Of possessed havelis and a woman in white
It's an iconic image, a woman in white walking surreptitiously with a candle in her hand and song on her lips. An eerie smile, a longing sigh, to think she's almost harmless to look at. That's before her 'bhoot' status is revealed to you. Nine times out of ten, the spook was usually a scam, a camouflage to conceal crime but while the charade lasted, the scares had a lasting impact.
And so you have a lingering image of Madhubala in Mahal enigmatically lip-syncing to 'Aayega aanewala' or a hilarious ballet of skeleton suits to frighten the living daylights out of Mehmood and R D Burman (in a cameo) in Bhoot Bangla.
As for the draped to perfection visions-in-white, from Sadhana in Woh Kaun Thi to Dimple Kapadia in Lekin, this poetic presentation of horror continues to thrill and chill at once.
Also Read: The very best of Hindi horror
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