The film revolves around a small village. Badri, [Manoj Joshi] heads a Brahmin family whose ancestral palace is believed to be haunted by a ghost of Manjulika, a Bengali dancer. One day, Siddharth [Shiney Ahuja] and Avni [Vidya Balan], the son and daughter-in-law of Badris elder brother, return to their native village from America and decide to stay for a month in their ancestral palace. Here, Siddharth is crowned as the king, his right to the throne. Events take a twist when Avni opens a locked forbidden room that contains the ghost of Manjulika with the help of Nandini [Tareena Patel] who is Siddharths cousin. Unnatural events start taking place inside the palace. Avni ends up falling in love with the place and begins to learn about Manjulika and her tragic story. Badri and Batuk Shankar [Paresh Rawal] try to ward off the evil eye with the help of a priest and philosopher Shri Yagyaprakashji Bharti [Vikram Gokhale], but unfortunately the priest has gone to London and is unsure when he might be back. They try to force back the so called evil ghost of Manjulika to her room with the help of a local priest Chhote Pandit [Rajpal Yadav] but their attempt fails and the priest after seeing the moving shadow of Manjulika coming towards him, ends up being a mad man. Siddharth starts to suspect Radha [Ameesha Patel] for all the weird things going around. He thinks that she has gone mad, since he was supposed to marry her, but instead ended up marrying Avni. So, he calls his friend/psychiatrist Dr. Aditya Shrivastav [Akshay Kumar] to try to figure out what the problem is with Radha. Later, it is discovered that Radha is actually Badris adopted daughter and that he brought her up as if she were his own. Once Aditya reaches the palace things start to become comical as no one in the palace likes him and thinks he is fool due to the way he dresses and acts. Aditya starts to use modern analytical techniques to find out the reason behind the so-called ghost problem. He eventually realizes that Radha is not at fault, and that there was someone else behind it all. One night, while patrolling the palace, he also encounters the so-called Manjulika and dares her to strike. The ghost, in return vows to take her revenge on the auspicious day of Durgashtami. During the engagement of Nandini with Sharad Pradhan [Vineeth], Avni ends up spilling food on Sharad, and takes him away to get him cleaned. Aditya than notices that Avni is missing and so he asks Siddharth to help him find her. When they do, they see that there is a struggle between Avni and Sharad, and they eventually end up breaking the struggle and Siddharth begins to hit Sharad thinking that he was going to violate Avni. But, Aditya tells him that she is actually the culprit and that she has Dissociative Identity Disorder, a disease that affects the persons identity. To make sure that things work out the way they are supposed to he must bring out Manjulikas identity. In order to support his argument, Aditya reveals that he has visited Avnis hometown to gather information about her childhood and he has factual evidence. He then asks the half-convinced Siddtharth to provoke Avni in order to make her realize that something is wrong. When Siddharth does this, Avni shows personality of Manjulika before coming to her usual self, much to the concern of Siddharth, who asks Aditya to do anything to save Avni. They then see her as Manjulika dancing to the tunes she had been dancing to with her love Shashidhar before the king killed him. Through this the sad love story of the old king Vibhuti Narayan, who loved a dancer, Manjulika, who, in turn, loved Shashidhar [the dancer in the same court] is revealed. Avni, while possessed by Manjulikas personality, imagined herself and Sharad, [whom she thinks is Shashidhar], dancing in the court of the king. This triggered Avnis disorder; she assumes the identity of Manjulika and tries to kill her own husband Siddharth, as she sees him as Vibhuti Narayan who killed Manjulikas lover and later locked her up in her room where she committed suicide. In order to cure Avni of her illness, Aditya triggers Manjulikas personality and makes her promise to leave if Manjulika gets the opportunity to kill the king and have her revenge. Meanwhile the priest Shri Yagyaprakashji Bharti [who happens to be Adityas guide] also arrives to visit Siddharth. With his help, during the ritual of Durgashtami, Manjulika is tricked and slays a dummy of Siddharth thinking she was killing the king. After the killing, Manjulikas personality leaves Avni forever. Aditya hypnotizes the unconscious Avni and tells her that everything is fine and that she will continue her life as a same, happy and peaceful person. Everything ends well and Aditya tells Radha that he will send his parents if she is interested in marrying him.

Soundtrack

[http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/musicreview/12977/index.html link] *Rediff [http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/sep/06zzbhool.htm link] | Last album = Dhol[2007] | This album = Bhool Bhulaiyaa[2007] | Next album = Jab We Met[2007]| }} The soundtrack of the film is composed by Pritam with lyrics provided by Sameer and Sayeed Quadri. The title track Bhool Bhulaiyaa broke all chartbusters. {{tracklist | collapsed = | headline = | extra_column = Singers | total_length = | all_writing = | all_lyrics = | all_music = | writing_credits = | lyrics_credits = | music_credits = | title1 = Hare Ram Hare Krishna [Teri Aankhein Bhool Bhulaiyaa] | note1 = | writer1 = | lyrics1 = | music1 = | extra1 = Neeraj Shridhar | length1 = 05:28 | title2 = Labon Ko Labon Pe | note2 = | writer2 = | lyrics2 = | music2 = | extra2 = KK | length2 = 05:44 | title3 = Pyaar Ka Sajda | note3 = | writer3 = | lyrics3 = | music3 = | extra3 = KK | length3 = 05:12 | title4 = Bhool Bhulaiyaa - Remix | note4 = | writer4 = | lyrics4 = | music4 = | extra4 = Neeraj Shridhar | length4 = 05:07 | title5 = Lets Rock Soniye | note5 = | writer5 = | lyrics5 = | music5 = | extra5 = Tulsi Kumar, Shaan | length5 = 04:27 | title6 = Sakiya Re Sakiya | note6 = | writer6 = | lyrics6 = | music6 = | extra6 = Tulsi Kumar | length6 = 04:57 | title7 = Mere Dholna Sun | note7 = | writer7 = | lyrics7 = | music7 = | extra7 = Shreya Ghoshal, M. G. Sreekumar | length7 = 06:47 | title8 = Allah Hafiz Keh Raha | note8 = | writer8 = | lyrics8 = | music8 = | extra8 = KK | length8 = 04:34 | title8 = Lets Rock Soniye - Remix | note8 = | writer8 = | lyrics8 = | music8 = | extra8 = Tulsi Kumar, Shaan | length8 = 04:28 | title9 = Pyaar Ka Sajda - Remix | note9 = | writer9 = | lyrics9 = | music9 = | extra9 = KK | length9 = 05:22 | title9 = Labon Ko Labon Pe - Remix | note9 = | writer9 = | lyrics9 = | music9 = | extra9 = KK | length9 = 05:17 }}

Box office

The film became a Superhit and a hit in overseas, it opened to a 95% response & housefull shows in overseas, which was the second best opening of the year after Partner. It was well-received by cinema-goers for its mild comedy and psychological horror and suspense. Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan were particularly praised by critics for their roles as Dr. Aditya and Avni respectively.

Controversy

The original story of the film was written by Madhu Muttam. Though he claimed this film as a violation of copyright, the High Court of Kerala allowed the violation of copyright, in light of the production cost. The film came under a cloud of controversy after a Buddhist organisation objected to the title song in the movie as disrespectful to venerated icons.

Casting

= Originally Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif were the first female choices for this film but they turned down the offer due to the films irksome comedy style and were replaced by Vidya Balan and Ameesha Patel. Vidya Balan had to take Odissi lessons for this film. Incidentally, Vineeth played the same role in the Rajnikanth-starrer Chandramukhi in 2005 which was the Tamil remake of Manichithrathazhu.

Character map of manichithrathazhu and its remakes