Bollywood's tryst with horror

Starring singer Udit Narayan's son Aditya Narayan, horror flick Shaapit releases today. Here's a look at some of the scariest horror films Bollywood has produced thus far.

Shaapit directed by Vikram Bhatt is an adventurous horror love story.

Produced by the famous Bombay Talkies studio, Mahal was a groundbreaking supernatural suspense thriller and one of the earliest known films dealing with reincarnation. It starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala.

Madhumati starring legendary Dilip Kumar and Vyjyanthimala also dealt with reincarnation and was a huge hit.

Woh Kaun Thi starring Sadhna and Manoj Kumar was also a very hit horror flick.

Bees Saal Baad produced by Hemant Kumar was a horror movie starring Biswajeet and Waheeda Rehman. The film was a blockbuster.

BR Chopra production's movie Dhund was a thriller starring Sanjay Khan and Zeenat Aman

The Ramsays have occupied an important position in the B-grade horror genre. One of their most popular horror films is Bandh Darwaza (1990).

Another popular B-grade horror films also by the Ramsays is Purana Mandir (1984).

Raat was an attempt at reviving the horror genre as well as rescuing it from becoming an all-out farce, thanks to the Ramsays. Produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma, the movie was liked by many.

The 2002 flick Raaz which featured Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea was a horror thriller. An unofficial Bollywood adaptation of What Lies Beneath, Raaz was one of the top grossing films of 2002, with Bipasha being nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award.

The 2003 flick Bhoot was a gritty supernatural thriller by Ram Gopal Verma. Loosely inspired by the Hollywood flick The Exorcist, Urmila Mantodkar starrer Bhoot again dealt with the supernatural theme, with the only difference being that unlike most Bollywood films, this one didn't contain any songs.

A Ram Gopal Verma production, Darna Mana Hai scared the daylights out of the viewers with the way it mixed six different stories into a single plot.

After producing Darna Mana Hai, Ramu came out with Darna Zaroori Hai which again worked on the six stories formula.

Soham Shah directed the spooky multi-starrer Kaal made under the Dharma Productions banner flopped at the box office.

Darling directed by Ramu again had Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol playing the lead. The movie dealt with infidelity.

Ramu's Vaastu Shastra, was promoted as a film scarier than Bhoot and was marketed with a tagline, saying - Warning: The producers aren't responsible for the consequences after watching the movie.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa created a different genre for horror films - Comic-Horror. A remake of the 1993 Malayalam film, Manichitrathazhu, Akshay Kumar starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa proved to be a laughter riot all the way.

Dealing with superstition and black magic, Ram Gopal Varma's Phoonk turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office.

Naina starring Urmila Matondkar in the lead was an uncredited remake of the Hong Kong film The Eye. Its release caused controversy in India because its depiction of the protagonist seeing ghosts after receiving a corneal transplant was similar to existing fears in India surrounding corneal transplants. It was feared the film would discourage people from donating corneas or seeking corneal transplants.

Apart from its chartbusting soundtrack, Raaz - The Mystery Continues attempted to challenge one's beliefs about paranormal phenomenon and scared the hell out of the audiences with its spooky visuals.

Ram Gopal Varma's Agyaat was loosely based on 1987 Hollywood movie, Predator.

Vikram Bhatt made 1920 with relatively new faces as the lead pair - Rajneesh Duggal was the haunted man while Adah Sharma played his wife.

Debutant director K Vikram Kumar's 13B did manage to take the viewers on a scary romp and that too in a way that was different from the conventional treatment of horror in Bollywood.