Bhool Bhulaiyaa (English: The Maze) is a 2007 Indian Bollywood psychological thriller. The film constitutes the Hindi language release and the official remake of the 1993 Malayalam film, Manichitrathazhu, which was already remade into several Indian regional films. The film features Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Amisha Patel and Shiney Ahuja in pivotal roles with Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav in supporting roles. The music of the film was composed by Pritam and authored by Sameer.
The film began shooting on February 18, 2007 for a 41-day schedule at Jaipur, India and was released on October 12, 2007.
Production
Casting
Originally Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif were the first female choices for this film but they turned down the offer due to the film’s irksome comedy style and were replaced by Vidya Balan and Amisha Patel.[2] Vidya Balan had to take Kathak lessons for this film. Incidentally, Vineeth played the exact same character in the Rajnikanth-starrer Chandramukhi in 2005 which is one of the respective remakes of Manichithrathazhu. Here, he reprised his role.
The original story of the film was written by Madhu Muttam. Though he claimed this film as a violation of copyright, the High Court of Kerala allowed the violation of copyright, in light of the production cost. The film came under a cloud of controversy after a Buddhist organisation objected to the title song in the movie as disrespectful to venerated icons.
Box office
The film opened to a 85-95% response, which was the second best opening of the year after Partner. It was well-liked by cinema-goers for its mild comedy and psychological suspense. It was director Priyadarshan’s 8th successive super-hit movie. Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan were particularly praised by critics for their roles as Dr. Aditya and Avni.
Cast
- Akshay Kumar as Dr. Aditya Shrivastav
- Vidya Balan as Avni Siddharth Chaturvedi/Manjulika
- Amisha Patel as Radha
- Shiney Ahuja as Siddharth Chaturvedi/Raja Vibhuti Narayan
- Paresh Rawal as Batukshankar Upadhyay
- Rajpal Yadav as Chhote Pandit (Natwar)
- Manoj Joshi as Badrinarayan Chaturvedi (Badri)
- Vineeth as Professor Sharad Pradhan/Shashidhar
- Asrani as Murari
- Tareena Patel as Nandini Upadhyay
- Rasika Joshi as Janaki Upadhyay
- Vikram Gokhale as Shri Yagyaprakashji Bharti
- Kaveri Jha as Girja Upadhyay (Uncredited)
