The pale eyes, raised hands and white embellished costume are the giveaway. For Halloween, Janhvi Kapoor looked not to Hollywood horror but to Nagina, recreating the image associated with her mother Sridevi’s supernatural film.
In an Instagram post shared on 31 October, Kapoor appeared alongside Orry and Vaishnav Praveen in a colourful mock film poster. Orry took on Rishi Kapoor’s look, while Praveen recreated Amrish Puri’s character. The three-person recreation makes the reference more specific than a solitary snake-inspired outfit: it brings back the opposing figures around whom the film’s drama unfolds.
A Tribute Built Around Recognition
Kapoor described the recreation as a salute to a memorable movie moment. In the accompanying caption, she explained that Halloween dressing can celebrate favourite characters and pop-culture references as well as frightening ones, and singled out Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor and Amrish Puri.
The poster does much of that work visually. Kapoor occupies the upper half, her hands held beside her face; her two collaborators appear below her, above the large Nagina title. Its painted-looking colour blocks and dramatic expressions echo film-poster language rather than a photograph taken at a party.
The Song Behind the Image
Released in 1986, Nagina is closely associated with Sridevi’s performance in “Main Teri Dushman”. The official T-Series release credits Lata Mangeshkar’s vocals, Laxmikant–Pyarelal’s music and Anand Bakshi’s lyrics. The song gives the film’s supernatural conflict an instantly identifiable musical reference.
That is what makes Kapoor’s choice work as more than seasonal dressing up. The costume, eyes and gestures point to a performance that can be recognised without retelling the film. For Kapoor, the reference also carries a family connection: this is an actor revisiting her mother’s screen image, with friends helping recreate the ensemble around her.
Rather than replacing the original, the tribute directs attention back to it—a Halloween look with a piece of Hindi film history inside.