Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez and Yami Gautam starrer Bhoot Police has just released on Disney+Hotstar. This Ramesh Taurani and Akshai Puri produced film was designed for theatrical release but then COVID played truant. As a result, it has premiered straight on the OTT and is seeing some good laughs and scares from the audiences. That said, as a genre, horror comedy hasn’t seen many releases in the last 10-20 years. However, majority of those which have released have done decent to very good business.
Let’s take a look at these.
Golmaal Again – 205.70 crores
The biggest film that brought a dose of horror to comedy stays on to be Golmaal Again. In true terms though, the Rohit Shetty film was much higher on the comedy quotient and though there were a few scares, the man behind many a family entertainer ensured that quintessential horror element was kept to the minimum. The Diwali release entered the 200 Crore Club.
Stree – 130 crores
This one was the perfect blend of horror and comedy as producer Dinesh Vijan brought in this unique blend in just the right proportions. Stree was a dark horse that picked on the kind of momentum that made it run for weeks in succession to go far ahead of the century mark. No wonder, the producer is now putting together his own horror universe with Roohi releasing as well.
Laxmmi – Record opener at Disney + Hotstar
While Akshay Kumar worked as a ghost-buster in Bhool Bhulaiyaa, he saw tables turn in Laxmmi where he turned out to the man possessed by the ghost of a transgender. This one had the right mix of horror and comedy quotient, and in fact the former element worked far stronger. On its release, the film was officially announced by Disney+Hotstar as their biggest opener ever.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa – 50 crores
The kind of fun that Bhool Bhulaiyaa brought in remains unparallel and one now waits to see how do Anees Bazmee and Kartik Aaryan up the fun quotient with the sequel. As for the Akshay Kumar starrer with Priyadarshan, it was loads of fun despite being a remake of the Malayalam original. Akshay took care of comedy while Vidya Balan ensured that there was ample horror.
Go Goa Gone – 25.16 crores
The only zombie film coming out of Bollywood that actually managed to get a mainstream theatrical release and found decent success coming its way, Go Goa Gone was a quintessential horror comedy with an urban ‘tadka’ to it. Saif Ali Khan truly rocked the show in this Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Puja Gupta and Anand Tiwari starrer which is set for a sequel soon by Raj & DK.
Bhoothnath – 24 crores
Though the title of Bhoothnath gives a clear indication of a ‘ghost’ at the centre of affairs, the film catered primarily to the family audiences and hence the horror quotient was kept to the minimal. Amitabh Bachchan was more of a friendly ghost here as a result of which he was loveable, albeit grumpy, and brought in a good mix of drama and emotions also into the play.
Bhoothnath Returns – 40 crores
The ‘spirit’ of Bhoothnath, pun intended, was repeated in the sequel as well when Amitabh Bachchan returned as the friendly ghost in Bhoothnath Returns. This too was a kids friendly affair where the character of Bhoothnath took it upon himself to rescue the little ones from the evil. The film did well commercially though one wonders why there hasn’t been the third part yet.
Roohi – 26 crores
The only Hindi film during the pandemic to have made some decent money and emerge profitable even from theatrical business perspective, Dinesh Vijan produced Roohi arrived earlier this year when the first wave was through. However, soon after its release, the second wave kick-started and that thwarted its further progress. Otherwise, this Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Sharma starrer could well have gone past the 50 crores mark.
Great Grand Masti – 14 crores
After the success of Masti and then the grand success of Grand Masti, the makers became ambitious and brought in horror elements into Great Grand Masti. However, this was the time when censor board became stricter than ever before, hence resulting in the major portions of the naughty content getting chopped off. Worse, the film also got leaked online before release.
Kaun – 4 crores
This one was a dark horror comedy that not just brought in the thrills and the chills but also an occasional chuckle or two. Though not promoted as a comedy per se, Ram Gopal Varma was in complete form for this Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpayee and Sushant Singh starrer where every small incident was narrated in a manner that it brought in some good nervous laughter.