Purana mandir

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.

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.

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!!!

After destroying a deadly demon, a royal family trying to guard the release of the demon to continue a horrific curse on their lineage learns the daughter and her friends are heading to the area to investigate the claims and inadvertently awaken the demonic entity locked away forcing them to stop it.

There's quite a lot to like with this one. Among the more impressive aspects to it is the grand backstory that manages to incorporate plenty of likable elements into the story. Involving plenty of fun with the story involving the original means of the curse being inflicted against them due to the opening prologue featuring the race to capture him and detailing what type of demonic being he is before being put to death with the curse over the family, this starts with a rather intriguing starting point. By then tying this with the incorporation of the demonic entity resurrected to take the family down and forcing the relative to capture it before the curse that strikes his family throughout the generations which comes into play here with the current generation aware of everything that's transpired and determined to prevent the demonic entity from being released. This includes the treatment towards the boyfriend who's an outsider and unaware of what's going on and the resulting trip to the fateful location to ensure the storyline comes off well-integrated overall. With the introduction of their trip out to the palace to put an end to the curse once and for all, the switch into more ethereal and ardent genre territory becomes rather fun. The mindset of the curse playing heed to their journey makes the attack on the father or their struggles to reach the location start on a nice note, while the Gothic ambiance that occurs once they arrive sets this off on a chilling note. The investigation through the fog-shrouded countryside that allows for creepy visions and hallucinations to play out is a fine touch as that carries over into the continuing visions she has the longer they stay where the distorted face of the demonic entity appears to her over and over in various places. When it finally dawns on everyone what's going on as the body is stolen and reunited with the severed head, the film picks up considerably with the action in the finale as the reborn figure attacks the house which leaves this one with a frantic race to stop him involving a series of elaborate dances and rituals to control his power once and for all. Overall, these all make for a solid genre outing, even though this one does have a few drawbacks holding it down. One of the main factors with it is the unnecessary use of including the third storyline about the best friend making a deal with the criminal to keep escaping custody of the village tribe looking to secure his punishment for numerous crimes around the village. This serves no purpose in the film with the characters not needing to be featured at all for not interacting with the main cast, offer up nothing but cringe-inducing attempts at comedy with the mugging, exaggerated voices, and comic misunderstandings, and the sheer incompetence of the criminal is matched only by the incompetence of the village who fail to catch him. That they can't spot what's going on with the constant rescues and attempts to return him for more money makes little sense, and in the end, all it does is drag the running time out by featuring this unnecessary subplot. The other slight issue here is the seemingly bizarre means of acceptance that goes on with how the boyfriend is brought on board with the curse as the entire first half is spent getting him away from her only to accept him out of nowhere after witnessing them on a date so their sudden reversal makes for a bizarre change of behavior to what's been established. Otherwise, there's not much holding this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

Yeah.. as a horror movie buff... seeing both Hollywood and Bollywood horror flicks, I would say that PURANA MANDIR is the best Indian horror film ever made, or at least, I have seen. The theme is great, the props, though cheesy, are creepy enough, the demon is really scary, the songs are good and the plot is plausible (for a change). The movie moves at a fast pace and there is never a moment of boredom, excepting some comic interludes. Ajit Singh, a nightclub singer, a talented music director (of very few films) and a true-blue Indian prince, manages to come with really hummable songs, including the signature song, WOH BEETEY DIN YAAD HAI, especially the version which Ajit Singh sings himself. A touch of eroticism in the movie is enough to titillate the audience. A watchable horror movie, by any standards. At least there is no vampire or werewolf theme, which Hollywood seems to specialize in .. Even though more than 20 years have passed since the movie was released, it has not dated.. there is nothing to date in the movie, excepting, perhaps the clothes that the lead pair wore and the car they drove. The movie has some really scary moments.. and I would really recommend it to all horror movie fans.