Kishore Sahu’s Poonam ki Raat (1965) and Vijay B’s Mangal Sutra (1981) are two films that can be best described as proto Bhool Bhulaiyya (2007) and Raaz (2002) respectively. The basic premise of the films are same, and yet the earlier versions could not see the success of the latter at the box office.
Poonam ki Raat vs. Bhool Bhulaiyya
Poonam ki Raat revolves around Prakash, played by Manoj Kumar, who accompanies his friend Chandan to his old family mansion, since his father — popularly referred to as Lalaji — is seriously ill. Soon, Prakash discovers that the mansion holds many secrets all connected to a dancer called Rani who was allegedly murdered by Lalaji. Prakash mistakenly unlocks Rani’s room that had not been opened since her death, and unleashes her spirit which starts haunting the mansion. On a full moon night when his nurse is murdered, Lalaji becomes paralyzed due to shock and fear. The truth is far from paranormal: The spirit of Rani is actually Lalaji’s mistress’ daughter Nandini who suffers from mental illness. Every full moon night, she turns into Rani and is responsible for the nurse’s murder and the paralytic condition of her father. Akshay Kumar’s Bhool Bhulaiyya is based on the same premise. It is true that the 2007 film is a remake of Fazil’s successful 1993 Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu. But the Hindi film’s similarity with Poonam ki Raat is undeniable and uncanny. However, while Poonam Ki Raat dismissed the mental illness as mere madness, but the dissociative identity disorder of the protagonist became the big plank on which Priyadarshan (Soman Nair) chose to rest his film.
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Vikram Bhatt’s Raaz has been accused of being a copy of the Hollywood hit What Lies Beneath (2000). No doubt there are several similarities between the two, but perhaps it’s got more in common with with Mangal Sutra starring Rekha and Anant Nag. In the 1981 film, a newly married couple’s life is disrupted when an evil spirit possesses the husband. The spirit prevents the couple from consummating their marriage. The wife discovers that the spirit of a spurned lover has possessed her husband’s body. She had killed herself in order to avenge her unrequited love. Unlike Raaz, the husband here is an innocent victim and the evil spirit is not looking for justice through him. Raaz is a far better film, since the characters are more complex while retaining the quintessential Savitri/Satyavan framework. Moreover it was also instrumental in reviving the horror genre in contemporary Hindi cinema. However, Mangal Sutra is also quite an entertainer backed by some good performances. A must-watch for any horror buff.