Purani Haveli (film)

Infobox Film
name = Purani Haveli
imdb_id = 0260303


writer = J. K. Ahuja
Arjun Ramsay
producer = Gangu Ramsay
director = Shyam Ramsay
Tulsi Ramsay
starring = Deepak Parashar
Amita Nangia
Neelam Mehra
Vijay Arora
Tej Sapru
Satish Shah
music = Ajit Singh
released = 1989
language = Hindi
Urdu

"Purani Haveli" is a 1989 Hindi horror film presented by the Ramsay brothers.

Plot

The film opens with a young couple Raja (Anil Dhawan) and Rita (Priti Sapru) driving through a dense forest at night. Tired and sleepy, they decide to stop for the night, and find a "haveli" (mansion) nearby. They somehow wander into the "taekhana" (dungeon) of the "haveli", relax, make love and eventually fall asleep. Around midnight, they awake to a knocking sound; when they investigate, a terrible monster (Manik Irani) brutally murders them. An old man (Narendra Nath) suddenly appears, albeit too late, and checks the monster with a cross; he eventually traps the onster into an underground cage and attaches the cross to the lock to keep it from escaping.

The film moves into the lives of a sniveling industrialist Kumar (Vijay Arora), his cunning wife Seema (Neelam Mehra) and their niece Anita (Amita Nangia). Kumar’s brother and his wife were killed in a car accident; their vast estate is held in trust by Kumar until Anita comes of age. Kumar and Seema are intent on milking the estate (by asking a naïve Anita to sign checks for vast sums); and Seema wishes her good-for-nothing brother Vikram (Tej Sapru) to wed Anita so they can gain full control over the estate. Anita, however, falls in love with a photographer Sunil (Deepak Parashar) and refuses Vikram’s clumsy and boorish advances anyway. Seema intervenes and firmly pulls rank over Sunil: Anita is of noble birth (her father was a "thakur", a local earl) and a "do kaudi ka" (inferior two bit) photographer should not dream of acquiring her riches by marrying her. Unable to speak for herself, Anita resigns to the decision, plunging both of them into despondence.

Kumar arranges to purchase the very same "haveli" from an old fellow industrialist Rana Saheb (Pinchoo Kapoor); both of them are unaware of the monster. The two of them visit the place to finalize the deal where they find their servant has been murdered; and the two of them are eventually murdered by the evils of the "haveli".

Seema is unaware of this, and arranges to visit the haveli with Vikram. Around the same time, mutual friends of Sunil and Anita arrange for both of them to visit the haveli so they can be together. Thus a twenty something group of folks arrive at the haveli in the summer.

Things get interesting when one of Vikram"s friends is attacked and garroted by an anthropomorphic iron statue in the main hall of the haveli. (The monster and its evil control this statue and other objects in the mansion.) Deepak subsequently spots the old man (Ajit, from the first sequence) surreptitiously wandering the halls and gardens of the haveli. They eventually accost him, but he warns them against the evils of the haveli and urges them to leave the place.

Seema and Vikram get increasingly frustrated: Anita is about to come of age and reclaim her estate, and Vikram remains unsuccessful at wooing her. Seema hatches a plot: she lures Sunil into the "taekhana" (dungeon) where Vikram attacks him from behind; they lock up the taekhana and leave an unconscious Sunil to die there. They figure that Anita, knowing Sunil is dead, may eventually agree to wed Vikram.

Sunil recovers in the "taekhana" and wanders around until he comes upon the cage. He is about to remove the cross when the old man suddenly appears and stops him from doing so. He leads Sunil out of the taekhana and narrates the story of the haveli. Twenty years ago, the old man was driving through a stormy night with his wife (in labor, and immediate need of a doctor). Overwhelmed by the storm, he stopped midway, spotted the haveli, and sought assistance there. A nun at the haveli informed him the haveli was home to a napaak aatma (evil soul) and that he should leave immediately: under no circumstances should his wife deliver there. The man dismissed these rumors, cited his wife’s imminent health concern and prevailed upon the nun to assist his wife in delivering the child. The nun agrees, but true to her word, the aatma kills the woman at childbirth and possesses the newborn child. The child is born a disfigured and horrible creature. The nun advises the man to lock the child in the dungeon and check with the cross. Since then, the man has been around the haveli to ensure nobody visits or remains there lest they tempt the vicious monster. Sunil digests this, albeit still a bit skeptical, and agrees to assist the old man and remove everyone from there as quickly as possible.

Seema and Vikram barely cease their plotting. Vikram re-enters the taekhana to locate Sunil (or his remains). He stumbles upon the cage and unknowingly releases the monster. The monster goes on a violent rampage. It chases and kills people, including the old man, Seema and Vikram. Sunil, Anita and a couple of others lure it through the forest and into an old church. Sunil discovers that holy elements (crosses, holy water and visible images of Jesus) present fatal weaknesses to the monster. The three friends apply all these elements and drive it out of the church; and with a spark of divine intervention, a large cross atop the church falls out and impales the monster, eventually killing it.

The film ends with Sunil and Anita lighting candles at the church and starting a new life together.

Cast

*Deepak Parashar ... Sunil
*Amita Nangia ... Anita
*Satish Shah ... Mangu / Kala Gangu
*Neelam Mehra ... Seema Kumar
*Vijay Arora ... Kumar
*Tej Sapru ... Vikram
*Pinchoo Kapoor ... Rana Saheb
*Narendra Nath ... Navin the old man
*Manik Irani ... Monster
*Raj Kishore ... Badshah Khan
*Bhushan Tiwari ... Daambhar Singh
*Leela Mishra ... Kala Gangu's Victim