There was a time when Bollywood could genuinely make you fear the dark. When a flickering bulb, a creaking door, or a faint whisper in an empty corridor could give you goosebumps. Films like Raat, Bhoot, and 1920 reminded us that horror isn’t just about jump scares but it’s about atmosphere, storytelling, and the unknown.
But somewhere along the way, that chill turned into cheap thrills.
The horror genre in Bollywood didn’t just fade but it was brutally murdered, buried under loud background scores, forced comedy, and soulless remakes.
The Lost Fear
Let’s be honest—India loves horror. Every time a Hollywood horror film releases here, the numbers speak louder than the screams. Whether it’s The Conjuring, Insidious, or Final Destination, Indian audiences show up in huge numbers, which shows they are ready to be scared, ready to feel something real.
Unfortunately, Bollywood has repeatedly confused horror with gimmicks. We’ve mistaken background noise for tension, prosthetics for plot, and clichés for creativity.
The Rise (and Rapid Fall) of the Horror-Comedy Era
Looking at the box office of masala movies not doing well in mid 2010's, producers started looking for a new formula. They looked at Golmaal 4 and Stree and began to believe that horror alone wouldn’t sell but it would need a laugh track. And that’s where the problem began.
To be fair, Stree was a gem. It worked because it was clever. Rooted humor, brilliant writing, and a tight balance between fear and fun. But what followed were poor imitations, films that forgot to scare and barely managed to amuse.
Today, horror in Bollywood has become synonymous with slapstick ghosts and one-liner spirits. We now have “family horror” where the ghost dances, cracks jokes, and breaks into songs between exorcisms. It’s not fear anymore but a fancy-dress party.
And yet, these films keep coming. Why? Because every time one odd horror-comedy works, ten others try to copy it, thinking it’s a formula. But fear has no formula - it’s all about feeling. And that’s what we’ve lost.
Haunted, Bhoot, and the Curse of Bad Execution
There are times when Bollywood tries to go serious with horror, the results often end up… well, horrifying.
Haunted 3D came with the label of being India’s “first stereoscopic horror film.” Great marketing, zero soul. The 3D wasn’t scary but was headache-inducing.
Then came Bhoot: Part One – The Haunted Ship. The trailer looked atmospheric, Vicky Kaushal was onboard, the setup was promising and yet, the film drowned in its own confusion. It had everything except the one thing that matters: fear.
Even recent attempts like Maa, which flirted with psychological horror, opened decently but disappeared faster than its ghost. The problem isn’t the effort but the execution. We keep trying to reinvent horror without understanding what made it haunting in the first place.
Instead of eerie silences, we get screaming violins. Instead of mystery, we get monotony. Every film looks like it’s shot in the same haveli the Ramsay Brothers used in the 80s and yet, somehow with less personality.
The South and Hollywood Are Showing the Way
While Bollywood is stuck recycling old ghosts, the South has quietly been building new worlds.
Films like Tumbbad (technically Hindi, but Marathi in soul) showed how horror could blend mythology with greed. Pizza turned a simple delivery boy story into a masterclass in tension. Aval (The House Next Door) nailed mood and atmosphere perfectly. Even commercial horrors like Kanchana and Chandramukhi managed to balance emotion, myth, and tension better than most Hindi films.
And look at the Malayalam gem Bramayugam, where Mammootty reminded us what true horror feels like—slow, psychological, and deeply unsettling. That’s the difference. Down South, they respect the genre; here, we spoof it.
Hollywood, of course, continues to reinvent fear. Get Out turned horror into social commentary, Hereditary made trauma terrifying, and The Conjuring Universe remains a benchmark in atmosphere. When The Conjuring 2 released in India, it opened better than most of our so-called “blockbusters.” The message couldn’t be clearer: the audience isn’t the problem but the content is.
Remakes: The Last Nail in the Coffin
And when we do run out of ideas, we turn to remakes because why take risks when you can repackage someone else’s story?
Take Kapkapiii (2025), starring Shreyas Talpade and Tusshar Kapoor. A remake of the Malayalam hit Romancham, it came and went faster than a jump scare. The audience has already seen the original on OTT; they know what’s coming. You can’t just dub fear, you have to adapt it.
Remakes might give you an opening weekend, but horror needs world-building, tone, and credibility—three things you can’t copy-paste from another language.
The Road Ahead: Can Horror Make a Comeback?
Absolutely. But only if we stop treating it like a side dish and start giving it the respect of a main course.
Horror works best when it mirrors society’s own fears—loneliness, morality, guilt, the unknown. India has a treasure chest of folklore, urban legends, and myths waiting to be told. From the stories of the churail to the nishi dak, from haunted stepwells to cursed villages, there’s no shortage of content. There’s only a shortage of courage to explore it seriously.
We need filmmakers who understand psychology more than prosthetics. Who know that the sound of silence can be scarier than an entire orchestra. Who can use light, shadow, and stillness to make our hearts race faster than any CGI ghost.
And let’s not forget—sometimes, the most terrifying stories aren’t supernatural at all. They’re human.
The Future Line-Up: A Flicker of Hope?
2026 looks…mixed. The Raja Saab starring Prabhas promises grandeur but seems to lean more toward romantic horror-comedy than genuine scares. Bhediya 2 is in the works, and a few others like Bhoot Bangla and Shakti Shalini are in early stages. But here’s the real talk—there’s no true-blue, serious, straight horror film on the horizon that looks ready to shake the genre.
Final Word
Bollywood’s horror genre isn’t dying because of the audience but because of ambition.
We’ve forgotten that fear, when done right, is universal. It doesn’t need a hero entry, a romantic track, or comic relief in the middle of an exorcism. It needs a good story, believable characters, and that one unforgettable moment that makes you check under your bed before sleeping.
Horror isn’t about blood. It’s about belief. It’s about what you don’t see, what you imagine, and what you feel long after the credits roll.
It’s time we stop laughing at our ghosts and start respecting them again. Because the day Bollywood truly rediscovers its fear, that’s the day Indian horror will rise from the dead.
Until then, The Conjuring will keep haunting our box office, whispering softly— “This is what you could’ve been.”
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