10 Bollywood Reincarnation Dramas

Dinesh Vijan’s directorial debut Raabta, which stars Kriti Sanon, Sushant Singh Rajput and Jim Sarbh in the lead roles, releases this Friday. The film is a reincarnation drama and we bring you ten Bollywood films, which dealt with the theme of punar janam:

1. Mahal: Directed by Kamal Amrohi, the 1949 release starred Madhubala and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles and was India’s first reincarnation thriller. The film shot Lata Mangeshkar and its leading lady Madhubala to super stardom.

2. Madhumati: Directed and produced by Bimal Roy, the 1958 reincarnation drama featured Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles. Madhumati won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and also nine Filmfare Awards.

3. Mehbooba: Starring Hema Malini and Rajesh Khanna, the 1976 reincarnation film was based on Gulshan Nanda’s novel Sisakate Saaz and was directed by Shakti Samanta. While the film received a good response in metros, the rural areas rejected it. However, post its television screening, the film gained a cult status.

4. Kudrat: Kudrat was Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini’s second film on the reincarnation theme after Mehbooba. The Chetan Anand-directed film also starred Vinod Khanna and Raaj Kumar in key roles. The movie was a box-office hit and also won the Filmfare Award for Best Story.

5. Karz: The cult classic Karz (1980) was directed by Subhash Ghai and starred Rishi Kapoor, Tina Munim and Simi Garewal in the lead roles. The film has since then been remade several times- Yuga Purusha (1989) in Kannada, Enakkul Oruvan (1984) in Tamil, Atmabhalam (1985) in Telugu, and Hindi film Karzzzz (2008) starring Himesh Reshammiya.

6. Suryavanshi: Salman Khan played Vicky and Suryavanshi Vikram Singh in the 1992 movie. His character Vikram Singh was loosely modeled on Thor and he also had a He-Man like transformation in the movie, which also starred Amrita Singh and Sheeba.

7. Karan Arjun: Karan Arjun starred Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan along with Kajol, Mamta Kulkarni, Amrish Puri and Raakhee. Salman and SRK had played brothers, who get killed by Puri’s character in the movie. The dialogue ‘Mere Karan Arjun ayenge’ from the 1995 release is still popular amongst cine-lovers.

8. Om Shanti Om: The Farah Khan-directed rebirth saga starred Shah Rukh Khan and marked the debut of Deepika Padukone. The fillm’s second half was allegedly inspired by Madhumati. It became the highest grossing Hindi film at the time of its release.

9. Dangerous Ishhq: Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the Karisma Kapoor-Rajniesh Duggal-Jimmy Sheirgill starrer spanned over a period of four centuries and tells four different stories set in different time periods. The film was a box-office flop.

10. Ek Paheli Leela: Directed by Bobby Khan, Ek Paheli Leela is a reincarnation story which is set 300 years back, and revolves around the story of Leela (Sunny Leone) and her lover. Their love story remains incomplete as they are murdered. The film portrays how their story concludes when they both get reincarnated. The film also stars Rahul Dev, Rajniesh Duggal, Jay Bhanushali and Mohit Ahlawat.