2021 · Film
Roohi
Hardik Mehta's Hindi horror comedy in which two small-town kidnappers discover that the bride they have abducted is possessed by a spirit.
Reviewed by Movie Mandala, Sun, 18 Oct, 2026
Where to watch
IndiaAs of 18 October 2026, Roohi is streaming in India on Netflix with a subscription.
The story
In Bagadpur, a village where men abduct the women they want to marry, Bhawra and Kattanni work for a kidnapping gang run by Guniya Bhai. They are hired to kidnap a young woman named Roohi for a client, but a death in the groom's family delays the wedding, so they hide her in an abandoned workshop. There Bhawra realises that Roohi is possessed by a spirit called Afza. Bhawra falls for Roohi and wants the spirit gone, while Kattanni finds himself smitten with Afza.
Spoiler-free: only the set-up.
Who it suits
A light horror comedy for teenagers and adults who enjoy small-town banter between Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma more than genuine scares. Netflix rates it U/A 16+, and it runs about two and a quarter hours with comic violence and some ghostly scenes.
Curation to help you choose, not a review.
Background
Roohi is an original story written by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and Gautam Mehra, and produced by Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films with Jio Studios. It was announced in March 2019 as Roohi Afzana and was first promoted as a spiritual follow-up to Stree (2018), but it was later left out of the Maddock horror-comedy universe; Munjya (2024) includes only a passing reference to it. Filming began in Agra on 14 June 2019.
The pandemic pushed back a planned 2020 release, and the title was shortened to Roohi a month before it opened in cinemas on 11 March 2021. Wikipedia reports an opening day of ₹3.06 crore and a worldwide gross of ₹30.33 crore. Reviews were largely negative: The Indian Express rated it 1 out of 5 and Firstpost 1.5, while The Times of India gave it 3.5. Many critics praised the comic pairing of Rao and Sharma.
The facts
- Language
- Hindi
- Hindi
- Hindi original
- Genre
- Horror comedy
- Runtime
- 134 min
- Director
- Hardik Mehta
- Cast
- Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Manav Vij, Sarita Joshi
Questions people ask
- Where can I watch Roohi in India?
- As of 18 October 2026, Roohi is streaming in India on Netflix with a subscription.
- Is Roohi in Hindi?
- Yes. Roohi is a Hindi-language film.
- How long is Roohi?
- Roohi runs for 2 hours 14 minutes (134 minutes).