Mahakaal

Mahakaal is a low budget horror film from Bollywood. The Directors Ramsays have made two great movies in the eighties. Purana Mandir and Veerana are example of amazing cinema for Indian horror. Mahakaal is a copy of A nightmare on Elm street part 1, 2, 3, 4 and even 5. It has elements and death scenes from all 5 sequels of the Freddy movies. The monster is a cheap version on Freddy Kruger. The star cast are all unknown B Grade actors. Only one actor that I love in this film Johnny Lever. This is a complete poor show all the way and will not appeal to anybody. Bad acting and bad directing and the audience are getting bored of cheap horror.

This was the first Bollywood movie I've ever seen, and I have read that by Bollywood standards it's considered bad, but I got a tremendous kick out of this movie.

I rented it due to the Nightmare on Elm Street link, but I was amazed just how blatant the rip-offs are. The first half of the movie follows the original film almost exactly, even in small details. The soundtrack is a light variation of the original, but there were many scenes where it sounded like not one note had been changed.

In terms of popcorn enjoyment, this movie is delightful. There's literally something for everyone: horror, music, goofy comedy, tawdry drama. There's a little bit of gore; the only missing ingredient is nudity. The murderer is at times goofy, but he has no dialog, so the horror scenes are rarely spoiled.

Most surprising of all, Mahakaal actually has a few moments where it's genuinely good. A murder involving real cobras is very creepy, and the fact that it rips of NOES' effective soundtrack helps at times to enhance the horror. There's also a very effective musical sequence in a Disco Bar that actually helps the plot, using an interesting visual technique along with catchy music.

While no classic, Mahakaal is a must for cult movie enthusiasts. Hopefully, it's release on DVD will lead to a rediscovery.

Mahakaal (The Monster) is an Indian take/ripoff of the Nightmare on Elm Street Movie.

The movie stars the quite beautiful Archana Puran Singh as Anita who gets tormented by the evil demon Shakaal, who was buried alive by her father after he had killed sacrificed several children, one being Anita's sister. Shakaal attacks Anita and her closest ones throughout the movie. Anita and her gang tries to avoid him by going on field trips and by doing a few musical numbers where they sing and dance.

The movie is made by the Ramsay brothers who might have the "honour" of being the horror kings of India. It's actually a quite decent movie visually with some colorful and creepy looking scenes. The creepiness goes quickly away however thanks to a lot of comic reliefs (and i mean A lot) and effects which are a little to simple and not so effective. They also rip off the famous soundbits from the American Freddy movies which is a good addition to this one. It also rips off a scene from Day of the Dead and a good murder scene from Nightmare on Elm Street Part III.

I wish the movie had been shorter though. Running a little over to hours is way to long for a movie like this. And there is plenty of scenes which could have been cut out. Everything including the "comic relief guy" played by Johnny Lever would have been nice since he isn't funny or have anything to add to this movie. I guess that would have made the movie 20 minutes shorter and also a much better experience. Take away the subplot with the bad dude who wants Anita as well and you got a movie that is about 80 minutes long which would be an even bigger improvement. If others feel like me then I'm sure we'll see some fanedits in the future.

There's also a problem with Hindu-Freddy. He does not speak (although he laughs a lot) or really do anything very frightening. Freddy's charisma in the American movies is one of it's biggest assets and I'm quite surprised the Ramseys didn't use that in this one. The mullet on Hindu-Freddy however gives him a little plus.

The movie was actually started on in 1988, but was put on hold when another Indian take on the Freddy movies came along called Khooni Murdaa.

Although it has it's fun parts and funny dance numbers I'd only recommend it to the ones who are curious and want to laugh at a Freddy ripoff movie. See it for the nice visual nightmare scenes and try to ignore Johnny Lever and enjoy Mahakaal.

The movie is available on a Mondo Macabre DVD which was released in the summer of '09. Support Mondo Macabre who continues to put out weird and unknown Asian cult movies! Enjoy.

Nightmare On Elm Street The Hindu musical I was hoping for a dubbed version or subtitles Because I want to understand what's being said (I'm weird like that) In fairness it doesn't really matter very much anyway Because you would have to be blind or in a coma or never seen a Nightmare On Elm Street To not know what movie they're copying Not sure why they needed a Michael Jackson copycat or so many musical numbers I did notice there was one musical number that was completely muted I'm assuming it was because of copyright issues With all that aside I don't really care it's a wildly fun and entertaining good time at the movies.

Mahakaal directed by tulsi and shyam ramsay is a horror, thriller and action film. It's an Indian adaptation of nightmare on elm's street. Ramsays are famous for directing horror movies. The problem with indian entertainment industry is that they exaggerate everything and that is where the beauty and aesthetics of film literature gets vanished. Mahabir bhullar as shakal is utilized just as a prop.. He has been given no dialogues. Non verbal roles are difficult to portray. One needs an effective script for portraying such a role. Robert Englund's Freddy is much higher in terms of performance compared to shakaal. The other characters are fine, but script and direction should have been much better. Adaptations should be of ideas. Once an idea is perceived, then it should be treated with complete originality. But anyway tulsi and shyam ramsay have tried their best to make mahakaal convincing. Shakaal could have been a simple looking villain too.