Danny Denzongpa, who was one of Bollywood’s
best known acting villains, tries his hand at directing for the first (and
I believe last) time and perhaps to be in tune with his creepy screen image,
he creates a spooky tale of madness, murder and mystery. The few mainstream
horror films that came out of Bollywood in this period are by comparison
to horror films from other countries very low key conservative affairs,
as is this one. There is no splattering of blood or ravaging of female
flesh – just atmospherics, a lot of fog and an eerie suspenseful soundtrack
from R.D. Burman – but it works reasonably well. Think more Rebecca than
Freddie Kruger.
Perhaps one reason that horror has made such
a small impact in Bollywood is that taking a break from the narrative for
a musical number is not only incongruous but also a death blow to the mood
that has been built up, but here that isn’t really too much of an issue
as most of the songs come early in the film and one is used very effectively
to produce mood. What the film unfortunately is unable to withstand though
is another Bollywood convention – the dreaded comic relief. The first half
of the film is pure story – a slow build to possible insanity or mischief
– and much of the second is an o.k. reveal – but for some reason Denzongpa
decides to throw in an over acting comedian named Jagdeep who on his own
comes within an inch of destroying the film and certainly hands it a deep
wound. Watching this guy with his bug eyes and frenzied gesticulations
for an extended period of time could make a blood vessel burst. What on
earth was Denzongpa thinking? Was cheap comic relief such a convention
that to ignore it was considered box office poison? The one positive thing
I can say about modern Bollywood films is that to a large degree these
comic relief actors (and there were a lot of them) seem to have faded from
sight.
Asha (who goes only by the name of Kim and
who gained some cult fame two years after this in a film called Disco Dancer!)
is having bad dreams at night. Scream inducing dreams. In them she is locked
in a room in the cellar and her crazy aunt is trying to strangle her. Night
after night. Not all that surprising in that as a little girl Asha witnessed
this aunt murdering her mother and has never gotten over it. The aunt died
in an insane asylum, but she is alive and well in Asha’s dreams. Her nightly
screaming is getting on the nerves of her classmates at college and so
along with her friend Shobha (even with pigtails, a 28-year old Aruna Irani
looks a bit too mature to play a student) go visit the neighborhood psychiatrist,
Dr. Vijay (a slightly plumpish Rajeesh Khanna past his idol popularity
stage). As soon as the door closes, Doctor and patient run into each other’s
arms and I fully expected them to burst into song. They didn’t. I could
have used a song but instead Dr. Vijay uses the latest psycho babble technology
to delve into Asha’s troubled mind by placing an electronic device around
her head that soothes and hypnotizes her. He says “Tell me every single
detail of your childhood” and I thought to myself – this could be a very
long movie – but fortunately she skips right to the good part - the murder
in the family mansion on a dark and stormy night years ago. None of this
really seems to help Asha much but he also gives her a nice hug.
The college soon boot both Asha and Shobha
out of school for breaking the rules and so where does the good Dr. Vijay
suggest they go – of course – to her family home in the middle of no where
and where the wind blows like a banshee, the curtains kick up a storm,
the chandelier shakes, rattles and rolls, wolves howl and the caretaker
and his hot daughter, Gauri, talk of ghosts and look highly suspect. What
good therapy! The horror follows her – or maybe it was just waiting – but
lamenting songs play across the wind, broken windows shatter her nerves
and a hideously scarred woman walks the hallway at night. No one says it
out loud but everyone is wondering - is Asha going crazy like her aunt.
Then Jadeep comes crawling out of a dingy comic hole and you want to shoot
him – but the film is saved near the end by a crazy over the top ridiculous
action scene and a guy wildly swinging a revengeful black cat by the tail.
Two thirds of a good movie. The six songs by Burman are serviceable but
not all that memorable – one has a nice Spanish trumpet introducing it
– but what Burman does really effectively here is the background music
– constantly changing and mood inducing. The playback singers are the usual
Burman crew of Asha, Lata, Kishore and Mohd. Rafi – the best in the business.
My rating for this film: 6.5
