# Dybbuk (film)
**Dybbuk** is a 2021 Hindi-language horror film directed by Jay K, a remake of his own Malayalam film *[Ezra](https://www.edgepedia.org/ezra-2017-film)* (2017), in which a newly married woman brings an antique Jewish box into her home in [Mauritius](https://www.edgepedia.org/mauritius) and begins experiencing paranormal events tied to a dybbuk, a possessing spirit from Jewish folklore.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/dybbuk-movie-review-emraan-hashmi-film-is-a-comprehensive-waste-of-time-7597580/) • [2](https://www.comparetv.com.au/streaming-tv/dybbuk-2021-movie-live-stream-australia/) It was released on 29 October 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.[3](https://filminformation.com/featured/dybbuk-review-29-october-2021/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Jay K, remaking his own Malayalam film *Ezra* (2017)[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/dybbuk-movie-review-emraan-hashmi-film-is-a-comprehensive-waste-of-time-7597580/) |
| Release | 29 October 2021, direct to Amazon Prime Video[3](https://filminformation.com/featured/dybbuk-review-29-october-2021/) |
| Language and genre | Hindi; horror, with drama, mystery, and thriller elements[2](https://www.comparetv.com.au/streaming-tv/dybbuk-2021-movie-live-stream-australia/) |
| Lead cast | Emraan Hashmi (Samuel "Sam" Isaac), Nikita Dutta (Maahi Sood), Manav Kaul (Rabbi Markus)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dybbuk_2021) |
| Production | T-Series and Panorama Studios; producers Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Kumar Mangat Pathak, and Abhishek Pathak[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dybbuk_2021) |
| Runtime | Listed as 1h 50m by Rotten Tomatoes, 112 minutes by Compare TV, and 1h 58m by JustWatch[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dybbuk_2021) • [2](https://www.comparetv.com.au/streaming-tv/dybbuk-2021-movie-live-stream-australia/) • [5](https://br.justwatch.com/br/filme/dybbuk-the-curse-is-real) |
| Audience score | About 5.1/10 on IMDb (roughly 3,300 votes)[5](https://br.justwatch.com/br/filme/dybbuk-the-curse-is-real) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
To work at a nuclear waste facility in Mauritius, Mumbai-based Indian Christian Sam Isaac relocates there along with Mahi, his pregnant wife, who had earlier suffered a miscarriage. While browsing an antique shop, Mahi purchases a Jewish box formerly owned by Mauritius's final Jewish resident, and shortly afterward a spectral woman begins appearing in her home, calling for Ezra. Sam believes the sightings are her imagination until a priest visits.[6](https://www.netflixmovies.com/dybbuk-2021) The couple learns that the box is a dybbuk containing an evil spirit, and they seek the help of a rabbi to unravel its mystery before their child is born.[2](https://www.comparetv.com.au/streaming-tv/dybbuk-2021-movie-live-stream-australia/)
## Production and style
The film was produced by Amazon, T-Series Films, and Panorama Studios, and carries a UA certificate.[3](https://filminformation.com/featured/dybbuk-review-29-october-2021/) Dybbuk is a song-less film, unusual for mainstream [Hindi cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindi-cinema); Amar Mohile composed the background score, Satya Ponmar handled cinematography, and NY VFXWaala provided visual effects.[7](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/movie-review/movie-review-dybbuk/)
## Reception
Critical response was largely negative. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated it 1.5 out of 5, calling it a remake that "plays strictly by the numbers" and criticizing its reliance on standard devices such as jump scares, levitation, and pale women in white robes; she also noted that potentially interesting layers, including the inter-faith marriage and Mauritius's use as a nuclear waste dump, are only touched on.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/dybbuk-movie-review-emraan-hashmi-film-is-a-comprehensive-waste-of-time-7597580/) Bollywood Hungama rated it 2 stars, praising [Nikita Dutta](https://www.edgepedia.org/nikita-dutta)'s restrained performance as a possessed woman and the inter-faith pairing of a Christian priest and a Jewish rabbi confronting the spirit, while finding the second half insufficiently scary and the runtime lengthy.[7](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/movie-review/movie-review-dybbuk/) [The Week](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-week) called it a refreshing one-time watch but a disappointment for viewers who had already seen *Ezra*.[8](https://www.theweek.in/review/movies/2021/10/29/dybbuk-review-emraan-hashmi-horror-thriller-one-time-watch.html) On IMDb it holds about 5.1/10 from roughly 3,300 user votes.[5](https://br.justwatch.com/br/filme/dybbuk-the-curse-is-real)
## The dybbuk in folklore and earlier film
In Jewish folklore a dybbuk is a spirit that enters a living person, cleaves to the soul, and speaks through the mouth as an alien personality; the idea combined with the doctrine of *gilgul* (transmigration of the soul) in the 16th century and became widely accepted.[9](https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05197.html) The Hebrew word derives from the root D-V-K, meaning "to cling"; in Kabbalistic thought the dybbuk is less a demon than a human soul that has not found rest and clings to a living person seeking resolution of something unfinished.[10](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/7237242/jewish/What-Is-a-Dybbuk.htm)
The figure was popularized by S. An-sky's modernist drama *The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds* (1914), written in Russian and translated into Yiddish, which became the most celebrated play in the history of both Yiddish and Hebrew theater.[11](https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article.aspx/Dybbuk_The) The best-known screen adaptation is Michał Waszyński's Yiddish-language *The Dybbuk* (1937), made in Poland, released on 29 September 1937 with a runtime of 100 minutes, starring Lili Liliana as Leah and Leon Liebgold as Chonen, and shot partly on location in the historic Jewish district of Kazimierz in Kraków.[12](https://akademiapolskiegofilmu.pl/en/historia-polskiego-filmu/films/the-dybbuk/21) • [13](https://royalbooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/cat11269_2.pdf) A Hebrew version was made in Israel in 1968.[9](https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05197.html)
Scholars of the transnational dybbuk film place *Ezra* (2017) and *Dybbuk* (2021) in a twenty-first-century resurgence spanning Polish, Malayalam, Hindi, and Israeli cinemas, and note that as films move away from An-sky's source text the dybbuk loses cultural specificity; the dybbuk box in the Indian films has been read as a way of highlighting the small diasporic Jewish communities of Mauritius and Kochi.[14](https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/61140/chapter-abstract/532313805) • [15](https://real.mtak.hu/204925/1/10.1515_97831113291541.pdf)
## References
1. [Dybbuk movie review: Emraan Hashmi starrer is a comprehensive waste of time, The Indian Express (29 October 2021)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/dybbuk-movie-review-emraan-hashmi-film-is-a-comprehensive-waste-of-time-7597580/)
2. [Dybbuk (2021), Compare TV (streaming data via JustWatch)](https://www.comparetv.com.au/streaming-tv/dybbuk-2021-movie-live-stream-australia/)
3. ['Dybbuk' Review, Film Information (29 October 2021)](https://filminformation.com/featured/dybbuk-review-29-october-2021/)
4. [Dybbuk (2021), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dybbuk_2021)
5. [Dybbuk (2021), JustWatch Brazil](https://br.justwatch.com/br/filme/dybbuk-the-curse-is-real)
6. [Dybbuk (2021), NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/dybbuk-2021)
7. [Movie Review: Dybbuk, Bollywood Hungama](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/movie-review/movie-review-dybbuk/)
8. ['Dybbuk' review: Emraan Hashmi's horror thriller is a one-time watch, The Week (29 October 2021)](https://www.theweek.in/review/movies/2021/10/29/dybbuk-review-emraan-hashmi-horror-thriller-one-time-watch.html)
9. [Dibbuk (Dybbuk), Jewish Virtual Library (Encyclopaedia Judaica)](https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05197.html)
10. [What Is a Dybbuk? Understanding the Misunderstood Soul, Chabad.org](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/7237242/jewish/What-Is-a-Dybbuk.htm)
11. [Dybbuk, The, YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe (Michael C. Steinlauf, 2010)](https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article.aspx/Dybbuk_The)
12. [The Dybbuk (1937), Polish Film Academy](https://akademiapolskiegofilmu.pl/en/historia-polskiego-filmu/films/the-dybbuk/21)
13. [A Jewish Expressionist film made in Poland: stills archive for The Dybbuk (1937)](https://royalbooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/cat11269_2.pdf)
14. [The Persistence of That Which Clings: The Cultural Politics of the Dybbuk in Transnational Postmillennial Cinemas, Liverpool Scholarship Online (2025)](https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/61140/chapter-abstract/532313805)
15. [Archie Wolfman, chapter on the dybbuk box in Indian cinema (MTAK repository)](https://real.mtak.hu/204925/1/10.1515_97831113291541.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2020s › Hindi films of 2021*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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