Raaz – The Mystery Continues

About the film

Raaz: The Mystery Continues, shortened as RTMC or Raaz 2, (English: Secret: The Mystery Continues) is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language supernatural horror film directed by Mohit Suri. The film stars Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Adhyayan Suman, and Jackie Shroff. It is the second installment in the Raaz series, but is considered a standalone sequel to the 2002 film Raaz. The film deals with issues of the ghosts which are allegedly prevalent in India and the world around us. An artist named Prithvi has the ability to paint the future. His paintings tell Nandita's future.

The film was released on 23 January 2009. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, with praise towards the performances and music, but criticism for its pacing. Made on a budget of ₹18 crore (equivalent to ₹45 crore or US$4.7 million in 2023), the film earned ₹38.09 crore (equivalent to ₹96 crore or US$10 million in 2023) worldwide and emerged as a commercial success. A third installment was released in 2013 with Emraan Hashmi in the lead. It was first in a series of quasi-sequels released under the Bhatt Banner including Murder 2, Jannat 2, Jism 2, Raaz 3D and 1920: Evil Returns, each of which had nothing to do with their respective prequels, but somehow fell in the same genre following a similar story.

Plot

At night, an American named David Cooper visits the Kalindi Temple. He sees the priest of the temple in a horrific state – his body is slit with a scythe and 'Om' is written on his body. Horrified, David flees. The story shifts to model Nandita, who is in love with Yash, the director and host of a reality show "Andhvishwas," dealing with superstitions of ghosts. Yash and Nandita start living together and Nandita gets pregnant.

One evening, Nandita encounters Prithvi, an aspiring artist. Prithvi had made a sketch months earlier of a girl who is actually Nandita. He shows her a painting where she is lying with her wrist slit, and warns her of danger. Nandita accidentally slits her wrist after a ghostly attack in the bathroom and Prithvi saves her. Yash learns of her pregnancy and miscarriage at the hospital. He gets Prithvi arrested, though he is later released.

Meanwhile, David, the owner of a chemical plant, hangs himself after writing in Hindi the words "You are impure, you are rotten from inside" with his blood. Prithvi sees Nandita becoming possessed at her fashion show and attacking a spiritual guru. She says the same lines that David wrote. Yash has Nandita publicly apologise and declares that she has mental health problems.

Production

Screenwriter Shagufta Rafiq stated in an interview that the story is based on Sant Kabir's idiom, "Bura jo dekhan main chala, Bura na milya koi; Jo dil khoja apna, Ta mujh sa bura na koi", which means that the evil is within oneself and that is the message of the film. Vikram Bhatt (who was the original Raaz director) was replaced by Mohit Suri. Suri had reportedly added more dramatic space to the film and played around with visuals and sounds which led to an extraordinary pace. Suri was inspired after reading Hindu mythology, where good and evil are represented in stark contrast.

Multiple scenes in the film are borrowed from other horror films; the bathtub horror scenes and the well in the end are similar to The Ring, the scene where a man is found inside the hidden roof floor of a house is similar to The Grudge, the future prediction, plot, the road accident with the wild bulls and various other sequences were taken from films such as Final Destination, Mirrors and the TV series Heroes. Reportedly, the main secret revealed in the climax was inspired from the 2000 American film Erin Brockovich where the female lead also investigates the water of an area getting contaminated due to a nearby Energy and Gas plant.

Kangana Ranaut replaced Bipasha Basu as the female lead, playing Nandita, a supermodel. Amrita Rao was offered the role, but declined. To prepare for the role, Ranaut had to reportedly undergo many different looks and even changed her hair colour to red. Emraan Hashmi was cast as Prithvi, a painter with no contact to the outside world, replacing Dino Morea as the male lead. According to the actor, though comparisons are evident with Raaz (2002), this film has a different plot and will give a new definition to the horror genre. Dino Morea expressed his disappointment with the decision saying "I'm not disappointed but definitely baffled. How can they make a Raaz 2 without anyone from the original cast? How can it be a sequel, then?". Adhyayan Suman plays Yash, a documentary filmmaker who is perceived as an atheist and believes in scientific rationale behind everything. His beliefs are challenged in the film. He reportedly called this film his debut, despite debuting in the Haal-e-dil (2008). Sonal Chauhan was reportedly offered Kangana's role which she declined. Jackie Shroff was reported to be playing Kangana's father, which after the release was revealed to be Emraan's father.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics.

The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stars saying that,"Emraan Hashmi & Kangana Ranaut bring the Gangster magic again....they have done a good job whereas Adhyayan Suman shows promise." Bollywood Hungama gave a good review saying "On the whole, Raaz – The Mystery Continues is rich in the horror quotient and that is one of its major USPs, besides the highly competent performances by its principal cast and a lilting musical score. At the box-office, this one will continue the winning streak of Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt's Vishesh Films. The 4-day weekend [Monday, January 26 in a holiday] will only cement its status further. Go for it!". The lead actors were praised for their performance. In the review, "On the acting front, both Emraan and Kangana vie for top honours. Emraan is excellent. He conveys a lot through facial expressions and that's the sign of a proficient actor. He's just getting better and better with every film. Kangana is top notch. After Fashion, this one's another power-packed performance from the actress. Adhyayan Suman is super-confident and registers a strong impact, especially towards the climax. He shows promise. Jackie Shroff is quite okay in a brief role." NDTV gave a negative review saying "The first Raaz, which married the Hollywood film What Lies Beneath with the myth of Savitri who pursued Yamraj until her husband came back to life, had a cheesy appea…

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