''Raat'' in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

or ''Raatri'' () in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

is a 1992 Indian

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

written and directed by

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu films.** * * Varma has dir ...

. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu, the film stars

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil and Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu language, Telugu, Hindi and ...

in the lead role. The background score was composed by

Mani Sharma Yanamandra Venkata Subrahmanyam (Telugu: యనమండ్ర వెంకట సుబ్రహ్మణ్యం; born 11 July 1964), professionally known as Mani Sharma, is an Indian composer and music producer known for his work primaril ...

, marking his debut as a music composer, 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 70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...

. ''Raat'' received positive reviews upon its release.

Plot

A family of four moves into a house that is allegedly haunted. Manisha Sharma (

) aka "Mini" is studying in college. Her father is Mr. Sharma (

Akash Khurana Akash Khurana is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, author, theatre artist and entrepreneur. His first screen appearance was in Shyam Benegal's '' Kalyug''. He has appeared in nearly 60 films, including ''Ardh Satya'', ''Saaransh'', ''N ...

), while her mother is Shalini Sharma (

Rohini Hattangadi Rohini Hattangadi (''née'' Oak; born 11 April 1951) is an Indian actress, known for her work in Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Gujarati films, and Marathi soap operas and theatre. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one ...

). Deepak (Kushant) is Mini's classmate and boyfriend. Mini's nephew Bunty (Master Atit) finds a cat in the house's basement. The cat has an eerie look on its face with its spot-staring eyes. One day the cat ventures behind Mr. Sharma's car and is killed accidentally while the car is reversed. The cat is buried in the backyard without Bunty's knowledge. Their neighbor, Nirmalamma, is the grandmother to Rashmi, Mini's classmate. Nirmalamma spooks them with a fearful response after hearing Mini is their new neighbour. Bunty finds another cat which bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead cat. The family gets its first shock. Another day, Mini and Deepak decide to enjoy a ride to the city limits. While returning home, Deepak's bike rear tyre goes flat. Deepak rides with a passerby to get a spare tyre from a village nearby and asks Mini to wait for him. On returning, Deepak finds Mini sitting beside a tree near a pond, clutching her face and apparently weeping. Approaching her, Deepak stares at her fierce, reddening eyes (resembling the dead cat eyes), and slips into the pond. All of a sudden, Mini turns normal and calls to Deepak to come out of the pond. The next day, Mini attends her Rashmi's friend's marriage accompanying her. Rashmi is brutally killed, with her neck broken and head turned all the way back. The police officer investigating the case notices that during interrogation, Mini twists her doll's head exactly the way Rashmi's neck was twisted. The officer then meets with an accident while riding out and dies. These events lead Mini's parents to seek professional help. Shalini approaches their neighbour, Nirmalamma, while Mr. Sharma takes the help of a psychiatrist (

Ananth Nag Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948) is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 films which include over 250 Kannada films and few films in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malaya ...

) regarding as nonsense the occult thoughts that his wife believes is the reason for their daughter's horror-stricken behaviour. Nirmalamma advises Shalini to seek the services of Sharji (

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri, (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as ind ...

), who lives in Falaknuma. Sharji first visits his "guru" (Vijayachander) who has taken

samadhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

in the remote Falaknuma and gets fire-power ashes as a weapon. Sharji then locates the ghost (Sunanda) in Mini's house basement under the floor and finds it to be that of the woman who was the previous owner's mistress and who was murdered brutally. Later, while the killer is in bed with his new paramour, the ghost of his former mistress kills him, as her hands and arms emerge from the bed and twist his neck, much like Rashmi's was done. Following horrific events involving the ghost trying to kill Deepak, Sharji finally neutralizes her with the help of holy chants and the ashes. The ghost finally leaves Mini's body with a thundering flash. On the one hand, scientific tests involving

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

and other medical procedures are conducted on Mini. This, Mr. Sharma believes, is the only way Mini could be "cured". However, Sharji has his own explanation of darkness beyond the light, that doesn't vanish, but is only diminished to an extent.

Cast

Music

Background score for the film was composed by

Reception

Upon release, N. Krishnaswamy of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' gave the film a positive review, calling it "technically superb" and writing that it "should be a reasonably tasty item in the horror film buff's menu card". In 2013, Amrah Ashraf of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' called it the scariest film he had seen, saying Varma's '' Bhoot'' was a "subtler, sweeter remake of ''Raat''". Suchitra Patnaik of ''

Film Companion Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-defunct digital platform Film Compani ...

'' credits this film for changing the Indian horror film scene, stating: "It had actors pulling off stellar performances and a serene yet dramatic background score, making this 1992 movie a blockbuster hit."

References

External links