Justly worried that her husband is being encouraged to look elsewhere to secure the family line after five years of marriage without issue, Lejo learns of a man from the Black Mountains, Neola, who can make any woman fertile.
He charges a high price – if the resulting child is a girl, the infant must be turned over to him – but she is desperate.
Nine months later a girl is born and Lejo decides not to keep her side of the bargain. Neolo thus sends his minions to steal the infant back and poison Lejo, who dies. Belatedly aware of the truth, her husband storms the Black Mountain temple, rescues the child and kills Neolo.
The end.
No, only an extended Vampire Circus style prologue…
18 years have passed and the child, Kamia, living in ignorance of the family secret, has grown into an attractive young woman. She's also got the hots for Kumar, but he's already committed to Sapna. It's to prove a fatal combination that allows the forces of evil their entry back into the world. Through a series of contrivances Kamia comes into possession of a book of black magic that provides her with a ritual to charm Kumar away from Sapna and Neolo the opportunity to Rise from the Grave…
Originally released in 1990 towards the tail end of the Indian horror cycle, Bandh Darwaza is basically your standard Bollywood movie – i.e. an all-singing all-dancing combination of romance, comedy and melodrama – spiced up with elements culled from Hammer's Dracula series in particular, Ajay Agarwal bringing the same kind of screen presence to the role as Christopher Lee.
While there's no question that western horror fans, as the primary audience for this DVD, will be able to enjoy Bandh Darwaza on a trash movie, so-bad-its-good level it is also fascinating as a cultural artefact on account of its syncreticism, as when – for instance – Neolo is successively repulsed by an Aum, a Crucifix and a Koran.
Also interesting here are the gender politics of the film which one suspects would not be viable in a western film
of similar vintage – or at least not in such obvious ways. Throughout it is women who are weak and bring evil into
the world. Men can get away with behaviour that women cannot, as seen by the party sequence where Kumar's
drunkenness has no lasting consequences whilst Kamia's lusting after him brings about her corruption into a vampire
Purana Mandir
The second film in the set, Purana Mandir, was actually released first, in 1984, and played an important part in the
Indian horror boom, not least for establishing the pre-eminent positions of Agarwar and the Ramsay family within the
genre.
Here Agarwar plays Saamri, a cannibalistic monster who terrorized the countryside from his base in a ruined temple.
Unfortunately for him he made the mistake of picking on a princess, leading her beau to mount a search and destroy
mission. The prince and his men brought the monster in and decapitate him – but not before he had a chance to place
a curse on the them and swear that he will one day return to have his revenge on their descendants.
Centuries have passed, and some of said descendants now live quietly in the city. Suman is in love with Sanjay and
her father Sardar disapproves. Trying to make the youngsters come round to his way of thinking, Sardar – "names that
begin with the letter S are the names of Snakes" perhaps – tells them about the curse, and how it would thereby be
disastrous for them to marry and have children. But Suman and Sanjay are determined to be together, and instead
decide to go to the old temple and lay Saamri's spirit to rest for once and for all. Predictably their interventions
have the opposite effect and Saamri is soon up and killing again…
What is surprising is that the are actually less musical numbers this time round. However any gains as far as the
western horror viewer is concerned are however likely to be outweighed by the inclusion of a comic subplot that
relies heavily upon familiarity with Bollywood films of the time. Then again, one could equally imagine Bollywood
audiences responding to Scary Movie in a similarly nonplussed "they find this funny?!" way.
The reason for the different status accorded the films, with Purana Mandir reduced to the status of bonus feature,
would appear to be down to the relative quality of the materials available. While both films are preceded by a
warning/contextualisation that they may not look like what one is used to – don't use them as reference discs for
your new 72 inch plasma screen, as Mondo Macabro wryly put it – it is much the worse looking. This said, if it's a
case of seeing the films in this state or not seeing them at all, the choice is obvious.
The most substantive of the extras is a documentary on South East Asian horror, originally aired on Channel 4
television. Running a
bit over 20 minutes, it is divided into three parts, discussing the Bollywood horror film;
the Lollywood action movie; and the more recent South-East Indian "mythological" film, where CGI effects are used to
bring the figures of myth, legend and religion to life.
All told, it's a useful primer, with the Indian horror portion featuring forthright and insightful contributions
from the Ramsays and their main rival – think Amicus to the Ramsay's Hammer – and critic Omar Khan, who while fully
admitting the films' "cheesy" qualities also helps us look past them.
Khan presents the featurette, Freddie, Jason… and Saamri, which runs about half the length of the documentary and
concentrates specifically upon the first monster of the Indian horror cinema and Agarwal.
Also included are a brace of text essays by Pete Tombs providing further background context – it's useful to know
that the bandit subplot in Purana Mandir riffs on the 1983 megahit Sholay, for instance – and a trailer reel,
showcasing current and upcoming Mondo Macabro product.
All told, a good value package for anyone interested in something a bit different.
(External)
Mondo Macabro DVD website
Copyright ©
K H Brown
2002-2005
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