, commonly known as "Hare Ram Hare Krishna Hare Ram", was sung by Neeraj Shridhar. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 12,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's eighth highest-selling.

The title song "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" is lifted from Korean band JtL's song "My Lecon".

Release
The film was worldwide released on 12 October 2007. The DVD of the movie was released by Eros Home Media. The distribution rights of the movie were acquired to Disney India. The television premiere of the movie was occurred on Star Plus on 15 February 2008. The film was first made streaming available on Netflix on 15the September 2019. Later the film was removed from Netflix on 22 July 2020. On 3 March 2022 the film was made streaming available on Disney+ Hotstar.

Box office
Bhool Bhulaiyaa was declared a hit at the box office by Box Office India, netting inr 497000000 in India. It was the 6th highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2007. It grossed ₹3,88,00,000 on its first day, while it grossed ₹23,50,00,000 in the first week. The total overseas gross was $3,910,000. The lifetime overseas breakup was $1,380,000 in UK, $1,130,000 in North America, $820,000 in UAE, $151,000 in Australia and $429,000 in other markets.

The film collected inr 840000000 worldwide.

Sequels
A standalone sequel starring, Tabu, Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani titled Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was released on 20 May 2022.

The third installment titled "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3" was officially announced with a teaser on 1 March 2023 by T-Series, to be again directed by Anees Bazmee and Kartik Aaryan will reprise his role as "Rooh Baba" and this film will be released on Diwali 2024.