By Bollywood standards this 1984 film is quite good, packed with chills and boasting a tight storyline that nearly manages to sustain itself over a fast moving 145 minutes. PURANA MANDIR, in fact, is to Bollywood horror cinema what THE EXORCIST was to Hollywood: a monster success that has gone on to become quite iconic. By the same token, the film’s villain, a Dracula-esque sort named Saamri, has attained the status of an Indian-centric Jason or Freddy Krueger.
..the film’s villain…has attained the status of an Indian-centric Jason or Freddy Krueger.
Innumerable knock-offs of PURANA MANDIR followed in its wake, many of them made by the Ramsay Brothers Tulsi and Shyam (the brains behind PURANA and the godfathers of Indian genre cinema). Such films are similar to Hollywood’s output in many respects, yet ultimately quite divergent. It seems bizarre that a horror movie would be periodically interrupted by music numbers—a mainstay of Bollywood filmmaking—and the wealth of subplots contained in PURANA MANDIR are frankly mind-boggling (it also contains a pointed homage to the classic Indian western SHOLAY, a film that, although it falls far outside the scope of this review, comes highly recommended).
… a family curse, star-crossed love, a murderous feud, creepy hallucinations, a femme fatale, demonic possession, a reanimated corpse, several large-scale action sequences and, yes, lots of musical numbers.
The main plot strand concerns Saamri, a black magic-practicing scumbag who is captured and put to death for his transgressions by the Indian king Hari Man Singh. But before he’s killed—via decapitation—Saamri puts a curse on Singh, decreeing that all the women of his family will die in childbirth.
200 years later Singh’s descendent Ranbir is living in relative harmony with his twentyish daughter Suman. Ranbir is distressed when he discovers that Suman plans on marrying a penniless man named Sanjay, and does all he can to put a stop to the nuptials. Sanjay thinks this is due to the fact that he doesn’t have any money, but Ranbir’s true reasons are far more impacting. He finally breaks down and reveals the details of Saamri’s evil to Suman and Sanjay, who try and put an end to the curse by traveling to the secluded castle where Saamri’s bodiless corpse is interred. Madness ensues.
This being a Bollywood product, don’t expect much in the way of subtlety or social significance. What we get is an over-the-top spectacle that aims to entertain above all else.
…an over-the-top spectacle that aims to entertain above all else.
To this end the filmmakers marshal every resource at their disposal whether the budget permits it or not, and include a wealth of exploitable elements: a family curse, star-crossed love, a murderous feud, creepy hallucinations, a femme fatale, demonic possession, a reanimated corpse, several large-scale action sequences and, yes, lots of musical numbers. 145 minutes may seem like a protracted running time for a horror movie, but in this case I can’t help but wonder how the Ramsays managed to fit all this into a mere two-and-a-half hours.
For Western viewers (and, I suspect, quite a few Indian ones) the film at its best plays like high camp. It does, however, boast an uncluttered narrative flow (something most Bollywood flicks lack) and some genuinely freaky moments, including shower water turning to blood, a clawed hand bursting through a painting, a severed head that talks and hallucinatory glimpses of a maniacal face, a frankly primitive superimposition effect that works smashingly well. Goofy, overwrought and nutty this film may be, but the enormous skill and enthusiasm with which it was put together are undeniable.
Vital Statistics
PURANA MANDIR
Tulsi Ramsay Films
Directors: Tulsi Ramsay, Shyam Ramsay
Producer: Kanta Ramsay
Screenplay: J.K. Ahuja, Kumar Ramsay
Cinematography: Gangu Ramsay
Editing: Shyam Ramsay
Cast: Aarti Gupta, Mohnish Bahl, Puneet Issar, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Ajay Agarwal, Sadhana Khote, Satish Shah, Trilok Kapoor, Dr. Satish Chopra, Rajendra Noth, Vishakha Chotu, Alka Noopur, Binny Rai, Pradeep Kumar, Dheeraj Kumar, Leena Das, Ashalata