Un-kvlt Vlog 2 - Ramsay Horror Special - Purana Mandir (1984)

This Vlog series focused on  monster features produced by the Ramsay family commenced with the discussion on Veerana (1988). Now we go back in time to the breakthrough horror hit that made their name in Indian cinema and largely cemented the formula they would apply in their later films - 1984's Purana Mandir (PM) aka Ancient Temple. For those more inclined to read, I have provided a transcript of the Vlog content below:

In PM, an 18th century sorcerer/devil-worshipper called Saamri is caught and tried by the royal court for crimes that include practicing black magic, grave-robbing and necrophagy. He is sentenced to death by beheading, after which his head and body are to be stored in different locations such that the twain shall never meet. In return, Saamri swears vengeance on the royal family, with a curse that each of its women would die during childbirth. He also warns that when his head and body are reunited he will hunt down and destroy every last member of the line. Somewhat extreme, but then you can hardly blame him for losing his head over it.

Cut to modern times and urban locales. Suman (a charming Arti Gupta, who did 3 films with the Ramsays), the daughter of the last blueblood wants to marry and make babies with her photographer fiance (Mohnish Bahl), but her royal papa (Pradeep Kumar) is wholly against this because of the family curse. Now the young lovers must go to the place where it all began and find a means of defusing the curse so they can live happily ever after.

In the plot point about the sorcerer's separated head and torso being reunited, horror fans might recall older films like Will Cowan's The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958) and more importantly, Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy's 1972 chiller Horror Rises from the Tomb (HRftT). Naschy's film, which in itself owed a debt of gratitude to Mario Bava's Mask of Satan (1960), was the likeliest inspiration for the outline of PM. But that's where the similarity ends. HRftT has a languorous, sepulchral air; some might even describe it as boring. On the other hand PM, its detours into song breaks and comedy tracks notwithstanding, is a thrilling, kinetic narrative. In its best parts the style is Bava meets Hammer Horror. The scene where Saamri's severed head is carried through the night in a chase sequence and joined up with the body in a demented blood ritual ranks among the most memorable moments in horror for me. Even now, it makes my hairs stand.

And Aniruddha Agarwal...as Saamri the 6ft+ actor has a genuinely menacing air. In an intelligent move, once his character is resurrected from the dead, he has no lines of dialog. He is a towering implacable presence whose eyes radiate pure malevolent energy. At one point, when the martial arts expert friend of the lead pair (Puneet Issar), the one guy expected to have a fighting chance, falls victim to Saamri's rampage, an unmitigated hopelessness permeates the scene. His reign of terror seems inevitable. Fortunately for the film's protagonists, Saamri is eventually vanquished in a dramatic climax that echoes Terence Fisher's work.

At the time of release Purana Mandir was another in the line of low-budget shockers the Ramsays had been putting out since the 70's, but it turned out a surprise blockbuster, garnering several times its making cost at the box office, and after four decades it continues to rake in royalties and recognition for the Ramsays. So in spirit Saamri still lives on as the most known face of Indian horror cinema.

Other Vlogs in this series:

Aatma Vlog

Bandh Darwaza Vlog

Purani Haveli Vlog 

Tahkhana Vlog

Veerana Vlog