INTRODUCTION:
The film began shooting on February 18, 2007 for a 41-day schedule at Jaipur, India and was released on October 12, 2007.
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 Ameesha Patel.[2] Vidya Balan had to take Kathak lessons for this film. Incidentally, Vineeth played the same role in the Rajnikanth-starrer Chandramukhi in 2005 which was the Tamil remake of Manichithrathazhu.
PLOT:
After the passing away of her parents, Radha gets adopted by Badrinarayan Chaturvedi. Her childhood was spent with Badrinarayan’s nephew, Siddharth, and the family planned to get them married after they mature. When Siddharth grew up, he re-located to America. When the time came for him to return, Badrinarayan started to make preparations for the wedding, but ended up being surprised when Siddharth is accompanied by his wife, Avni. Due to his ancestry, Siddharth undergoes a formal coronation ceremony and moves into a huge manor. Avni starts exploring the manor and finds out that there is an entire floor that is under lock and key. She gets a key and enters the forbidden floor and unleashes a vengeful entity and a series of incidents. The family suspect Radha to be the perpetrator, prompting Siddharth to summon his seemingly bumbling Pyschiatric pal, Dr. Aditya Shrivastav, to shed some light into this seemingly occult mystery that will soon endanger everyone’s lives.
CAST:
Akshay Kumar as Dr. Aditya Shrivastav
Vidya Balan as Avni Siddharth Chaturvedi/Manjulika
Ameesha 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)
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 horror and 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.
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