PURANA MANDIR (THE HAUNTED TEMPLE)
Color, 1984, 144 mins. 17 secs.
Directed by Shyam & Tulsi Ramsay
Starring Ajay Agarwai, Mohnish Bahl, Arti Gupta, Puneet Issar

VEERANA (VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE)
Color, 1988, 140 mins. 20 secs.
Directed by Shyam & Tulsi Ramsay
Starring Jasmin, Hemant Birje, Sahila Chaddha
Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray & DVD) (US R0 HD/NTSC)

The wild Ramsay Purana MandirBrothers have become synonymous with outrageous Indian horror films, Purana Mandirwith Shyam and Tulsi among the siblings lending their names to some of the best-loved albeit controversial titles that peaked in the 1980s and early '90s. Several of their films have been favorites in the U.S. since their DVD releases as a series of Bollywood Horror Collection double features from Mondo Macabro circa 2009, with six of them later upgraded to Blu-ray in 2023 as a direct-sale limited set from the label (with another, Mahakaal, migrating over to Massacre Video). For anyone who missed out on the box, the first two chronological films in the set have been released as standalone Blu-rays and make for a fine introduction to the flamboyant Ramsay style. Bear in mind that means you get the obligatory musical numbers, action scenes, and broad comic relief to appeal to mainstream audiences, but they also deliver the blood-and-thunder monster goods in bucketloads.

One of the Ramsays' biggest box office hits, Purana Mandir (or The Ancient Temple, or now The Haunted Temple) features Ramsay regular Ajay Agarwai as a vicious monster-- in this case Samri, a baby-eating, tourist-slashing fiend who gets rounded up and beheaded by angry villagers. To be safe, the fiend's head is taken away and Purana Mandirhidden somewhere in the Raja's temple to stop him from reconstituting. Two centuries later, Suman (Gupta) is in love Purana Mandirwith Sanjay (Bahl), the young descendant of the beheaders; naturally her father (Kumar) discourages the union. The reason? A nasty curse is hanging over the family; namely, all the women turn into demons after giving birth. Instead of breaking up, the couple end up heading to the temple with two friends to end the curse-- of course accidentally instigating the reunion of Saamri's head and body, now free to terrorize the countryside.

As representative of '80s Bollywood horror as you could possibly want, Purana Mandir spends a bit more time on character development and romantic subplots than the average Ramsay fare but still delivers where it counts, particularly in the rousing final third when Saamri really cuts loose on the entire cast. Once again the Western influence is evident from the '80s horror-style soundtrack to the heavy doses of neon-colored stage blood (including a bloodbath scene that dances around censorship Purana Mandirstandards of the time), and the colorless lead characters don't have a chance compared to the flamboyant villain. The Purana Mandirsongs are actually quite good and not intrusive; it's no wonder the soundtrack EP was also quite popular and is still a readily available digital item today.

Unfortunately the film hasn't been taken care of as lovingly over the decades as it deserves, with the ravages of time on the negative including water staining and other discoloration issues. The DVD was rather soft and dated, presented full frame as originally shot and featuring optional English subtitles along with the featurette, "Freddie, Jason and... Sammri: The Ramsays and the Birth of Bollywood Horror," which covers the Ramsays' pre-'90s horror career (mostly focusing on Purana Mandir). The Mondo Macabro episode on "South Asian Horror" broadens the territory a bit with a half-hour overview of unique Eastern terror from India, Pakistan, and surrounding countries, with loads of poster art, stills and clips. Additional text extras ("About Bollywood Horror" and "Ramsay Family Values") provide additional details beyond the featurettes, written in MM's usual insightful style. The Blu-ray can only do so much with the film in its current state but looks much, much better than the DVD, with finer detail throughout. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 Hindi mono track sounds okay for what it is, with the usual optional English subtitles. In the sole video extra here, VeeranaTim Paxton Veeranapresents an optional 4m7s "Bollywood Horror" intro explaining how to approach the film's curious technical approach and injections of humor as well as appreciating its significance in to the local horror genre and the reasons for its enduring popularity.

Released four years later after dealing with censorship hassles for quite a while, Veerana is a powerhouse Indian riff on the old "witch-demon returns from the dead after being executed" trope that's been around since Black Sunday and Horror Hotel. However, this time the presence of screen siren Jasmin really kicks the proceedings into high gear as she seduces men willy-nilly and occasionally turns into a creepy bug-eyed wraith. In this case she's possessed by the spirit of Nikita, a voluptuous witch defeated during a sexy bathtub ambush, whose disciples decide it would be a great cosmic joke to place her soul into the daughter of the local thakur responsible for the inquisition, using locks of the innocent girl's hair. As she reaches maturity, no one seems to be the wiser as the possessed girl goes about her grim business, picking off locals in cobweb-shrouded palaces. (The character's Veerananame is Jasmin, too, which probably Veeranaresulted in a lot less confusion on the set.) Usually the routine seems to involve her seducing a man while surrounded by candelabra, only to turn into the gross-looking witch monster who likes to suck blood out of her victims' wrists. Meanwhile the disciples stay busy praying to a giant, flame-adorned demon in a nearby cellar before the townspeople gradually wake up and realize what's going on for the big action showdown.

If that doesn't sound wild enough, Veerana (which has nothing to do with vampires despite its DVD title translation, a bit of bloodsucking aside) also tosses in a hammy horror writer (whose latest book instigates a "huh?" clip from the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers), a possessed TV set, an overactive fog machine, a funk-scored spear fight with a bunch of monks, and lots of fluffy '80s hairstyles. How could you possibly resist? Though Indian films still prohibit actual kissing or overt nudity, this is much sexier than the usual Ramsay offering thanks to the premise, which often feels closer to an Italian gothic in flavor. Obviously, you won't be Veeranabored for a Veeranaminute.

Luckily Veerana has been stored in much better condition and looks gorgeous on the Blu-ray, which offers a substantial upgrade over the already pretty solid DVD. Colors look great here, detail improves, black levels appear to be fine, and the DTS-HD MA 2.0 Hindi audio sounds good with the English subtitles pretty much the same as before. Some fleeting stains and other flaws do pop up a bit here along with the baked-in issues with opticals like the main titles, but this is surely as good as it could look. In addition to the wild trailer, Paxton turns up here for an informative 6m24s breakdown of the film and its censorship hassles, all while comically dealing with a very uncooperative poster behind him.

Reviewed on October 28, 2025