ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

khayaal_e_yaar 'Raat' was released in the early 90s, precisely in 1992. The early 90s were the time when the substance of horror was nowhere to be found in the horror films. Unlike Ramsay films, 'Raat' wasn't a B- movie. Yes, it had low budget, yet the actors like Rohini Hattangadi, Revathi, Aakash Khurana, Anant Nag and Om Puri save it from being a B-movie. I watched it in 1992 when it was released in several cinema halls. Thanks we didn't have multiplexes then, else the collections would have been less. 'Raat' is all about a decent setup, tricky camera work and horror. Fortunately, this is far better than any other horror movie released in the late 80s and early 90s. People would say that Ram Gopal Varma got into horror soon after 'Bhoot - 2003,' but the truth is that his love for horror is well reflected in his early creation like 'Raat' that haunts me even after 22 straight years. 'Raat' is about belief vs disbelief and known vs the unknown. Let's have a look at the plot.Mr. Sharma (Aakash Khurana) has just shifted to a new house located in a posh suburban area of Hyderabad. He lives along with his wife Shalini (Rohini Hattangadi), daughter Manisha aka Minnie (Revathy) who is in her late teens and grandson Bunty (Atit), who is the son of his deceased daughter and elder sister of Minnie. The house is elegant and the Sharmas are happy with it. Minnie is happier than everyone else because the house next to hers belongs to her fast friend Rashmi (Jaya Mathur). Minnie lives a carefree life and loves spending quality time with her college mates like Deepak (Sushant) and Rashmi. Minnie is having a silent affair with Deepak and both of them want to keep their profile low. Ever since the Sharmas shifted to this new house, Minnie is having nightmares, where she finds herself being chased by some unknown entity that ultimately gets her. Scoffing at her own silliness, Minnie dejects the idea that something might be fishy. She even suffers from episodes of delusion where she finds herself all alone even when surrounded with her friends in actuality. Rashmi's grandmother, who had been living in the very next house is surprised how the Sharmas decided to move into this house because she thinks (or knows?) that the house had a bad past and is home to an evil spirit. Minnie's delusions take a bad turn one day, when she decides to go to a nearby picnic spot with Deepak on his birthday. During their trip Deepak gets an idea that something is abnormal with Minnie as during a fit of delusion, the color of her eyes change and she behaves as if her senses are being ruled by some unknown entity. The episodes come and go in a jiffy but gradually intensify. Minnie even kills Rashmi in a fit of delusion and the investigating officer Tej Sapru is mysteriously trampled under a truck. Rashmi's death mystery remains unsolved. Shalini begins to smell a rat too but Mr. Sharma doesn't believe her. One night, Minnie attacks her father thus giving him a reason to believe that something strange is lurking in the vicinity. Mr. Sharma considers it to be a psychological problem and brings home a shrink (Anant Nag) but Shalini is advised by Rashmi's grandmother to seek the help of Sharji (Om Puri), a renowned exorcist. Sharji's findings reveal that an evil spirit (Sunanda) is living below the house and needs to be warded off to save Minnie's life. How Sharji, Deepak and Shalini work together to save Minnie's life forms rest of the story.'Raat' reeks atmosphere and is intense at several places. Revathi is brilliant and truly convincing in her efforts. Deepak doesn't have much to do, but his role is still an important ingredient of this flick. Even after 22 years, I would like to thank Ram Gopal Varma for his ingenious and flawless direction. One shouldn't forget Bunty as well, because he literally owns some of the most memorable scenes, especially the ones related to his dear cat. Aakash Khurana's effortless acting is smooth and natural as always and Om Puri shines in his brief role of Sharji. I don't consider 'Raat' as a family entertainment, because it's not made from entertainment perspective but still remains a horror drama that is rude and truly chilling. As Sharji says, ' When we light a lamp, a certain area around it is lit. This illumination is just a deception, because the areas where light doesn't reach are still dark and hold so many secrets that can only be understood in the light of paranormal wisdom. We need to be prepared to fight this darkness, else it will consume us.' I guess this statement details everything about 'Raat' and the thought that might have provoked Ram Gopal Varma to produce and direct it.

Amit Bhagat This is one of the best horror movies and the milestone of Indian Cinema. Ram Gopal Verma is really a genius. Wonderful cast with wonderful acting. Om Puri is a well reputed theater artist of Indian Cinema. RAAT is the story of a family that moves into a haunted house, and the eventual possession of their daughter Minnie.At the releasing time of RAAT people were fed up with Ramsay brothers types movies which contains several sex scenes, some dirty faces and some Haunted Hawelis but this movie gave audience new experience. You will not see any high class special effects in this movie but the sound effect and acting are out of the world. Hats off to Ramu. I will give 10/10 to this. A must watch.

srivarey-1 This movie is one more of self stylized yet copy cat movies of RGV. Death of a pet, TV's mysterious off/on all directly lifted from poltergeist. Highly pretentious background score and photography. RGV is good at introducing popular western themes to the Indian audience but awfully lacks originality. If you want see some original work of RGV go and rent Siva, Kshana Kshanam (Telugu), Satya and Anaganaga Oka Roju (Telugu). He is to be blamed for all the "run of the mill" crap produced from his so called factory. He is the one who commercialized the art of cinema but ironically many people think he is the man of artistic integrity and creativity.

Brandt Sponseller Minnie Sharma (Revathi) and her family have just moved to a new town. Her sister and sister's husband died in a car accident, and she's left taking care of their young child, "Bunty" (Master Atit), in conjunction with her parents and their "manservant", Narayan (Chinna). As Raat opens, Minnie is having nightmares about being isolated as some strange, mysterious force chases her. Eventually these nightmares cross over into daydreams/hallucinations. When she goes out on a date with Deepak (Kushant), she ends up in the woods by herself, and her nightmares threaten to become real.Raat is a quality Indian Psychological Horror/Thriller, marred by some looseness in the plot. Die-hard horror fans may also be occasionally distracted by pegging where the film is derivative of popular western horror films. The performances are fine, with Revathi standing out in particular, and the technical aspects are good, even though the version I watched--the Eros International DVD version for the UK and the United States (and other English-speaking areas)--was made from a very questionable print of the film. The image is frequently dirty and scratched, the soundtrack is slightly out of sync with the video, the subtitle timing is often off, and there is a lot of artifacting on the DVD transfer, which also wasn't properly divided into chapters. Of course for these technical issues, I do not subtract any points, as I'm rating the content of the film imagining an ideal print. It was a shame that the transfer couldn't have been better, as Teja's cinematography seems like it would otherwise be very attractive.I enjoyed Raat the most in its opening scenes. Writer/director Ram Gopal Varma begins right in the middle of a horror sequence that could very well be the climax. Minnie steps off of a bus by herself and is soon running from some unseen force through a somewhat rundown looking neighborhood, which is eerily void of other humans. I would guess that the creepiness of such "ghost town" isolation might hit native Indians even harder, as it's probably unusual to find such a deserted town, and especially unusual for someone to exit a bus without being met by family or friends. The scene goes on long enough that it's a surprise when she finally wakes up. The first section of the film is primarily focused on these bizarre lapses into an alternate, desolate reality. To an extent, I later wished that Varma had kept the whole film in this same mode, as it was done so excellently--it was on firm "10 out of 10" ground throughout the first section. But the subsequent material was entertaining enough, even if the meandering and eventual slight lack of logic for the menace caused me to lower my score a bit.Varma wears his horror influences on his sleeve throughout Raat. The beginning has some strong resemblances to the first two Evil Dead films (1981 and 1987)--this is especially noticeable in the interesting hand-held cinematography representing the evil force. Shortly after, Raat takes a turn towards an Amityville Horror (1979)-styled haunted house flick, complete with the sound of masses of flies (and this occurs periodically throughout the film). Later, there are elements of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), the Exorcist (1973), and even Friday the 13th (1980)--I suppose we could say that if you're going to "steal", steal from the best. If you dislike strong influences and you know those precursor films, this might be a cue to avoid Raat. I don't mind influence; Varma weaves his disparate sources together adeptly.The music, by Mani Sharma (an obvious influence on the main character's name in the film), can be a bit uneven. At times it is almost comically over-exaggerated, with very prominent "cheesy" late 1970s/1980s synthesizer tonalities. At other times, it's almost sublime, perfectly atmospheric. I was especially fond of the way Sharma and Varma incorporated traditional Indian wedding music during a crucial, "big turning point" scene. Other than that, there is not a lot of traditional music in the film, and there are no musical song/dance numbers--a characteristic that has become somewhat common in Indian horror, even if it is very unusual otherwise.Horror fans should not expect to see a lot of gore or special effects. When such effects do occur, they come off a bit cheesy. So it's better that Varma tends to stick with subtlety, suggestion and reaction to experienced/observed horrors. He easily handles this more understated style.Finally, even though Raat eventually ends up in more off-the-wall supernatural territory, much of the film can be taken as a metaphor for schizophrenia--in fact, Varma goes to some lengths to show us a literal parallel while engaging in the metaphor at the same time. Minnie's early "hallucinations" and her later "possessions" tend to be accompanied by catatonia. She has olfactory hallucinations as well. She loses track of Bunty and lets him remain in unusual isolation when she's supposed to be watching him. She becomes anti-social and violent, and so on. Even the more supernatural material works well for this interpretation, as mental disorders such as schizophrenia were misdiagnosed as "possession by demons" and similar claims throughout history. I wouldn't say that Varma intended the whole film as only a metaphor for schizophrenia, but that's obviously one of his intentions, along with simply telling a good horror/thriller yarn.