The Rajkummar Rao-Janhvi Kapoor starrer, Roohi, belongs to the unique horror comedy genre, which has been tried a few times in Bollywood.
And more often than not, it has worked!
Joginder Tuteja looks at horror comedies gone by and how they have fared at the box office.
Golmaal Again
Box office collection: Rs 205.70 crore
The most successful film in this genre has been Rohit Shetty's Golmaal Agai.
Of course, the film -- starring Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor and Kunal Kemmu -- brought on more laughs than scares.
The Diwali release entered the Rs 200 crore club.
Stree
Box office collection: Rs 130 crore
A perfect blend of horror and comedy, Stree was a dark horse that picked up on its momentum and ran for weeks, going far ahead of the century mark.
No wonder, Producer Dinesh Vijan is now putting together his own horror universe with Roohi coming up next.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Box office collection: Rs 50 crore
The kind of fun Director Priyadarshan brought in Bhool Bhulaiyaa remains unparalleled, and one waits to see how Anees Bazmee and Kartik Aaryan will up the fun quotient in the sequel.
The Akshay Kumar-Vidya Balan starrer was fun despite being the remake of a Malayalam original.
Go Goa Gone
Box office collection: Rs 25.16 crore
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 rocked the show in his blonde avatar, along with Kunal Kemmu, Vir Das, Puja Gupta and Anand Tiwari.
A sequel is expected soon.
Bhoothnath
Box office collection: Rs 24 crore
Though the title Bhoothnath gives a clear indication of a 'ghost' at the centre of affairs, the film catered primarily to the family audiences and so, the horror quotient was kept to a minimal.
Amitabh Bachchan was more of a friendly ghost, loveable albeit grumpy.
The film brought in a good mix of drama and emotion.
Bhoothnath Returns
Box office collection: Rs 40 crore
The 'spirit' of Bhoothnath, pun intended, was repeated in the sequel when Amitabh Bachchan returned as the friendly ghost in Bhoothnath Returns.
This was also a child-friendly affair where the character of Bhoothnath took it upon himself to rescue little ones from evil.
The film did well commercially and one wonders why there hasn't been a third part yet.
Laxmmi
Box office collection: Record opener at Disney + Hotstar
While Akshay Kumar worked as a ghostbuster in Bhool Bhulaiyaa, he saw tables turn in Laxmmi where he played a man possessed by the ghost of a transgender.
This one had the right mix of horror and comedy.
On its release, Disney+Hotstar announced that it was their biggest opener ever.
Great Grand Masti
Box office collection: Rs 14 crore
After the success of Masti and then Grand Masti, the makers became ambitious and brought in horror elements into Great Grand Masti.
However, this was the time when the Censor Board had been stricter than ever before, resulting in the major portions of the naughty content getting chopped off.
Worse, the film also got leaked online just before its release.
Nanu Ki Jaanu
Box office collection: Rs 4 crore
Nanu Ki Jaanu could have been a far more entertaining film if its idea could have been explored more.
Abhay Deol and Patralekha came together in this film where the latter played a ghost.
Ironically, the best laughs came from Manu Rishi Chaddha, who was in very good form right through.
