1920: The Evil Returnsis a 2012 IndianHindi-languagesupernatural horror filmwritten by Vikram Bhatt and directed byBhushan Patel.A quasi-sequel to the 2008 film1920,[3]and the second of the1920 film series,it starsAftab Shivdasani,Tia Bajpai,Vidya MalvadeandSharad Kelkar.[4]The film is third in a series of quasi-sequels released under the Bhatt Banner includingRaaz – The Mystery Continues,Murder 2,Jism 2,Jannat 2andRaaz 3Deach of which had nothing to do with their respective prequels, but somehow fell in the same genre following a similar story. The trailer was released on 28 September 2012.

1920: The Evil Returns
Movie poster
Directed byBhushan Patel
Written byVikram Bhatt
Sanjy Masoom(Tamil Dialogue)
Screenplay byRensil D'Silva
Produced byVikram Bhatt[1]
Starring
CinematographyNaren Gedia
Edited bySwapnil Raj
Music by
Production
companies
ASA Productions and Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
Distributed byReliance Entertainment
Release date
  • 2 November 2012(2012-11-02)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹90 million[2]
Box office₹280.4 million[2]

The film released on 2 November 2012 to mixed reception and fared better at the opening Box Office weekend (122.7 million Net.) as compared to any other releases that week exceptSkyfall(270 million Net.).[5]U Dinesh Kumar, Professor atIIM Bangaloreand his team worked with Ami Shah of IntelliAssist, the company that carried out the social media marketing for the film, and assessed Internet activities and campaigns with the case study later published byHarvard Business Publishing.[6][7][8]

Plot

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In1920,Jaidev Verma is a famous poet who lives as a loner as he is unable to meet the love of his life, Smriti. They got to know each other through an exchange of letters and slowly fell in love. One day, Jaidev receives a letter informing him that Smriti had died in an accident. His sister Karuna is the only support system that keeps him motivated. Jaidev finds an unconscious girl near a lake and brings her home. After gaining consciousness, she is unable to remember anything from her life except Jaidev's poems. Karuna becomes skeptical of her presence in the house and gets even more so when an undertaker warns them of an evil spirit inside her.

Jaidev is insistent on keeping her at home since he feels a connection to her. He names her Sangeeta, and she experiences frightening phenomena, vomiting iron nails and seeing ghosts in her room. On their way to see a doctor, Sangeeta gets possessed by the ghost. To save her, the only person Jaidev can turn to is the cemetery keeper. Slowly Jaidev gets to know that Sangeeta is actually his lost love, Smriti. He goes to Smriti's address to find out the truth about her. He discovers that Karuna had come there earlier, asking about Smriti. Jaidev returns home and finds Karuna's body hanging in the forest with suicide notes around it. From Karuna's letters, he learns that his best friend Amar, who envied Jaidev's success, assaulted Karuna. When Amar discovered that Jaidev loved Smriti, he went to her, posing as Jaidev, and took her to his residence inShimlato abuse her, but in the process, Amar was killed. It is his spirit that now possesses Smriti.

The cemetery keeper warns Jaidev that the spirit is very vengeful and has to be deceitfully taken to the same place it all happened — Amar's residence in Shimla. Once Smriti touches Amar's corpse, Amar's spirit will have to leave Smriti's body and return to his own body; the corpse can then be set on fire, releasing Amar's spirit from the karmic cycle of life and death. While doing this, Smriti must not know where she is being taken; else the spirit will also know. So Smriti is made unconscious and fully wrapped in a sacred cloth. They reach Amar's house, but the cemetery keeper trips, and the sacred cloth moves away from Smriti's face, awakening the spirit. The possessed Smriti kills all except Jaidev.

Jaidev is badly injured in the battle against the spirit. The spirit in Smriti's body burns Amar's corpse, thus forever remaining in her body. Jaidev helplessly pleads with the spirit to kill him, since there is no meaning in letting him live if the spirit will take Smriti from him. Amar's spirit refuses, saying that this is exactly what he wanted: for Jaidev to suffer. Jaidev cuts a rope attached to a loft in the ceiling; a corpse falls from there, landing on Smriti and making contact with her. It is revealed in a flashback that Jaidev and the group had hidden the real corpse of Amar in the ceiling as precaution. The corpse comes alive as Amar is forced to return to his original body. Enraged, Amar's corpse tries to kill Smriti, but Jaidev saves her and sets Amar's corpse on fire, thus freeing Amar's spirit. Jaidev and Smriti get married, and the film ends as they consummate their union.

Cast

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  • Aftab Shivdasanias Jaidev Verma
  • Tia Bajpaias Smriti/Sangeeta
  • Vidya Malvadeas Karuna Verma
  • Sharad Kelkaras Amar (evil Spirit)
  • Vicky Ahuja as Bankimlal
  • Sanjay Sharma as Bhola
  • Tarakesh Chauhan as the doctor in the town hospital
  • Naresh Sharma as the driver of a horse carriage[9]
  • Yogesh Tripathi as Chand
  • Falguni Rajani as Smriti's landlord

Soundtrack

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1920 Evil Returns
Soundtrack albumby
Released9 October 2012[10]
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length27:20
LanguageHindi
LabelT-Series

The music for the film was composed byChirantan Bhattand the lyrics written byShakeel Azmi,Junaid Wasi&Manoj Yadav.The music got positive reviews from critics.

Hindi

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Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Apna Mujhe Tu Laga"Shakeel AzmiSonu Nigam6:06
2."Uska Hi Banana"Junaid WasiArijit Singh5:28
3."Jaavedaan Hai"Shakeel AzmiKK,Suzanne D'Mello5:48
4."Khud Ko Tere"Shakeel AzmiMahalakshmi Iyer5:07
5."Majboor Tu Bhi Kahin"Manoj YadavAmit Mishra4:53
Total length:27:20

Tamil

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Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Kattayam"Sanjay MasoomVarious Artists1:20
2."Uyire"Sanjay MasoomArijit Singh4:48
Total length:6:08

Critical reception

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Renuka Vyavahare ofTimes of Indiagave it 3 stars. "1920 gives you the creeps...watch it." said ToI.[11]Rediff Movies said "1920 Evil Returns is yet another needless horror film. It's cold and bland." and gave it 1 star.[12]Roshni Devi of Koimoi gave it 2 stars. "Watch it only if you're desperate for some uninspiring horror. Give it a rest otherwise." wrote Roshni Devi.[13]Social Movie Rating site MOZVO gave it a rating of 2.3 putting it in 'Below Average' category.[14]Taran Adarsh ofBollywood Hungamagave it 2.5 stars.[15]

Box office

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1920 – Evil Returnshad a decent opening weekend where it collected around115 million(US$1.4 million) nett.[16]The film had a good first week and collected160 million(US$1.9 million) nett.[17]It had collected around45.0 million(US$540,000) nett in its second week taking its total to205 million(US$2.5 million) nett.[18]It finished at229 million(US$2.7 million) in the domestic market.

Sequel

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The reasonable success of1920 – Evil Returnsprompted producerVikram Bhattto plan another sequel. "I will be making another sequel to 1920. We are working on the script right now. It is too early to talk about it as we are developing the concept for it", Vikram said in an interview. It was also revealed that the film would not be in 3D. The sequel to the movie was later named as1920 London,andreleased on 6 May 2016.

References

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  1. ^"» 1920 Evil Returns reviews Read reviews by rajeev masand, Taran adarsh bollywood hungama, anupam chopra hindustan times boxoffice collection".Archived fromthe originalon 8 November 2012.Retrieved5 November2012.
  2. ^ab"1920 - Evil Returns - Movie - Box Office India".www.boxofficeindia.com.Archivedfrom the original on 20 November 2021.Retrieved20 November2021.
  3. ^"'1920-Evil Returns' will be different from the rest: Aftab ".Indian Express.23 April 2012.Retrieved19 June2012.
  4. ^"Aftab Shivdasani signs his first horror movie".MiD DAY.22 August 2011.Retrieved29 November2011.
  5. ^"1920 Evil Returns is a surprise hit at the box office".bollyspice.com.6 November 2012.Archivedfrom the original on 18 July 2013.Retrieved7 November2012.
  6. ^"1920 Evil Returns – Bollywood and Social Media Marketing".Harvard Business Publishing.1 September 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 25 May 2014.Retrieved22 March2014.
  7. ^"IIM-B scripts case on digital promos of Bollywood film".The Hindu Business Line.28 January 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 30 March 2014.Retrieved22 March2014.
  8. ^"IIMB case study on the film".IIM Bangalore.Archivedfrom the original on 17 February 2016.Retrieved22 March2014.
  9. ^"hauhted Cast & Crew".Bollywood Hungama.Archived fromthe originalon 23 January 2012.
  10. ^"1920 Evil Returns – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack".youtube.Jio Saavn.Archivedfrom the original on 5 December 2020.Retrieved10 October2020.
  11. ^"1920: The Evil Returns".Times of India.Archivedfrom the original on 8 November 2012.Retrieved8 November2012.
  12. ^"Review: 1920: Evil Returns is not scary at all".Rediff.Archivedfrom the original on 4 November 2012.Retrieved6 November2012.
  13. ^"1920 – Evil Returns Review".koimoi.com. 2 November 2012.Archivedfrom the original on 5 November 2012.Retrieved8 November2012.
  14. ^"1920 – Evil Returns Review".MOZVO.Retrieved8 November2012.
  15. ^"1920 – Evil Returns".Bollywood Hungama.Archived fromthe originalon 26 April 2012.Retrieved8 November2012.
  16. ^"1920 – Evil Returns Has Solid Weekend".boxofficeindia. Archived fromthe originalon 8 November 2012.Retrieved5 November2012.
  17. ^"1920 – Evil Returns Week One Territorial Breakdown".boxofficeindia. Archived fromthe originalon 19 January 2013.Retrieved12 November2012.
  18. ^"Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Son of Sardaar Score at the Box Office".boxofficeindia.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2012.Retrieved17 November2012.
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