Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Golmaal Again, Stree - Decoding the horror comedies

Laxmii, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Golmaal Again, Stree Picture Courtesy: YouTube

Horror and comedy are two completely different genres, unless we make a comedy that leaves you petrified or a horror film that makes you laugh. So filmmakers and actors opted to blend both in one film. Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani's Laxmii is all set to stream from today, November 9, and before the world sees what lies beneath, here's looking at how the genre has come about in the industry:

1. Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)

The first encounter with this genre of horror-comedy happened with Priyadarshan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa, also starring Akshay Kumar. This 2007 film was about a haunted mansion where a spirit looms and dances in the night and has some unfinished business. Enters Kumar, a psychiatrist but who borders on the puerile for the first few reels. It's all a laughing business as he interacts with this spirit called Manjulika till it all gets very serious and scary. More than the actor's Golden run at the box-office that time, the success of this film also had to do with some mad characters, especially that of Rajpal Yadav.

2. The Bhoothnath Franchise (2008 and 2014)

Imagining Amitabh Bachchan as a ghost can take a while, but given how he has exploded with every possible character, the fact that he would do justice to this as well won't. In both the films, he was frightening for others, friend for a child. In the second film, which came out a month prior to the Lok Sabha election results, the story was set against the backdrop of politics, where Bachchan contests for the elections. Now that's quite a spirited idea, no pun intended.

3. Go Goa Gone (2013)

Raj and DK not only surrounded the land of Goa with rave parties and drugs but also zombies. They were creatures that became monsters after consuming substances that severely affected their bodies and brains. And trapped in this mayhem were three friends on the run. These filmmakers have always laced their movies with sharp writing, contagious dialogues, and unabashed characters, and this cracker of a film was no exception.

4. Golmaal Again (2017)

It wasn't as much of a horror as much as it was a comedy. The eve was Diwali and the film was the fourth installment of a very popular and successful franchise. Barring a few shocking and silly moments, the film relied more on the chemistry between the four leads than it did on the genre. But it had to be a blockbuster, given the dearth of comedies that year.

5. Stree (2018)

Raj and DK are arguably one of themost reliable duos when it comes to writing ingenious characters and stories. On the surface, Stree is the story of three men who encounter a mysterious woman who they think is Stree, the woman who kidnaps men in the night, leaving their clothes behind. Beneath that surface, it was the story of unfulfilled love. Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, and Abhishek Banerjee made for a solid ensemble. It was a film that got the nuances of both horror and comedy right.

Given the filmmakers' penchant for cashing in the success of a particular genre, there are a string of horror-comedies coming up in future. The names include Go Goa Gone 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Bhediya, RoohiAfzana, Bhoot Police, and Phone Bhoot. How many of them will actually make us laugh and scare, and that too in good ways?

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