HORROR - The genre, which can still bring in the crowd with just marginal publicity and no Big Stars. (Part One) - By Bobby Sing

If you are familiar with the home video market in India (beginning from the mid eighties), then you must be aware of the fact that one of the most demanded and saleable genres in the VHS (now obsolete), VCD & DVD circles till date remains the horror genre, which has a big section of viewers (fans) particularly loving the B-C-grade horror movies (of the 70s & 80s) for their own distinctive reasons. Wherein a few love to watch the horrifying scenes in them with scary faces, cheap gimmicks, cheesy graphics & screechy music, the rest watch these movies mainly due to the essential element of ‘erotica’ incorporated in a parallel track running along their basic storylines. Several websites or blogs can be found discussing these movies in their own way, but interestingly the ‘Horror’ genre was not always that cheap and low grade, if we look into the projects made around the mid of the last century (before the 70s).

Beginning with the late 40s, it was actually without any scary figures or bloodshed and had its main focus on a frightening suspense or mystery, dealing with wandering spirits of beautiful ladies & melodious music as seen in Mahal (1949), Madhumati (1958), Bees Saal Baad (1962), Kohra (1964) and more. Plus there were several other movies having a fine mix of suspense, horror and even comedy incorporated together as in Woh Kaun Thi (1964), Bhoot Bangla (1965), Gumnaam (1965), Anita (1967), Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi (1970), Ek Paheli (1971) & others that mostly didn’t have any spirits or supernatural angle at all but were still able to haunt the viewers well.

Incidentally there is a very engrossing story about how the Ramsay Brothers actually found their Horror formula in reality and the fact is related to the film Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi (1970) and Prithiviraj Kapoor enacting as a ghost in one of its long robbery sequences (will be writing a detailed article on this specific episode next as it deserves to be told separately). The film didn’t do well but it still gave the Ramsay brothers a very potent clue about what exactly was being cheered or liked by the audience sitting in the theater. Working on the same they came up with their first focused horror film as Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche in 1972 and then never looked back becoming the celebrated leaders of the genre for the next two long decades till the 90s.

In the next ten years (of 80s),
though the experimentation continued with films like Mangalsutra (1981) & Chehre Pe Chehra (1981) (which was not exactly a horror one featuring Sanjeev Kumar in an awfully ugly get up), the decade completely belonged to this new ‘Low Budget-High Returns’ movement started by Ramsay brothers and they were openly considered as the pioneers or specialized makers of such horror movies, much awaited by a particular section of viewers quite eagerly. Loads of movies conceived with a similar mindset released in this particular decade (made by some other makers too) and a few of them even became big hits at the box office continuing their success story such as Purana Mandir, Tehkhana, Hotel, Cheekh, Kabrastaan, Khooni Panja, Band Darwaza, Veerana, Dahshat, Sannata, Purani Haveli, Pyasa Shaitan, Haveli, Daak Bangla, Woh Phir Aayegi, Ajooba Kudrat Ka (with a unique subject) Khooni Murda, Bees Saal Baad & many more.

After this most extensive era of horror movies, the viewer’s thought structure was influenced a lot by the Cable TV revolution in the country. And looking at this great positive change, the maverick Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) tried to begin a new trend by making a well-crafted, superbly enacted and technically advanced scary film with some great sound effects & novel camera movements titled Raat (1992). The film unfortunately proved to be a dud at the box office, may be because it was way before its time or didn't have the expected masala of a routine horror film (loved by the fans). But it unarguably introduced and set new standards for a Hind horror film that was later followed by all in the new millennium The 90s also witnessed many renowned film-makers trying to bring in that much needed change with their individual efforts like Mahesh Bhatt in Junoon (1992), Lawrence D'Souza in Paapi Gudia (1996) and Ram Gopal Varma again with another of his highly underrated classic as Kaun (1999).