Director(s) – Shyam Ramsay (Veerana, Inspector Dhanush) and Tulsi Ramsay (Tahkhana, Mahakaal)
Starring – Mohnish (Itihaas, Henna), Arti Gupta (Saamri, Tajurba), and Puneet Issar (Superman, Haar Jeet)
Release Date – 1984
Rating – 3/5
Blu Release – 3/5
When I started writing reviews back around 2010 I never expected to find myself watching the movies that I do. I’ve always loved horror but when I started writing I wanted to cover long forgotten action and exploitation flicks. My original blog and the idea behind it was to chase down any direct to video action flicks from the late 80s and early 90s along with any dime a dozen exploitation film I could find. However, my love of horror quickly took over and before long I was diving deep into my beloved genre.
Over the years I’ve learned that Bollywood, or Hindi horror, is a sub-genre that I really like. I had seen these films pop up in random message boards and horror groups over the years but never took the time to check them out until just a few years ago. Now, I fucking love them and will go out of my way to check them out. A few weeks back my friends over at Mondo Macabro sent me the 1984 Hindi horror film Purana Mandir on blu for review. Like always, I want to take a moment to thank Mondo Macabro for sending this one over.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a wealthy family who has a curse placed on them by a devil worshipper. Every woman in the line will die during childbirth. We pick up sometime after the original curse with a man who lost his wife during childbirth and his daughter has grown up. She is now a college student and is dating someone that is not of nobility. Her father eventually tells her of the curse but she brushes it off and starts looking into the lineage of her father and the evil devil worshipper. Through her research she finds his head but mistakes it for a valued solider unleashing his evil spirit. **Spoiler Alert**
I’ve only reviewed a handful of these Hindi horror films so far but I have yet to find one I didn’t like. They are all so much fun but that doesn’t make them all equal. Some of these are much better than others with this one being the weakest of the others that I had seen. It’s a great movie but it does have it’s faults.
The acting in this one is exactly like I expected. The cast has a lot of energy and brings a lot of charisma to the front of the camera. With that being said, a lot of the characters, even though they were fun to watch, are rather one dimensional. This isn’t so much the cast’s fault but it doesn’t really give them a lot to work with.
The story for this one is great but does have similarities to other Bollywood horror films that I’ve reviewed recently. We have a family cursed by a supernatural presence and we follow a demon of sorts as it kills people. It’s not the most original story regardless of where it was made but once you dress it up with the Bollywood musical numbers and colorful characters then you get something you will never forget.
Finally, the film isn’t a bloody and gory one. We do have some blood and some rather forgettable make-up effects but that is about the extent of it. Bollywood isn’t really known for their memorable deaths and this one fits into that one as well. Overall, Purana Mandir is not the most memorable Bollywood horror flick but it’s not a bad one either. It’s a lot of fun and one you can rewatch several times without getting sick of it. I highly recommend checking it out from Mondo Macabro.
Special Features:
Introduction to the film by writer Tim Paxton
