Amusingly, Bhoot (meaning, simply, "ghost") begins with a caption informing the audience that pregnant women and those with weak hearts are best to avoid this film. While it might not be as scary as all that, it does work up a neat atmosphere of dread and contains at least a couple of decent jumps, coming across like an Indian version of a Japanese or Hong Kong horror with its unquiet sprits. Unlike most Bollywood movies, there were no songs, a brave move and one that paid off in its home country where it was a respectable hit.
It's not a real shock to find out that the dead woman, Manjeet (Barkha Madan) is haunting the place, but the manner in which she manifests herself gives rise to some nicely weird scenes. Sure, you might have her hoving into frame at unexpected moments, or using the old "you can see her in the mirror but not when you turn around" trick, but there are also more original twists, such as when the couple go to see Spider-Man and Swati suddenly notices everyone in the cinema is craning their necks to stare at her, leading to a Night of the Living Dead-style menace when they advance on her causing the panicking woman to flee.
A welcome development is that while Vishal is presented as a strict, no-nonsense kind of guy in his personal and professional life, he doesn't start ordering Swati to pull herself together once she falls under Manjeet's spell and remains sympathetic towards her in her breakdown, doing his best to rationalise and find someone who will help her. However, when the watchman turns up dead with his head on backwards after a sleepwalking session by Swati, it's clear something has to be done, especially as detective Qureshi (Nana Patekar) is hanging about looking for clues. Bhoot resolves itself as a variation on The Exorcist after while, but with added murder mystery element for spice, and while it may not be as strong stuff as the horror hits of other countries, its lack of pretentiousness wins you over. Music by Salim Merchant and Suleman Merchant.
