Purana mandir

If you want one Bollywood shocker, PURANA MANDIR is good place to start. Over two hours of over-the-top gory action with wild camera angles, stunning action scenes, creepy shocks and, eh, all the cheerful singing and dancing!

ONE THE BEST MOVIES I HAVE EVER SEEN!

Argento-fans who're tired of Euro/US horrorflicks, should try this tasty hindi dish - you'll be coming back for more!!!

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently on YouTube. The print is good. I consider this inferior to Mithun's Bhayaanak. Bhayaanak relied more on atmosphere n the sinister nature of men. This movie is scary only cos of the monster Samri n he became very famous n he is still known as Samri n not his real name. In real life too, his personality is creepy.

A devil worshipper Samri is put on trial aft he kills a king's daughter. (So nobody cared while he committed the heinous acts on non royal fellas). He has raped virgin brides, he has sacrificed young kids, he has exhumed corpses n eaten their flesh n his method of overpowering his victims is hypnotizing em by sucking out their life force through the eyes, causing their natural eyes to be replaced with demonic white ones. All the heinous activities r never shown onscreen except for the hypnotizing ones. Before his execution, Samri puts a curse on the king's dynasty. Samri is beheaded aft the king's order n his head is kept in the catacombs of the palace while his body is buried behind the purana mandir (Old Temple). The story moves 200 years forward n we r introduced to the great great descendants of the king. After this initial good start, the film has unnecessary songs, lousy sub plots to inject some comedy n bad fight sequences cos one of the character is a body builder. Towards the end when the film picks up the pace n starts getting creepy then again v r served two lousy songs. The editing is atrocious. In one scene a guy runs to the terrace to face the monster, it is a night scene. The moment he reaches the terrace, he gets a slap on his face by jus a hand shown n the next scene cuts to broad daylight n the guy is jus cryin while the monster jus disappears.

It has some gory scenes, not thru the demon but the fight sequence r nasty, a guy puts his fingers in his opponent's eyes, a person's face get smashed like a watermelon by another one's foot, ther is some lousy sword fight, a creepy horse chariot chase scene, zero nudity but lots of cleavages n fatty thighs, lots of fogs n one of the best location, the mansion. I have personally visited the mansion, it is located in Murud Janjira. The mansion is on top of a foothill next to a beach. (My aunt stays nearby n the place has some lovely childhood memories).

Very generous with an 8 cos of Samri n to encourage obscure n forgotten Bollywood horror films.

Very very 80s we used to watch in summer vacations on vcr it was one of best horror movie of its time a devil was caught n burried backside temple backyard decades ago ....after some accidentally opens his chamber n devil was released again to terrify people....it contains a love story so nice songs adventure...drama comedy....thriller and action .....well a new story starts decades after the devil ended ...now rumours of tresure are getting out but with it comes the devil ....some greedy men try to steel treasure from backyard of temp in old ruiens of palace ..... Curse is on a faimly responsible n now younger generation is trying to get rid of it.

Purana Mandir is without any doubt one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Bollywood horror movie ever made. Directed by the famous Ramsay Brothers, it has a powerful story that grips your attention right from the start, and never let's go.

The story concerns a demonic curse bestowed on a royal family, which forbids its daughter (Aarti Gupta) from marrying. However, she falls for Monish Behl. Before they can marry, they visit, with two friends, the old palace and the nearby temple where, hundred of years ago, an extremely macabre event had taken place...

Much of the credit for the huge success of this masterpiece has to go to the perfect musical score provided by relatively unknown music director Ajit Singh. The music is essential in making this movie genuinely frightening at times. Monish Behl and Aarti Gupta both give very sincere performances, Ajay Agarwal has a very strong screen presence as Samri, and it is a pleasure to also see veteran actor Pradeep Kumar.

The DVD recently released by Mondo Macabro (part of a 2-disc release including also Badh Darwaza) is the best this movie has looked for years. Unfortunately, it is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, but this is how the movie was originally made.

I would rate this movie right up there with Raaz as the best Bollywood has given its audience in terms of horror.

And, oh, did I forget to say that Purana Mandir also has the most beautiful and haunting love song ever to grace the Indian silver screen, sung by no other than...Ajit Singh himself.

Purana Mandir review :

A game changer for Bollywood horror genre as well as for Ramsay Brothers themselves; Purana Mandir became the standard template for horror movies for most part of the '80s and early '90s. An evil force from the past is relieved from a curse or bond and then wreaks havoc on the unsuspecting cast, heroine taking a shower at midnight, the signature tune which even made it to Zee Horror show and above all, Anirudh Agarwal as the monster. Here he was called Saamri and achieved such cult status that Ramsays made a spinoff called 3D Saamri, a year later.

Aarti Gupta looked absolutely ravishing in swim suits. She was another major contributor to the film's success. Mohnish Behl was her hero and seems he regretted doing this film later as it pushed him in to the B grade category....until Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) rescued him.

For Ramsay Brothers, Purana Mandir turned out to be a gold mine as it not only became one of the biggest hits of 1984 but also gave them a readymade plot which they milked dry for the next two decades.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.