Khamoshiyan

Did You Know?

• Vikram Bhatt appears in the film as Kabir's editor/friend.
• Debina Bonnerjee plays Simran, Kabir's ex-girlfriend.
• Vinod Rawat appears as the good spirit.

Plot

Kabir Malhotra, a novelist with a failed career and relationship, moves to Kashmir seeking an inspirational story. He stops at a guesthouse run by Meera Sharma Dhanrajgir, a beautiful but mysterious woman married to the bedridden Jaidev Dhanrajgir. On his first night, Kabir sees strange apparitions and becomes attracted to Meera, who has not left the house for two years. He tries to take her away, but an evil force causes their car to crash. Kabir calls a Tantrik, who discovers an evil spirit in the house—the spirit of Jaidev, who is dead. Kabir recalls Meera speaking in a man's voice and never seeing Jaidev in person; sneaking into Jaidev's room, he finds Jaidev sleeping. Furious, Meera tells him to leave. Kabir returns to apologize and writes a love poem; Meera kisses him, realizing she loves him. She reveals she was involved in a hit-and-run two years ago and fled to Kashmir, where she met and married Jaidev. One night she saw him performing a ritual slaughter and praying to the devil; in a struggle, Jaidev fell from a balcony, became paralyzed, and later committed suicide. His letter stated she must live in the house forever with his soul, or his lawyer would open a letter detailing her crimes. Thus, she stays with Jaidev's soul, deluding the world that her husband is alive.

Production

The main cast—Gurmeet Choudhary, Ali Fazal and Sapna Pabbi—was finalized in mid-2014. In May 2014, it was reported that Choudhary would play a negative role. In June 2014, Pabbi signed a three-film deal with Vishesh Films, with Khamoshiyan as her first film under the contract. Fazal stated he plays a romantic writer with grey shades. Producer Mahesh Bhatt said the film would "repack and raise the bar for the horror genre in Bollywood" and had franchise potential. Ankit Tiwari was hired to compose the music. The first shooting schedule began on 5 June 2014 and ended in August 2014. The second schedule took place in Kashmir in September 2014 for 15 days, but due to a high flood, the producers shifted the shoot to South Africa. On 21 October 2014, filming occurred in Cape Town; the pre-climax was filmed at the forests of Legacy Estates in Cape Town. A video announcing the trailer launch was uploaded on YouTube, featuring background music and introducing characters. The music launch was held underground, the first such event for a Hindi film. The filmmakers also announced a novel featuring the story of Khamoshiyan and two other stories by Vikram Bhatt, and a video game where different characters unveil dark secrets.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Khamoshiyan was created by Ankit Tiwari, Jeet Gannguli, Navad Zafar, and Bobby Imraan, with lyrics from Rashmi Singh and Sayeed Quadri. The first track, "Khamoshiyan," was composed by Jeet Gannguli and performed by Arijit Singh, arriving on 10 December 2014. The second single, "Tu Har Lamha," was composed by Bobby Imraan and also sung by Arijit Singh, released on 19 December 2014. The production team bought the rights to "Aayega Aane Wala" from the 1949 film Mahal. Prakriti Kakar sang "Beegh Loon," which illustrated the romance and marriage of Meera and Jaidev. Rediff.com praised the title song and "Tu Har Lamha," calling the latter a winner in both its original and remix forms. Surabhi Redkar of Komoi awarded the album three out of five stars, describing it as "love-filled" but noting that the many different versions left listeners feeling confused. Sankhayan Ghosh of The Indian Express gave it two stars, criticizing the melodies as "worn out" and so alike they could be merged into a single track.

Critical response

Shakti Shetty of Mid-Day.com noted similarities to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath, but commented the Indianisation did not come out great. Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave 1.5 stars out of five, writing that Fazal and Pabbi were "decent" but the horror track failed with standard scares and a clichéd story. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express also gave 1.5 stars, stating the film "does exactly what you expect" and plays out familiar erotic-horror-thriller ingredients.