The year 2002 witnessed two major Bollywood releases—Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and Madhuri Dixit, and Vikram Bhatt’s horror-thriller Raaz, featuring Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu. While Devdas became a cult classic and swept numerous awards, Dino Morea now claims that Raaz was actually the bigger hit of that year.
Reflecting on the film’s success, Dino remarked, “That film was a big rage. Devdas also released in the same year, but if you look at the numbers, in terms of how much we spent on our film and how much we earned versus Devdas, ours was a bigger hit of that year.” According to a report, Devdas was made on a staggering budget of over ₹40 crore and earned ₹90 crore. In contrast, Raaz was produced for just ₹5 crore and managed to collect ₹31 crore, making its return on investment significantly higher.
Despite its commercial success, Raaz received minimal recognition at award shows. Dino expressed his disappointment, stating, “Even though we just won two awards and we didn’t win anything for music. The music of that film was so popular, people still listen to it. But there isn’t a single award for that music.” He further added, “We got the new jodi award but no awards for music. Devdas won everything that year, they took all the awards.”
Apart from being a turning point in his career, Raaz also marked a significant personal chapter for Dino Morea, as it coincided with the end of his relationship with co-star Bipasha Basu. Even today, Raaz remains one of Bollywood’s most successful horror films, while Devdas continues to be celebrated as an iconic cinematic masterpiece.
