Raaz (2002 film)

The film starts with a group of college students enjoying a picnic in a beautiful forest in Ooty. One of the girls, Nisha (Mink Brar) in that group, dies under paranormal circumstances. She had attacked her boyfriend like a monster for some reason, who, though injured, managed to live on. She was rushed to the hospital, where just before dying, her facial look and voice changed completely for a short while, thus confusing all the doctors. Professor Agni Swaroop (Ashutosh Rana), who is supposedly an expert in phenomena involving the unexplained and the supernatural is called by the police to look into the matter. Prof. Swaroop and the police visit the forest at the same place where Nisha was attacked and after investigating from Nisha's boyfriend, Prof. Swaroop declares that she was attacked by a spirit. He further reveals that this spirit has awakened for some purpose and it will not stop until that purpose is fulfilled.

The story then turns to Sanjana Dhanraj (Bipasha Basu) and Aditya Dhanraj (Dino Morea) in Mumbai in a business party, where Aditya seems too busy to pay heed to the fact that his wife is longing to talk to him. She snatches the car keys from Aditya's pocket and leaves the party to return home. On her frantic drive home, she hears a voice in her head and loses control of the car. However, miraculously, she escapes the accident unscathed. After her recovery, Sanjana asks her husband for a divorce; Aditya, however, realises his fault and suggests a vacation to work out their problems. He offers Sanjana a trip to any corner of the world for some days and Sanjana chooses to return to Ooty (where their relationship first began) to save their failing marriage. In Ooty, they stay in the same bungalow behind which Nisha was attacked. Initially, the couple enjoys their stay at the cottage but soon Sanjana starts experiencing mysterious things, such as hearing a woman screaming in the forest behind the cottage and inexplicable falling of objects. She later learns that their servant Robert, also used to hear strange voices from the forest and he suddenly disappeared one day. On the other hand Aditya and Sanjana reunite with the help of their friends.

She shares her problems with one of her friends Priya Shruti Ulfat who advises Sanjana to visit Professor Swaroop. Prof. Swaroop arrives at the cottage and after a short investigation announces the presence of a spirit in the house. He also tells Sanjana about the earlier incident involving the girl who was attacked and killed by an evil spirit in those very woods. He then revisits the same spot in the forest where Nisha was attacked, this time accompanied by Priya and Sanjana. Sanjana goes alone to talk to that spirit, where after some time, she discovers a revolver. All three of them go to an arms store to learn more and are told by the shopkeeper that the revolver was licensed to a retired colonel named Col. Arjun Malik. They visit the colonel's house, suspecting him to be a murderer of the girl but soon learn from the colonel that the spirit is actually his own daughter, Malini (Malini Sharma), who was mentally ill and had managed to escape from the mental asylum several times and one day she disappeared suddenly. The colonel tells them that from that day his revolver had also disappeared.

Using a method suggested by Prof. Swaroop, Sanjana summons the spirit, believing that the spirit wants to tell her something. The spirit When Sanjana confronts Aditya, he admits that he had stayed at the same cottage where Sanjana and Aditya are currently staying. They eventually learn that Malini and Aditya had an extramarital affair and that Aditya rebuked Malini's demands that he leave his wife, claiming that he had forgotten Sanjana . An enraged Malini commits suicide in front of Aditya inside of his home in order to frame him for murder. Aditya, with the help of Robert, buried the body in the forest behind the cottage.

Sanjana breaks up with Aditya and leaves him. Prof. Swaroop tells Sanjana that all this was an attempt by Malini's spirit to separate Sanjana and Aditya to take him with her into the afterlife. He believes that the spirit's next step would be to kill Aditya and that they should rush to Aditya before Malini attacks him.

Sanjana goes to Aditya and tells him that she is doing this just to save him and that they should leave for Mumbai in their car immediately. After they leave, It was revealed that Sanjana was Malini's spirit in disguise.Soon the real Sanjana, Priya, and Prof. Swaroop arrive at the cottage where the bewildered maid tells them that Aditya just left with her. Prof. Swaroop realises the truth and they rush after the car.

Malini's spirit meanwhile causes the car in which Aditya is travelling to fall off a cliff. Aditya is hospitalized. To prevent the spirit from succeeding in her plans, Sanjana, Priya and Prof. Swaroop go into the forest to locate the girl's body to burn it. Prof. Swaroop uses the lemon tied to a small thread for locating the dead body, believing that it will turn red after reaching the exact spot where dead body is supposed to be. As he is getting the petrol from the car, Malini's spirit kills him. After some time Malini's spirit in Prof. Swaroop's body arrives at the spot and gives the can full of petrol to Sanjana and attacks the two girls with a hoe but they somehow manage to escape the attack. While pursued by the ghost, Sanjana finds the dead body of their old servant Robert hung on a tree. Sanjana with a can full of petrol runs towards the dead body while ghost pursues her and finally, she succeeds in burning down the body. In the end, Sanjana and Aditya are reunited.

• Bipasha Basu as Sanjana Dhanraj
• Dino Morea as Aditya Dhanraj
• Malini Sharma as Malini (evil spirit)
• Ashutosh Rana as Professor Agni swaroop
• Mink Brar as Nisha (guest appearance)
• Vishwajeet Pradhan as Ajay (special appearance)
• Ali Asgar as Rohit ,Nisha's boyfriend
• Masood Akhtar as Robert
• Pratima Kazmi as Robert's wife (guest appearance)
• Shruti Ulfat as Priya
• Anang Desai as Mr. Dhanraj (special appearance)
• Murli Sharma as Police Inspector (Special appearance)

Raaz released on 1 February 2002 and grossed ₹370 million (equivalent to ₹1.1 billion or US$16 million in 2019) and was declared a super-hit at the box-office.[1]

Webindia123.com said that Raaz is "something different from the current trend...Raaz is a psycho-thriller worth a look". The film was praised because of its unique story.[3]

The music of Raaz was composed by the duo Nadeem-Shravan, while the lyrics were penned by Sameer. The album was a chartbuster of 2002 with its songs gaining popularity. Tracks like "Aapke Pyaar Mein", "Jo Bhi Kasmein Khayi Thi", "Yahaan Pe Sab Shanti Shanti Hai" and "Main Agar Saamne" became a rage soon after the release and were observed being played in almost all wedding and celebrations. The songs got international acclaim and were even appreciated by Paul McCartney of The Beatles.[4]

• Raaz at IMDb
• Planet Bollywood Review