Haveli Ke Peeche (1999)

The titles are accompanied by a typically racy, Bappi Lahiri-inspired disco theme complete with a soaring string section working overtime. This is followed by shots of a full moon, a couple of spindly wolves baying away and an owl perched ominously on a nearby branch, setting the scene perfectly for the chills to follow.

An earnest voice-over then fills viewers in on the background story. A wealthy Thakur has lost his first wife and remarried, but all the family wealth and inheritance happen to be in the name of his younger brother and the brother’s lovely wife, Madhu. Consequently, not only the family but seemingly the entire community is plotting to get rid of the unfortunate couple and claim the riches for themselves. However, strange things begin happening at night and the scheme soon starts going badly off course.

Late each evening an eerie mist rolls in and a mysterious woman in a white sari, looking remarkably like Madhu herself, can be seen striding purposefully through the darkness. At the same time, a fellow dressed in an ape suit and rubber mask dances about for reasons best known to himself.

The inhabitants of the Haveli remain blissfully unaware of the wandering apparition but are deeply troubled by the violent storms, creeping fog and sinister noises that suddenly seem to plague the area. Fearing supernatural involvement, they summon a Tantrik to investigate.

Meanwhile, the ghostly woman continues wandering through the mist singing her song of doom while glaring menacingly at the Haveli.

A murder soon follows.

The spectral woman is seen fleeing the scene.

The Tantrik is summoned again while, conveniently enough, Madhu’s husband is forced to travel away on business. The scheming family recognises the perfect opportunity and decides that the time has come to remove Madhu from the equation once and for all.

One dark and stormy night—which seem to occur with remarkable frequency in this part of the country—Madhu is assaulted by various individuals wearing cut-price costume-shop rubber masks. The experience appears sufficient to drive her completely over the edge. The family hastily disposes of her and immediately begins dreaming of the vast fortunes that will soon be redistributed in their favour.

When Madhu’s husband eventually returns from the city, the family attempts to convince him that his wife had been conducting a sordid affair behind his back and that drastic measures became necessary.

Unfortunately for them, their explanation is interrupted by the arrival of Madhu herself.

Alive.

Well.

And apparently none the worse for wear.

This naturally raises a number of awkward questions.

Is Madhu really alive?

Is she a ghost as the family insists?

Is she an impostor?

Or did the family accidentally murder the wrong person?

The answers lie at the heart of the film’s mystery and eventually the various twists and revelations come tumbling out in rapid succession.

Unfortunately, none of it is remotely convincing.

The film is an ultra-cheap, horribly acted hotchpotch of family intrigue and horror elements awkwardly welded together into something that doesn’t really work as either. The story is simply too contrived even by the standards of bargain-basement horror cinema and whether the film can genuinely be classified as horror at all is open to serious debate.

The most horrifying aspect of the production is undoubtedly the acting.

The rubber masks fail miserably as instruments of terror and no amount of fog machines, thunderclaps or white sari-clad beauties wandering aimlessly through mist-bound forests can disguise the fact that this particular Bollywood cliché had already become stale long before this film arrived.

There is not a single genuinely effective scare.

Not a single memorable monster.

Not a single worthwhile horror sequence.

This film possesses virtually no redeeming qualities whatsoever and serves as a perfect example of how badly the post-Ramsay horror scene had deteriorated. Faced with the likes of Haveli Ke Peeche, Khooni Dracula, Maut and Bhayanak Panjaa, horror fans were increasingly being forced to scrape the very bottom of the barrel.

There was a time when one dismissed Ramsay productions as cheap, crude affairs stitched together with kitchen-sink special effects and rubber monsters.

After enduring the new generation of Bollywood horror, however, one is forced to reconsider.

Suddenly the Ramsays begin looking rather good indeed.