There has been a wide exploration of genres in filmmaking in India; however one genre that seems to be vacant is that of horror films! As an arde
nt horror film fan, it really hurts to see it as a dreadfully underrated & underused genre. Well, the journey started off pretty well in 1949 with Kamaal Amrohi’s Mahal starring Madhubala and Ashok Kumar which was a stepping stone into this area. However, after that we basically had all movies capturing the lost spirits (I mean bhatakti hui aatmas) moving about deserted cemeteries in white and carrying a lantern! Of course, there was the 1962 film Bees Saal Baad starring Waheeda Rehman, based on Sherlock Holmes’ Hound of Baskervilles, which saved the day.
But the fact remains the same that only the handful of directors have attempted & most importantly thrived in making decent-enough-to-watch-with-family horror films. You can literally calculate them on fingers & the first name comes to mind is Ramsay bros. Their kind of horror was loud, over-the-top & on-your-face and I loved it! What fun were those horror flicks! Remember the skeleton with cigarettes in its hand in Darwaza? Remember mask sticking ghosts with eyes popping out & not to forget, their eveready attitude towards raping the heroine? Remember the mummy look-a-like Anirudhha Agarwal with extremely catastrophic make-up & with the allergy of sunlight in Daak Bangla? And especially his death scene where he was hanged on to a hook with a chain to the top of the Daak Bangla and exposed to sunlight till he dies! There can be as many examples as you want. Remember the cult Veerana with Vijendra Ghatge giving an Oscar-winning performance?
I’m especially close to Veerana as I had some really tremendous or rather hillarious moments about it. Those were my engg days & my college wasn’t located in a very ‘happening’ place. We had total of three theatres, out of which two were for Hindi & Marathi films and if we were fortunate enough, sometimes we got the privilege of watching “Mumbai barobar releases” (simultaneous releases with Mumbai) of many Hindi films. But there was one theatre which played all the Hindi dubbed Hollywood films & many B, C & even Z-grade films to attract our college crowd. In my first year there (in 2001-02), the
atre owner decided to show Ramsay bros’ classic Veerana. Like any other Ramsay cinema fan, I was super excited about it & fortunately I did find few other excited souls like me. So finally we decided to go together in the late night show. We were about 7-8 of us. Since those were ‘poverty-stricken’ days, we decided to buy stall tickets & that too in the front row! Tickets cost us 8/- each. Not sounding like it happened just 8 years ago, isn’t it? Rs. 8 for a movie ticket! A dream for metro public…Anyways, we entered the theatre & as estimated it wasn’t houseful. So we decided to sit little peechhe so that we can see the whole screen at the same time as, I’m sure everyone knows, if you’re seated in the front bench, you’ve to watch the film in fragments & segments as you can’t see the entire screen at one go & you’ve to move your head every time a character moves in the same direction. As the theatre was empty so we thought it wouldn’t be much of a problem but to our surprise, usher yelled at us & shooed us away to the front bench. For the first time in my life I could easily relate to cattle in the field or a street dog. We were being treated EXACTLY in the same manner few seconds ago! I was exasperated but controlled myself as I was more excited to catch one of my favourite horror films on big screen.
The film starts & we were moving our heads like we were watching a Ping Pong or a tennis match. The yellow-green colored lenses, heroine singing song during mid night in the garden, forced comedy, masked ghosts, shower scenes of heroine & all those typical Ramsay elements…we all were rolling over our IRON seats! We had fun. It was an unforgettable moment as the film which dead scared us during our childhood, made us completely cracked down after we’d grown up!
My connection with Veerana doesn’t end here! After 3 yrs, when we were in our final year of engg (2004-05), the same theatre owner decided to show Veerana again! This time the posters were put right in front of our college, which ensnared almost everyone!! Poster had a semi-nude couple in their intimate moment & of course a masked ghost behind them. First I was dazed to see such a poster for Veerana as it didn’t have any such scene but then later I consoled myself saying it must be just a gimmick to entice the college guys & magnetize the crowd. Again, I was maha excited about it but unfortunately my previous partners in crime were missing this time. I don’t clearly remember the reason but somehow none of them were there, Akshay, Gaurav, Krishna, Anirudhha, Deepak etc. none of them! But I was obdurate to watch the film again & started looking for some company. With almost no hopes, I asked one of my friends Chanchal (a guy!!) for the film & to my surprise he was ready to come! I was amiably keyed up to find one more excited soul like me but soon I found out it was just a mirage! The marketing strategy of the theatre was working on him as he was more thrilled about the poster more than the film…I told him there is not even a single scene in the film which is half as vulgar as the poster was but he preferred to ignore me & was ready to take the chance. We went & bought the tickets for a 3pm show & to my shock; there were more than 50 people outside the theatre. I was stunned & perplexed. The rational wheels of my mind started churning robustly. I was little suspicious as 3 years ago, when the same film was running; there were hardly 5-6 people in the theatre except the 7-8 of us then how come now there were more than 50 people? The show timing excuse also flashed in my mind for a jiffy as we came for the late night show last time & this time it was a matinee show. But 50-60 people waiting fervently for Veerana some how didn’t make sense to me. We all were waiting outside the theatre as there was still 10 mins to go. While talking to Chanchal, I happened to look at the poster above & that made the whole situation seems about right. It was a namesake of the classic Veerana but not the same film. It was a film by the czar of C-grade films, Kanti Shah (who had also been to jail in the case of sexual harassment to his hero & heroines)! I was flabbergasted & highly amused. I couldn’t believe I had actually come to watch a C-grade film in the theatre as I always loathed them. Though I found them really comical & entertaining but never thought I would actually watch them in a theatre!! Now nothing could be done as we already had bought the tickets & show was in 5 mins & this time we bought the balcony ticket for 20/- (which is a HUGE amount if you’re a student). Hence with the burden of guilt I decided to watch it as I didn’t have any option. To add to my shock & irritation, Chanchal knew about it since starting but said nothing to me as he wanted to watch this C-grade extravaganza with sleazy sex scenes! I was deeply embarrassed but at least there was a relief as no one knew me there & rest of my batch mates had better things to do in life.
Finally the most awaited film of my life started & there was a murder by a masked lady ghost (only the face was masked, the rest of the body was normal with a revealing choli-ghaghra on it). The murder happened within 15 mins of the film. There was a group of friends (with Kanti Shah as one of them!) & everyone is suspecting each other for the murder. Now comes a scene which, according to me, should be considered as a landmark in the history of cinema!! Before I describe the scene, let me assure that whatever I’m gonna tell you, not even 0.000000001% of it has been embroidered. Try to decipher it…
The scene starts with all the remaining 5 friends were sitting around a table & discussing “Aakhir Sanjay ka murder kisne kiya hoga?” Now there’re few rudiments which made the scene unforgettable & historical –
The scene was 20 minutes long!
It was a single shot scene!
Handheld camera which goes to really close to all the male actors’ faces & all the female actors’ breasts!
With in 20 mins, “Aakhir Sanjay ka murder kisne kiya hoga?” was repeated 23 times!
I was laughing my heart out and was rolling over my seat. A single dialogue had been repeated more than 20 times in a 20 min long scene! That’s incredible, isn’t it? This scene was the last straw & I decided to leave the theatre while my friend opted to stay. This was the first & the last film which I left in midst by choice.
Well, now if we try to forget my unforgettable experience of Veerana, the nauseating truth will remain the same that horror genre in Bollywood has been on disgrace ever since Mahal in 1949. And the origin of the downfall is the re-definition of “spookism” by the Ramsay Brothers who actually defined the B-grade film genre with some feeble movies, some of which were actually runaway successes. I still wonder why! Okay, well these
movies’ titles speak volumes for them. Let me share some with you – Do Ghaz Zameen ke Neeche, Purana Mandir, Mahakal, Shaitani Ilaaka and Khooni Saya! With names as grotesque as possible, the movie plot revolved around evil spirits and deformed creatures terrorizing villages. The most popular targets were thinly clad women. In between the horror (if there was any) there was a liberal sprinkling of sex and as much nudity that could pass un-censored! It was their “success” formula which they rarely deviated from. Interestingly, these movies gave many present-day famous personalities like Deepak Parashar, Kiran Kumar, Vijayendra Ghatge, Navin Nishcal, Archana Puran Singh, Mohnish Behl and Punit Issar. But the regular of these films was Hemant Birje (the original Tarzan!).
Well the situation did not improve even in late eighties when lazy rip-offs from Hollywood were made. We had the classic Exorcist remade as Jaadu Tona! Poltergeist was remade as Raat by none other than Ram Gopal Verma. Where in Hollywood, horror and thrillers were emerging as a competing and memorable genre with path breaking films like Rosemary’s Baby, Psycho, Hell Raiser, The Shining and Frankenstein to name a few; in Bollywood we saw this genre being cornered by low budgets, stereotyping and bad filmmaking.
Yet horror films continue to flourish in the rich vein that the Ramsays tapped into. While attempts to bring horror films into the mainstream of Bollywood have failed of late. In the recent past, we have seen only Ram Gopal Verma trying to come up with horror movies which really don’t scare you but just disturb you enough to make you think why you come to see this movie in the first place. Bhoot was an exception due to good acting, but as far as the plot is concerned, the lesser said the better. Then of course, the Darna Mana Hai series, Phoonk and Darling proved to be detrimental to the careers of the actors
concerned. I would like to remind you of the apple story in the former which was “really” scary! This was some movie which dragged people to the theatre after a person suffered a heart attack while watching it. Bless the poor soul! Question is: did he suffer from fear or sheer agony of the movie?
Ramu’s Vaastu Shastra was really good till the last 15 mins of the climax which made the film a complete catastrophe. Yet there were few exceptions in the recent past like Bipasha’s Raaz, which was critically & commercial successful. But mostly we see a Hawa or a 1920 or a Kaal which were not more like an insult to horror cinema! The very recent Raaz 2 & 13 B has managed to raise the bar & trying to bring horror to mainstream Bollywood cinema and I just wish them to keep making films like the latter so that one day we can also make a Grudge or a Ring!
So now to sum it up, I’ve a dream which, like most of our dreams, will remain a dream... I’ve a dream of watching a “good” horror film directed by directors like Shyam Benegal or Ashutosh Gowarikar or Rajkumar Hirani or Vishal Bharadwaj. I know I’m expecting way too much but do you really think it’s my fault? Aren’t you dying to sit in that BMW which passes by your bus every time you’re on the window seat?
nt horror film fan, it really hurts to see it as a dreadfully underrated & underused genre. Well, the journey started off pretty well in 1949 with Kamaal Amrohi’s Mahal starring Madhubala and Ashok Kumar which was a stepping stone into this area. However, after that we basically had all movies capturing the lost spirits (I mean bhatakti hui aatmas) moving about deserted cemeteries in white and carrying a lantern! Of course, there was the 1962 film Bees Saal Baad starring Waheeda Rehman, based on Sherlock Holmes’ Hound of Baskervilles, which saved the day.But the fact remains the same that only the handful of directors have attempted & most importantly thrived in making decent-enough-to-watch-with-family horror films. You can literally calculate them on fingers & the first name comes to mind is Ramsay bros. Their kind of horror was loud, over-the-top & on-your-face and I loved it! What fun were those horror flicks! Remember the skeleton with cigarettes in its hand in Darwaza? Remember mask sticking ghosts with eyes popping out & not to forget, their eveready attitude towards raping the heroine? Remember the mummy look-a-like Anirudhha Agarwal with extremely catastrophic make-up & with the allergy of sunlight in Daak Bangla? And especially his death scene where he was hanged on to a hook with a chain to the top of the Daak Bangla and exposed to sunlight till he dies! There can be as many examples as you want. Remember the cult Veerana with Vijendra Ghatge giving an Oscar-winning performance?
I’m especially close to Veerana as I had some really tremendous or rather hillarious moments about it. Those were my engg days & my college wasn’t located in a very ‘happening’ place. We had total of three theatres, out of which two were for Hindi & Marathi films and if we were fortunate enough, sometimes we got the privilege of watching “Mumbai barobar releases” (simultaneous releases with Mumbai) of many Hindi films. But there was one theatre which played all the Hindi dubbed Hollywood films & many B, C & even Z-grade films to attract our college crowd. In my first year there (in 2001-02), the
atre owner decided to show Ramsay bros’ classic Veerana. Like any other Ramsay cinema fan, I was super excited about it & fortunately I did find few other excited souls like me. So finally we decided to go together in the late night show. We were about 7-8 of us. Since those were ‘poverty-stricken’ days, we decided to buy stall tickets & that too in the front row! Tickets cost us 8/- each. Not sounding like it happened just 8 years ago, isn’t it? Rs. 8 for a movie ticket! A dream for metro public…Anyways, we entered the theatre & as estimated it wasn’t houseful. So we decided to sit little peechhe so that we can see the whole screen at the same time as, I’m sure everyone knows, if you’re seated in the front bench, you’ve to watch the film in fragments & segments as you can’t see the entire screen at one go & you’ve to move your head every time a character moves in the same direction. As the theatre was empty so we thought it wouldn’t be much of a problem but to our surprise, usher yelled at us & shooed us away to the front bench. For the first time in my life I could easily relate to cattle in the field or a street dog. We were being treated EXACTLY in the same manner few seconds ago! I was exasperated but controlled myself as I was more excited to catch one of my favourite horror films on big screen.The film starts & we were moving our heads like we were watching a Ping Pong or a tennis match. The yellow-green colored lenses, heroine singing song during mid night in the garden, forced comedy, masked ghosts, shower scenes of heroine & all those typical Ramsay elements…we all were rolling over our IRON seats! We had fun. It was an unforgettable moment as the film which dead scared us during our childhood, made us completely cracked down after we’d grown up!
My connection with Veerana doesn’t end here! After 3 yrs, when we were in our final year of engg (2004-05), the same theatre owner decided to show Veerana again! This time the posters were put right in front of our college, which ensnared almost everyone!! Poster had a semi-nude couple in their intimate moment & of course a masked ghost behind them. First I was dazed to see such a poster for Veerana as it didn’t have any such scene but then later I consoled myself saying it must be just a gimmick to entice the college guys & magnetize the crowd. Again, I was maha excited about it but unfortunately my previous partners in crime were missing this time. I don’t clearly remember the reason but somehow none of them were there, Akshay, Gaurav, Krishna, Anirudhha, Deepak etc. none of them! But I was obdurate to watch the film again & started looking for some company. With almost no hopes, I asked one of my friends Chanchal (a guy!!) for the film & to my surprise he was ready to come! I was amiably keyed up to find one more excited soul like me but soon I found out it was just a mirage! The marketing strategy of the theatre was working on him as he was more thrilled about the poster more than the film…I told him there is not even a single scene in the film which is half as vulgar as the poster was but he preferred to ignore me & was ready to take the chance. We went & bought the tickets for a 3pm show & to my shock; there were more than 50 people outside the theatre. I was stunned & perplexed. The rational wheels of my mind started churning robustly. I was little suspicious as 3 years ago, when the same film was running; there were hardly 5-6 people in the theatre except the 7-8 of us then how come now there were more than 50 people? The show timing excuse also flashed in my mind for a jiffy as we came for the late night show last time & this time it was a matinee show. But 50-60 people waiting fervently for Veerana some how didn’t make sense to me. We all were waiting outside the theatre as there was still 10 mins to go. While talking to Chanchal, I happened to look at the poster above & that made the whole situation seems about right. It was a namesake of the classic Veerana but not the same film. It was a film by the czar of C-grade films, Kanti Shah (who had also been to jail in the case of sexual harassment to his hero & heroines)! I was flabbergasted & highly amused. I couldn’t believe I had actually come to watch a C-grade film in the theatre as I always loathed them. Though I found them really comical & entertaining but never thought I would actually watch them in a theatre!! Now nothing could be done as we already had bought the tickets & show was in 5 mins & this time we bought the balcony ticket for 20/- (which is a HUGE amount if you’re a student). Hence with the burden of guilt I decided to watch it as I didn’t have any option. To add to my shock & irritation, Chanchal knew about it since starting but said nothing to me as he wanted to watch this C-grade extravaganza with sleazy sex scenes! I was deeply embarrassed but at least there was a relief as no one knew me there & rest of my batch mates had better things to do in life.
Finally the most awaited film of my life started & there was a murder by a masked lady ghost (only the face was masked, the rest of the body was normal with a revealing choli-ghaghra on it). The murder happened within 15 mins of the film. There was a group of friends (with Kanti Shah as one of them!) & everyone is suspecting each other for the murder. Now comes a scene which, according to me, should be considered as a landmark in the history of cinema!! Before I describe the scene, let me assure that whatever I’m gonna tell you, not even 0.000000001% of it has been embroidered. Try to decipher it…
The scene starts with all the remaining 5 friends were sitting around a table & discussing “Aakhir Sanjay ka murder kisne kiya hoga?” Now there’re few rudiments which made the scene unforgettable & historical –
The scene was 20 minutes long!
It was a single shot scene!
Handheld camera which goes to really close to all the male actors’ faces & all the female actors’ breasts!
With in 20 mins, “Aakhir Sanjay ka murder kisne kiya hoga?” was repeated 23 times!
I was laughing my heart out and was rolling over my seat. A single dialogue had been repeated more than 20 times in a 20 min long scene! That’s incredible, isn’t it? This scene was the last straw & I decided to leave the theatre while my friend opted to stay. This was the first & the last film which I left in midst by choice.
Well, now if we try to forget my unforgettable experience of Veerana, the nauseating truth will remain the same that horror genre in Bollywood has been on disgrace ever since Mahal in 1949. And the origin of the downfall is the re-definition of “spookism” by the Ramsay Brothers who actually defined the B-grade film genre with some feeble movies, some of which were actually runaway successes. I still wonder why! Okay, well these
movies’ titles speak volumes for them. Let me share some with you – Do Ghaz Zameen ke Neeche, Purana Mandir, Mahakal, Shaitani Ilaaka and Khooni Saya! With names as grotesque as possible, the movie plot revolved around evil spirits and deformed creatures terrorizing villages. The most popular targets were thinly clad women. In between the horror (if there was any) there was a liberal sprinkling of sex and as much nudity that could pass un-censored! It was their “success” formula which they rarely deviated from. Interestingly, these movies gave many present-day famous personalities like Deepak Parashar, Kiran Kumar, Vijayendra Ghatge, Navin Nishcal, Archana Puran Singh, Mohnish Behl and Punit Issar. But the regular of these films was Hemant Birje (the original Tarzan!).Well the situation did not improve even in late eighties when lazy rip-offs from Hollywood were made. We had the classic Exorcist remade as Jaadu Tona! Poltergeist was remade as Raat by none other than Ram Gopal Verma. Where in Hollywood, horror and thrillers were emerging as a competing and memorable genre with path breaking films like Rosemary’s Baby, Psycho, Hell Raiser, The Shining and Frankenstein to name a few; in Bollywood we saw this genre being cornered by low budgets, stereotyping and bad filmmaking.
Yet horror films continue to flourish in the rich vein that the Ramsays tapped into. While attempts to bring horror films into the mainstream of Bollywood have failed of late. In the recent past, we have seen only Ram Gopal Verma trying to come up with horror movies which really don’t scare you but just disturb you enough to make you think why you come to see this movie in the first place. Bhoot was an exception due to good acting, but as far as the plot is concerned, the lesser said the better. Then of course, the Darna Mana Hai series, Phoonk and Darling proved to be detrimental to the careers of the actors
concerned. I would like to remind you of the apple story in the former which was “really” scary! This was some movie which dragged people to the theatre after a person suffered a heart attack while watching it. Bless the poor soul! Question is: did he suffer from fear or sheer agony of the movie?Ramu’s Vaastu Shastra was really good till the last 15 mins of the climax which made the film a complete catastrophe. Yet there were few exceptions in the recent past like Bipasha’s Raaz, which was critically & commercial successful. But mostly we see a Hawa or a 1920 or a Kaal which were not more like an insult to horror cinema! The very recent Raaz 2 & 13 B has managed to raise the bar & trying to bring horror to mainstream Bollywood cinema and I just wish them to keep making films like the latter so that one day we can also make a Grudge or a Ring!
So now to sum it up, I’ve a dream which, like most of our dreams, will remain a dream... I’ve a dream of watching a “good” horror film directed by directors like Shyam Benegal or Ashutosh Gowarikar or Rajkumar Hirani or Vishal Bharadwaj. I know I’m expecting way too much but do you really think it’s my fault? Aren’t you dying to sit in that BMW which passes by your bus every time you’re on the window seat?
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