Paheli (Devanagari: पहेली, Nastaliq: پہیلی, English: Riddle) is a Bollywood movie, released in India on June 24 2005, directed by Amol Palekar and produced by Gauri Khan, Sanjiv Chawla and Shahrukh Khan, who also plays the male lead. Paheli is based on the short story written by Vijayadan Detha and tells the story of a wife (Rani Mukerji) who is left by her husband (Shahrukh Khan) and visited by a ghost, disguised as her husband, who is in love with her and takes her husband's place.

Suniel Shetty, Juhi Chawla, Rajpal Yadav and Amitabh Bachchan have special appearances.

The movie opened the ninth Zimbabwe International Film Festival at the Libertie Cinema Complex in Harare.content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=1" target="_blank">http://www.ziff.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=1

Some critics claim that this movie's screenplay is loosely based on the _Girish Karnad's critically acclaimed Kannada movie "Nagamandala"

The working title of the movie was Ghost Ka Dost (translates to friend of a ghost).

Brij Mohan leaves his village home and settles down in Bombay, India. His mother refuses to go with him and remains alone in their palatial home. Brij gets married, his wife gives birth and shortly thereafter tragically passes away. Years later, Brij is now an established businessman, his son, Montu, is studying in the final year in school. He asks Montu to visit his grandma, and he reluctantly agrees to do so on the condition that his friends also accompany him. Upon arrival in the village, the group is besotted with nothing but problems, and his friends decide to return back, leaving Montu alone with his grandma. Montu strikes up a friendship with a precocious village girl named Gauri, who is an orphan, living with her cruel aunt, and two equally cruel cousin sisters. Montu and Gauri's friendship blossoms and they meet each other regularly, & Montu does not find village life as boring as he had expected. He also meets with a struggling farmer named Balram, his mother, and his betrothed, Kanak. Balram would like to go to a big city, make some money, so that he can marry, but his mother refuses to let him go. Montu returns home with his dad but promises to be back again next year. Montu finishes School, joins college, learns how to drive a car and after about a year returns to the village - only to find that nothing is the same anymore. Balram has married and left the village; his ailing mom has passed away; Gauri refuses to speak with him, while her uncle and aunt are looking for a suitable groom to get her married. Amidst familiar surroundings, Montu now finds himself alone and a stranger, and must now decide to return home - never to return. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Parsimonious Bhanwarlal is a Bania (businessman) who lives in Navalgarh, Rajasthan, along with his wife; his sons Sunderlal and Kishanlal; Sunderlal is married to Gajrobai and has a son. During the annual camel race, Sunderlal loses the race to the Thakur and out of shame leaves home, never to return. Now Kishanlal has come of age and is married to Lachchi. But on the very next day of the marriage, he must leave for Jamnagar to attend to business, and can only return after five years. A tearful Lachchi bids him goodbye, but to her pleasant surprise he returns within a few days, and informs his dad that he had met a holy sage who had instructed him to return as he will find five gold coins every morning. Pleased with this, Bhanwarlal does not object to Kishanlal's return. After four years, it is now time for the camel race again, and this time Bhanwarlal's camel wins, much to the chagrin of the Thakur who suspects witchcraft. Then Lachchi gets pregnant and on the day of the child's birth the family finds out to their horror that there is an impostor who is claiming to be Kishanlal, and the husband of Lachchi. The family and the town are unable to decide who is real and who the impostor, as both look like twins, so they decide to approach the king and do his bidding. The question remains, who is the second Kishanlal and what possible motive could he have for coming to claim Lachchi as his wife? Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)