Raat (film)
| Raat Raatri | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Release poster in Hindi | |
| Directed by | Ram Gopal Varma |
| Written by | Ram Gopal Varma Uttej (Telugu dialogues) |
| Produced by | Ram Gopal Varma Boney Kapoor(Presenter) |
| Starring | Revathi Chinna Om Puri |
| Cinematography | Teja |
| Edited by | Shankar Suri |
| Music by | Mani Sharma |
Production company | Varma Creations |
Release date |
|
Running time | 127 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Languages | Hindi Telugu |
Raat in Hindi or Raatri (transl. Night) in Telugu is a 1992 Indian supernatural horror-drama film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu, the film stars Revathi in the lead role. The background score was composed by Mani Sharma, and features only instrumental music with no songs.
The film is recognised for its attempt to introduce the horror genre to mainstream Indian cinema. It was also the final Telugu and Hindi film to be shot on 70 mm film. Raat received positive reviews upon its release.
Plot
The Sharma family, comprising Mr. Sharma, his wife Shalini, their college-going daughter Manisha (alias "Mini"), and her young nephew Bunty, relocates into a suburban house that carries rumors of being haunted. Mini’s classmate and boyfriend, Deepak, frequently visits the residence. While exploring the basement, Bunty discovers a stray cat with a distinctly eerie, vacant stare. Shortly after, the cat wanders behind Mr. Sharma’s vehicle and is accidentally crushed to death as he reverses the car. To spare Bunty from grief, the family buries the animal in the backyard. Their eccentric elderly neighbor reacts with profound dread upon discovering that the family has occupied the property.
The family experiences their first unsettling shock when Bunty brings home a new cat that bears an uncanny, identical resemblance to the deceased one. Later, Mini and Deepak go for a motorcycle ride to the outskirts of the city. On their return journey, the motorcycle suffers a flat tire. Deepak hitches a ride with a passerby to a nearby village to procure a spare, instructing Mini to wait by the roadside. Upon his return, he discovers Mini weeping under a tree near a pond. When he approaches her, she glares at him with fierce, reddening eyes that mirror the dead cat’s gaze, causing a terrified Deepak to stumble into the water. Suddenly reverting to her normal self, Mini frantically calls out for him to climb out.
The following day, Mini accompanies her classmate, Rashmi, to a friend's wedding. During the event, Rashmi is brutally murdered inside a restroom, her neck completely snapped backwards. During the subsequent homicide investigation, the detective notices a deeply unsettling detail: while being questioned, a catatonic Mini absentmindedly twists the head of her doll in the exact manner Rashmi's neck was broken. Shortly after this realization, the investigating officer dies in a fatal vehicular accident. Terrified by their daughter's increasingly volatile behavior, Mini’s parents split on how to proceed. While Mr. Sharma seeks the assistance of a skeptical psychiatrist to run clinical tests like MRIs, an anxious Shalini consults the elderly neighbor.
The lady advises Shalini to seek the help of Sharji, a powerful exorcist. Before intervening, Sharji visits the Samadhi (shrine) of his deceased spiritual guru in a remote area to obtain consecrated ashes infused with mystical firepower. Upon inspecting the Sharma residence, Sharji detects a malevolent entity residing beneath the basement floorboards. He uncovers the history of the house: the ghost is that of Sunanda, the mistress of the previous homeowner, who had been brutally murdered by her paramour on the property. Concurrently, the ghost exacts vengeance on her actual killer; as he lies in bed with his new paramour, Sunanda's spectral arms emerge from the mattress and twist his neck.
The entity completely possesses Mini’s body, leading to a series of violent incidents, including an attempt to murder Deepak. Sharji confronts the possessed Mini in a final spiritual showdown. Utilizing sacred chants and the consecrated ashes, he successfully neutralizes the spirit, forcing it to exit Mini's body in a thundering flash of light. While Mr. Sharma remains convinced that the psychiatrist's medical treatments cured his daughter's psychosis, Sharji offers a different perspective, warning that the primordial darkness existing beyond human comprehension never truly vanishes, but merely recedes into the shadows.
Cast
- Revathy as Manisha Sharma
- Chinna as Deepak, Manisha's boyfriend
- Rohini Hattangadi as Mrs. Sharma
- Akash Khurana as Mr. Sharma
- Om Puri as Sharji
- Anant Nag as the psychiatrist
- Master Atit as Bunty
- Jaya Mathur as Rashmi
- Nirmalamma as the old lady
- Tej Sapru as the inspector
- Sunanda as the spirit
- C. V. L. Narasimha Rao
Production
Ram Gopal Varma later said that Raat was the first film he had wanted to make, predating his plans for Siva (1989). He recalled devoting particular attention to the film's camerawork, six-track stereophonic sound, music and Revathi's performance. Varma believed that the film's restrained approach was more subtle than the horror films commonly seen by Indian audiences at the time.
The film was made in both Hindi and Telugu. Filming took place at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. Teja served as cinematographer, Shankar Suri edited the film and Nivas handled sound recording.
Music
The film's background score was composed by Mani Sharma, marking his debut as a film composer. The score is entirely instrumental, with the film containing no songs.
Reception
Contemporary response
Upon its release, N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express gave Raat a positive review. He praised the film's technical execution and considered it an effective entry in the horror genre.
Retrospective response
The film has received positive retrospective assessments. In 2013, Amrah Ashraf of the Hindustan Times described Raat as the scariest film he had seen and compared Ram Gopal Varma's later Bhoot (2003) to a more restrained reworking of it.
A 2025 retrospective by Scroll.in praised the film's writing, pacing, performances, use of close-ups, silence and jump scares, describing it as a tightly constructed horror film.
Legacy
Raat has been credited with helping shift Hindi horror cinema away from the Gothic settings and creature-centred films associated with earlier low-budget productions. A 2025 retrospective by Scroll.in described the film as a bridge between the horror films associated with the Ramsay Brothers and the more polished, mainstream horror thrillers that subsequently emerged in Indian cinema.
Film scholar Šarūnas Paunksnis has discussed Raat as an early example of the use of haunted urban and domestic spaces in modern Hindi horror cinema, a tendency later developed in films including Varma's Bhoot (2003).
See also
References
- ↑ Saravanan, T. (21 February 2014). "Following RGV". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ↑ Paunksnis, Šarūnas (2019). Dark Fear, Eerie Cities: New Hindi Cinema in Neoliberal India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-909693-0.
- ↑ Dhusiya, Mithuraaj (2017). Indian Horror Cinema: (En)gendering the Monstrous. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-38648-7.
- ↑ Moreland, Sean; Pervez, Summer (29 March 2013). "Acts of Re-Possession: Bollywood's Re- Inventions of the Occult Possession Film" (PDF). In Ahmad, Aalya; Moreland, Sean (eds.). Fear and Learning: Essays on the Pedagogy of Horror. McFarland. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-7864-9260-2.
- ↑ Ghatnekar, Aniket (10 April 2026). "Recalling Ram Gopal Varma (64) At His Brilliant Best". Retrieved 3 June 2026.
- ↑ "Spookiest of them all". The Hindu. 7 March 2013. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ↑ Gopal, Sangita (2012). Conjugations: Marriage and Form in New Bollywood Cinema. University of Chicago Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-226-30427-4.
- ↑ Bhattacharya, Roshmila (6 May 2017). "25 years in Ram Gopal Varma's company". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ "Start the week with a film: In 'Raat', a never-ending night of terror". Scroll.in. 27 October 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ "Raat (1992)". Cinemaazi. Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ Singh, Swati (6 August 2025). "THIS Ram Gopal Varma-Directed Cult Horror Movie With Revathi And Om Puri Once Sent Audiences Screaming Out Of Theatres". The Daily Jagran. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ Krishnaswamy, N. (28 February 1992). "Raat". The Indian Express.
- ↑ Ashraf, Amrah (3 May 2013). "Brunch Opinion: the scariest film I ever saw". Hindustan Times.
- ↑ Scroll Staff (27 October 2025). "Start the week with a film: In 'Raat', a never-ending night of terror". Scroll.in. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ Scroll Staff (27 October 2025). "Start the week with a film: In 'Raat', a never-ending night of terror". Scroll.in. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ Paunksnis, Šarūnas (2019). Dark Fear, Eerie Cities: New Hindi Cinema in Neoliberal India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-949318-0.