Horror films were few by 2000, except RGV and few makers hence RAAZ clicked in 2002. The film in true bhatt tradition had hit music, a new couple(real life pair that time) and a horror story. Of course it's a remake of Hollywood What Lies Beneath? After the success of GHULAM, KASOOR Vikram Bhatt gave another hit RAAZ. The film gathered tremendous buzz due to it's hot promos which was rare those days in films. RAAZ starts off straightaway unlike those days films and comes to the point, No dancing around trees. The first half slowly and gradually involves you though you have the typical Bollywood horror like chandeliers dropping blood, windows opening and banging.etc The romance between Dino and Bips is limited to flashbacks and 2 songs in this half and the focus is on scaring the audiences which the film did succeed. The film sort of created a new trend of bringing back horror to Hindi films. The interval point does shock you and the second half besides a few hiccups manages to succeed too. The entire scene where Bips is attacked by the ghost in the forest and also Ashutosh and Shruti getting attacked is superb, Another is the flashback which startles you The climax however disappoints, though well executed and scary but suddenly the ghost turning dormant and falling unconscious looks odd Direction by Vikram Bhatt is superb Music by Nadeem Shravan was a big hit, Jo Bhi Kasmein, Aapke Pyaar mein(sung brilliantly by Alka) Tum Agar and Kitna Pyaara all stand out Yahaan pe sab shanti hai is superb too
Amongst actors Dino Morea after his abmysal debut in Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi(1999) where he was credited as Siddharth,is better here but still needs to work on his expressions and body lang. His voice(as usual) was dubbed by Vikram Bhatt Bipasha Basu after her debut in AJNABEE got her first heroine role and she does wonders though one wishes she toned down in several scenes. her dubbing is horrible by someone else. Bips didn't dub for herself till 2004 Amongst rest Shruti Ulfat is good, Vishwajeet Pradhan is unintentionally hilarious Ashutosh Rana excels in his role, Anang Desai is adequate Ali Asgar and Mink are okay in their cameos. Malini Sharma does a good job surprising she never worked again in films. Pratima Kazmi is okay
Amongst actors Dino Morea after his abmysal debut in Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi(1999) where he was credited as Siddharth,is better here but still needs to work on his expressions and body lang. His voice(as usual) was dubbed by Vikram Bhatt Bipasha Basu after her debut in AJNABEE got her first heroine role and she does wonders though one wishes she toned down in several scenes. her dubbing is horrible by someone else. Bips didn't dub for herself till 2004 Amongst rest Shruti Ulfat is good, Vishwajeet Pradhan is unintentionally hilarious Ashutosh Rana excels in his role, Anang Desai is adequate Ali Asgar and Mink are okay in their cameos. Malini Sharma does a good job surprising she never worked again in films. Pratima Kazmi is okay