Darna Mana Hai - Part 1

Horror movies are the world of their own. They breed on our fear. I have loved the thrill of seeing a good horror movie. Feeling scared, the sweat and the heartbeats. A walk down memory lane for the best in Hindi and Hollywood horror movies.

Mahal (1949)
Ashok Kumar and Madhubala in classic about a haunted mansion. The movie was known for the haunting song by Lata mangeshkar, “Aayega aayega aanewala” Ashok Kumar following the voice through the maze of the huge mansion. A person on the swing disappears when Ashok Kumar reaches the swing. The movie was kind of love story with a tragic ends. Ashok Kumar plays a lawyer who inherits a mansion. He sees a portrait on the wall of a woman who is the mistress of the builder. The Builder and the mistress have committed suicide. The lawyer becomes infatuated with the woman in the portrait and also sees her in the mahal. The ghost of the woman asks her to die or get married to her reborn form who is now the caretaker’s daughter. The directorial debut of Kamal Amrohi, the movie manages to keep the tension till the end. The end is somewhat dramatic and tragic. Kamal Amrohi went on to make “Paakeezha” later
Rating: 8 Out of 10

Madhumati (1958)
My friend’s dad saw this movie more than 40 times in the theatre. Not in the same year it was released, but over the years when the movie got re-released. Dilip Kumar, Vyjantimala, a good mystery with the right amount of ghost factor and some very good songs makes the movie memorable. An artist, Dilip Kumar visits a jungle where he meets Madhumati, a tribal girl. Both fall in love. But Madhumati disappears and Dilip kumar goes insane. He see Madhumati again but she turns out to be another girl, Madhavi (Vyjantimala in a double role). Dilip Kumar believes that the villain has kidnapped Madhumati and ask Madhavi to help him out. They plan to dress Madhavi into Madhumati’s clothes. The villain does confess of killing Madhumati in front of Madhavi. And then as the police take the villain away, Madhavi comes to the scene apologizing for coming late because of a broken car. So if Madhavi was late, who was with the villain? Bimal Roy directed this story of reincarnation. Using lights, sound and brilliant story telling capability the movie becomes a classic horror cum love story. Another plus feature of the movie were the songs, music given by Salil Choudhury Songs like “Suhana Safar”, “Aaja re Pardesi” and “Dil tadap tadap ke” have become all time hits.
Rating: 9 out of 10

Bees saal Baad (1962)
A landlord rapes a peasant daughter. She commits suicide and days later the landlord is killed believed to be killed by the ghost of the peasant woman. The son is also killed in a similar way. And the mansion where they live is labeled as haunted haveli and believed to have a curse on it. Years later their grandson returns to claim what is rightfully his. Everybody warns him of the curse on the Haveli. Granson played by Biswajeet hires a detective to investigate the spooky happening around the mansion. He falls in love with a local doctor’s daughter, Waheeda Rehman. A man is found dead wearing Biswajeet clothes and then the search starts for the killer. The movie was a murder mystery with the horror ingredients. The swamp, the fog and the tall grass makes the athmosphere eerie. The movie had excellent music by Hemant Kumar. It had the evergreen song used and reused many times for showing ghost, sung by Lata mageshkar, “Kahi Deep jale kahi dil”. It was directed by Biren Nag. The same team made “Kohraa”two years later
Rating: 7.5/10

Kohraa (1964)
Biswajeet and Waheeda Rehman team again with Hemant Kumar and directed again by Biren Nag in almost a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca”. Poonam, wife of Biswajeet has an affair with another man. One night she goes to meet her lover and is killed. Biswajeet moves on with his life. He meets Waheeda Rehman, falls in love and marries her. Waheeda comes to the old house where she finds Poonam after her death still has an effect on the house and servants. Trouble starts when Poonam’s ghost returns to haunt Waheeda. The movie is a psychological horror and murder mystery. The ghost of Poonam starts to affect the life of Waheeda Rehman driving her to insanity and suicide. The movie again had good songs from Hemant Kumar. The most memorable of them was “Yeh Nayan dhare dhare” sung by Hemant Kumar himself.
Rating: 8/10

To Be Continued………..