Roohi (2021 film)

Roohi
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hardik Mehta
Written by	Mrighdeep Singh Lamba Gautam Mehra
Produced by	Dinesh Vijan Mrighdeep Singh Lamba
Starring	Rajkummar Rao Janhvi Kapoor Varun Sharma
Cinematography	Amalendu Chaudhary
Edited by	Huzefa Lokhandwala
Music by	Score: Ketan Sodha Songs: Sachin–Jigar
Production companies	Maddock Films Jio Studios
Distributed by	Jio Studios
Release date	11 March 2021 (2021-03-11)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	India
Budget	₹35 - ₹40 crore
Box office	est. ₹3.06 crore

Roohi is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language comedy horror film directed by Hardik Mehta and produced by Dinesh Vijan under the banner Maddock Films. It tells the story of a ghost who abducts brides on their honeymoons. The film stars Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Sharma. It was announced on 29 March 2019 and filming kicked off on 14 June 2019 in Agra. The film was set to release in June 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic in India interrupted production. The film was theatrically released in India on 11 March 2021.

Roohi was theatrically released in India on 11 March, 2021. The film received generally negative reviews from the critics for its convoluted plot and Janhvi Kapoor's performance.

Cast

• Rajkummar Rao as Bhawra Pandey
• Janhvi Kapoor as Roohi/Afzana
• Varun Sharma as Kattanni Qureshi
• Alexx O'Nell as Tim
• Manav Vij as Gujiya Shakeel
• Sarita Joshi as Budhiya
• Sumit Gulati as Paras
• Rajesh Jais as Roohi's father
• Gautam Mehra as Lucky Pandit
• Aadesh Bharadwaj as Riaz
• Anurag Arora as Tantrik

Marketing and release

The film was initially planned for release on 20 March 2020 but the makers later announced 17 April as new release date. However, it was further pushed to 5 June on 17 February.

On 15 February 2021, the title of the film was changed to Roohi from Roohi Afzana and it was released in India on 11 March 2021.

Reception

Critical Response

Roohi received negative reviews from critics.

Shubhra Gupta from the The Indian Express gave Roohi a rating of 1/5 and called it a "plain horrible" movie. She further stated, "Roohi is missing a coherent plot and writing. All we get is one cringe-inducing sequence after the next." Monika Rawal Kukreja from The Hindustan Times described Roohi as a "convoluted film". She praised Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma's equation in the movie but criticized Janhvi Kapoor by calling her performance average. Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV gave the film a rating of 2/5 and stated that the film "seeks to subvert genre conventions and venture into the terrain of feminist rebellion." Nandini Ramnath from Scroll stated that "Roohi is a Horror-comedy movie which has some spirit but no soul". Umesh Punwani from Koimoi gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and stated "Roohi has its moments, but they’re very few to label this as an entertaining product overall. The acting department shines, and the others remain to be in between from bad to moderately good." Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh rated the film 2/5 and called it 'Disappointing'. further he said "Nowhere close to Stree, Weak screenwriting, Works in bits and spurts, not in entirety, Second half + climax lacks impact. But he praised Performances of lead cast. Anupama Chopra of Film Companion wrote, "The film wants to juggle many balls – horror, comedy, feminist messaging, a love triangle, a bromance – but ends up dropping almost all of them".

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film a rating of 1.5/5 and wrote, "Roohi is horror comedy that’s dead on arrival despite sporadic humour, feminist aspirations". She praised Rajkumar Rao and Varun Sharma for their comic timing but criticized the writers, the overall plot of the film and Janhvi Kapoor's performance by stating, "They could have cast any other actor in her place and it would not have made an inch of a difference to the film." she further stated, "Nothing better indicates Roohi’s lack of commitment to its feminist goals than the irrelevance of its female star." Namrata Joshi from The National Herald (India) compared Roohi with Stree and stated, "While Stree, despite the fluff and inconsistencies, was eminently watchable, Roohi is unbearable to the core. There are absolutely no jump-from-the-seat moments, no chills-down-the-spine eeriness to justify the “horror” side of it. As far as comedy is concerned, there are barely any worthy gags and irreverent lines, only lame slapstick and jokes that fall flat." Roktim Rajpal from the Deccan Herald called Roohi a "Big Disappointment". He praised Rajkumar Rao and Varun Sharma's performance but criticized Janhvi Kapoor and further stated that Kapoor failed to make an impact. Sushri Sahu of Mashable India praised Rajkumar Rao and Varun Sharma but criticized Janhvi Kapoor and the direction of the movie by stating, "Kapoor is simply unwatchable with a flat performance without any sound direction by Hardik Mehta."

Box office

Roohi earned 3.06 cr at the domestic box office on its opening day.

Soundtrack

Roohi
Soundtrack album by Sachin–Jigar
Released	5 March 2021
Recorded	2019-20
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	13:17
Language	Hindi
Label	Sony Music India
Sachin–Jigar chronology
Shakuntala Devi (2020) Roohi (2021)

The film's music was composed by Sachin–Jigar while lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, IP Singh and Jigar Saraiya.

The song Nadiyon Paar (Let the Music Play Again) is remake version of the famous 2004 Shamur party song Let The Music Play.

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Panghat"	Asees Kaur, Divya Kumar, Sachin–Jigar Rap: Mellow D	2:59
2.	"Kiston"	Jubin Nautiyal, Sachin-Jigar	2:41
3.	"Nadiyon Paar (Let the Music Play Again)" (Lyrics by IP Singh, Jigar Saraiya)	Shamur, Rashmeet Kaur, IP Singh, Sachin-Jigar	2:44
4.	"Bhootni"	Mika Singh, Sachin–Jigar	2:27
5.	"Bhauji"	Divya Kumar, Sachin–Jigar	2:26
Total length:			13:17

External links

• Roohi at IMDb
• Roohi at Bollywood Hungama