Bollywood's Horror Revival: Big Budgets, A-List Stars and Slick Visuals Replace Tacky Tropes
Bigger budgets, cutting-edge special effects and A-list actors are pulling Bollywood horror back once dismissed as fringe, cheap, low-quality, and sensational.
By Seema Sinha
Published : October 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM IST
About a decade ago, around the release of Sultan, Salman Khan was asked if he would ever do a film in the horror genre and he had said -- ‘No Horror, no sex films for me… not yet’. Perhaps Khan may change his mind now considering the horror genre that was once relegated to low-budget B-grade movies and formulaic plots, modern horror films today attract A-list stars, higher budgets, and critical acclaim by blending the supernatural with other popular genres like comedy, romance and folklore. The horror genre is now witnessing a significant resurgence, moving from niche to mainstream success. 2018 releases Tumbbad and Stree laid the groundwork while Munjya, Shaitaan, then Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Stree and Chhorii sequels, and Maa among others propelled the genre forward. The former two successfully rooted their horror narratives in Indian folklore and mythology, giving them a unique cultural touch that resonates with audiences.
Touted as India’s first vampire film, Thamma, a Diwali-release starring biggies Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna recently had a grand trailer launch in movie capital Mumbai. The film, promoted as a "bloody love story" is part of Maddock Films’ Horror-Comedy Universe that produced two instalments of Stree, both blockbusters. In fact, Maddock Films announced a slate of eight new films that will expand its horror-comedy universe, including release dates for the highly anticipated Stree 3 and Bhediya 2. The announcement comes as the studio builds on the success of its previous films in the genre, such as Stree 2 and Munjya. “Earlier, we had a random release in five to six years and one odd horror film did well. But in the last six to seven years production houses have been attempting a lot of horror at a commercial mainstream level because now we have realized that there is a huge audience wanting to watch such movies,” says director of Thamma, Aditya Sarpotdar who also helmed Munjya.
Says Khurrana, "I play a Betal [a vampiric spirit from Indian folklore], and the comedy and emotion come from how an ordinary guy deals with supernatural powers. It’s the first romantic film of the Maddock horror comedy universe. We’ve seen ghosts and spirits before, but nothing like Betals in Hindi cinema.". "When I heard Thamma the first time, I knew I had to be part of this universe. These are such rooted characters in our Indian culture, but at the same time they have such swag," adds Mandanna.
While the pioneers of the horror genre, the Ramsay Brothers, pushed the genre forward in the 70's and 80's with low-budget "creature" features in the style of Britain's "Hammer House of Horror", most makers today are blending other genres with horror to make it more appealing to a wider audience with the combination of fear and humour often working at the box office. As maverick director Ram Gopal Varma says, “There’s a very thin line between horror and comedy. The moment you get scared in a theatre, the first reaction after the initial shock is that you start laughing at your own fear.” “That is exactly what works in a horror-comedy. When we are crafting these films, we do want to follow up a moment of fear with comedy, we want to make you laugh till we suddenly shock you with a moment of horror. You least expect a horror to come or a joke to land and that is what people enjoy the most,” says Sarpotdar.
The 1990s decade saw a dip in the quality and success of horror films and a decade later, Vikram Bhatt's Raaz (2002) and Varma's Bhoot (2003), both path-breaking films revitalized the genre, proving to be major box office successes and bringing back a mainstream audience. Many feel that Varma never let his audiences down with this genre, his 1992-release Raat is still considered one of the best horror films made in Bollywood. Varma has also decided to cash in on the current craze for this genre. He has teamed up with his protégé Manoj Bajpayee for Police Station Mein Bhoot, a situational horror comedy that is currently on floors. The makers unveiled a chilling motion poster, showing Bajpayee in a cop’s avatar holding a haunted doll, setting the eerie yet quirky tone of the film.
Veteran director Priyadarshan has blended suspense with humour in his upcoming Bhoot Bangla that marks the much-awaited reunion of the action and comedy star Akshay Kumar and the director after 14 years. Priyadarshan's 2007 film, the original Bhool Bhulaiyaa is considered a pioneer in Hindi cinema for its successful blend of psychological thriller, horror, and comedy, a genre combination that led to its cult status and set a precedent for the franchise and other horror-comedies. Priyadarshan’s philosophy is to release tension with small jokes during tense moments, making them more effective than straight comedies.
“Now we felt the Universe also needed a love story. Also, kids are most excited to see vampires, Thamma is a young, teenage friendly genre,” says Sarpotdar. “When catering to mass audiences the focus is on humour predominantly because I have realized that for any film to do well at the box office in India you need families to come to watch in big numbers. We did rounds of several theatres when Munjya released and found children as the primary audience. They pulled their parents making it a weekend family outing,” adds Sarpotdar.
In the past, the horror genre was frequently seen as a venue for lower-grade actors and actresses with a few exceptions. The trend, however, is changing. A-listers, including Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Shraddha Kapoor, Kajol, Kartik Aryan, Tabu, Rashmika Mandana, Madhuri Dixit and Kiara Advani among others headline the cast in many of the recent and upcoming horror releases. “Horror always gets attention if lead commercial actors are part of it, otherwise, it is seen as a very small budget Indie or parallel cinema,” says Sarpotdar. Shraddha Kapoor’s Stree significantly boosted her career, marking a major commercial success and acclaim for her role in the film, leading to further opportunities in the popular franchise.
Bollywood's black and white horror era includes the seminal 1949 classic Mahal, considered the first true horror film, followed by successes like Bees Saal Baad [1962] and Kohraa [1964]. Some of the other notable films from the period, often inspired by gothic literature or playing with psychological suspense, include Gumnaam [1965], Bhoot Bungla [1965] and Woh Kaun Thi. After that the Ramsay brothers dominated the Hindi horror industry to an extent that Indian horror films were identified through Ramsay films. Considering the low production costs of the films, the money was recovered easily, along with substantial profits. Other aspiring horror filmmakers soon jumped on the Ramsay bandwagon and started producing similar films.
“At that time none of the big stars would be interested because the budgets were small, they were keener on action films or Yash Chopra’s romantic films which came with a big package,” says Deepak Ramsay, the direct descendant of the Ramsay Brothers film family, who carries on the legacy by working in the Indian horror film industry, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle. “Another problem was that horror films would get an Adult certificate, so almost 50 percent of the audience would get cut off and children were not allowed,” he adds.
Hence, horror films those days were made on tight budgets with newer star cast and with elements of sleaze in it. “Actually, we have not given justice to the horror genre in the Indian cinema industry. We never attempted or we always looked at horror as a pulpy and not the mainstream. Breakthrough horror films in the West have been happening over a long period of time from the Omen to Exorcist. They have been set up as mainstream horror films for big distribution and large-scale execution of production,” says Sarpotdar.
“But our films had a fair amount of success,” insists Ramsay. “Films like Purana Mandir and Veerana did more business than even Amitabh Bachchan’s films,” he says. “We would make movies in budgets of 20-25 lakh, now the budget is close to 75 crores. Prosthetics and VFX have gone to the next level, big stars are excited to be part of it, there are new stories, fresh talent and all of this is leading to resurgence,” adds Ramsay.
Ramsays made movies for over two decades and gradually branched out into television with Zee Horror Show in the early 90’s. “We were churning out one or two films in a year or two years but with Zee Horror Show pace picked up with one film in a month,” says Ramsay, who, going forward, plans to make a big scale horror film with big stars in the lead. “Rajkummar and Shraddha, Varun Dhawan in Bhediya …big actors attract bigger audiences to theatres. Along with that atmosphere, sound, visuals ...these films that were once niche are getting a big audience, there is correlation, if you have a big market for a film, budget automatically increases,” adds Sarpotdar.
“I would love to see Shah Rukh Khan attempt horror, if these films are fun and entertaining,” says the Thamma director.
Well, why not?
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