'Bhoot Police', 'Phone Bhoot': A look at horror-comedy films with new-age spin

Besides other industries and the country's economy that has been hit badly, this year hasn't been great for the Hindi film industry too. With the theatres shutting down due to the coronavirus-induced pandemic for over six months and now, after unlock and theatres reopening not many turning up at cinema halls, the year's just gone by with few releases on the big screen. However, these grim times hasn't discouraged our filmmakers and writers from coming up with interesting scripts and getting back to shooting films, all geared up for a great next year. 

While we have seen low-budget, content-driven films do extremely well in the last couple of years, moving away from regular horror, Bollywood is lately warming up to the idea of serving scares with a spot of humour. The horror-comedy as a genre is suddenly in vogue among mainstream Hindi filmmakers.

The genre has existed in the Hindi film industry for ages -- the old classic 'Bhoot Bangla' and recent releases such as 'Bhul Bhulaiyaa', 'Bhootnath', 'Go Goa Gone' and 'Stree' come to mind when we think of horror films.

These films, however, were one-off cases. What is happening now is that Bollywood filmmakers have suddenly taken interest in the genre of horror-comedy in a way that it seems like the genre is here to stay. Importantly, the new crop of films serves the funny scares with a new-age spin and a message.

Here's a look at a few horror-comedy films that are all set to hit the silver screens/was released digitally this year. 

Bhoot Police

The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yami Gautam and Arjun Kapoor. The film, which sees the cast share screen space for the first time, is helmed by Pawan Kripalani, who is known for directing thrillers like "Phobia" and "Ragini MMS". Not much is known about the film, but it is being shot in various hill station locations such as Dalhousie and Dharamshala.

Phone Bhoot

Katrina Kaif, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ishaan Khatter come together in "Phone Bhoot". It is scheduled for a 2021 release. The film is produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar and directed by Gurmeet Singh. Details related to the film are still under wraps.

RoohiAfza

This movie too will see the fresh pairing of Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor. "RoohiAfza" also features Varun Sharma in a key role. The film, produced by Dinesh Vijan and Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and directed by debutant Hardik Mehta, also stars Varun Sharma. It is slated to release on March 20, 2020. This will be Rajkummar`s third collaboration with Dinesh Vijan after "Stree" and "Made in China".

Laxmii

The Akshay Kumar starrer "Laxmii" released earlier this month. The horror-comedy is a remake of the Tamil blockbuster "Muni 2: Kanchana". Raghava Lawrence, who had helmed the original, also helms the Bollywood remake co-starring Kiara Advani, Tusshar Kapoor, Sharad Kelkar, and Ashwini Kalsekar. The film has received overwhelming response among the masses.

(With inputs from IANS)