Jaani Dushman (2002)

Jaani Dushman, a horror yarn from the late 70s featuring a blood-lusting, bride-snatching hairy beast, is considered by many to be a turning point in Bollywood horror in that it was the first creature feature to receive widespread box-office acceptance. Novelty value and its glittering assemblage of stars no doubt helped. JD’s success therefore heralded the wonderful wave of hairy monsters and cheesy horror that would be unleashed by the Ramsays and their disciples throughout the following decade, particularly the glorious 1980s.

This new Jaani Dushman, however, is misleading by title alone, as it has virtually nothing whatsoever to do with the original film. It really ought to have been called Naag: Nagin 2 or something equally trite. The cast is headlined by Akshay Kumar, Manisha Koirala, Aftab, Sunil Shetty and Sunny Deol among the bigger names, alongside a healthy assortment of B-grade men and plastic bimbettes.

Proceedings get underway with much friendly and inane banter at a college friend’s wedding. All the buddies and their girlfriends are present when disaster suddenly strikes. The bride and groom are inexplicably attacked by an unseen force and hurled to their deaths from a high-rise apartment bedroom. It would appear that the bride may have hailed from the Ichchadhari netherworld.

Later we are introduced to Divya (Manisha Koirala), who lapses into a thoroughly muddled and poorly handled flashback sequence explaining that she too once enjoyed a happy and carefree existence before events took a drastic turn. We learn that she was enrolled at a missionary college where there were evidently classes for mature students, explaining the presence of Aditya Pancholi and Sunny Deol among the student body.

Anyway, Divya is cornered and nearly raped by two sleazeball students. Incredibly, these are members of her own social circle. Fortunately, at the crucial moment Sunny arrives to save the day. Divya is then pleaded with to forgive the pair rather than tarnish the good reputation of the college and, amazingly, she relents.

Meanwhile, one night Divya goes sleepwalking and ends up embracing a giant gnarled tree that appears to be beckoning her with strains of music from the old Nagin film. The following day she again hears mysterious sounds calling out to her.

“Vasundra… main aoon?”

Irritated by this constant harassment, Divya demands that whoever is calling her reveal himself.

Suddenly there are flashes of light, much smoke and assorted visual confusion from which emerges a cobra that promptly transforms into a handsome young man with striking green eyes.

The stranger informs Divya that, unknown to her, she is actually Vasundra, his mate from a previous life and, more alarmingly still, that she is in fact a snake.

Divya is understandably sceptical of these revelations but the fellow insists she hear him out. He then regurgitates a mysterious tablet and asks her to swallow it in order to learn the truth. Upon consuming his “mani”, Divya is transported into another time and place where she rediscovers her true identity. She really is a snake and the green-eyed stranger Kapil is indeed her long-lost mate who has spent a century searching for her.

Kapil then explains exactly how they became separated in one of the most astonishingly bizarre scenes in the entire film.

It transpires that one fine evening the snake couple decided to perform an especially vigorous snake dance. As the dance gathers momentum they apparently decide to modernise their act because, after all, it is now 2002. The traditional wriggling gives way to a magnificent Disco Snake Dance.

Unfortunately the performance ends in disaster.

Just as the pair are really getting into the groove, the idiotic Kapil stamps his feet so enthusiastically that the earth itself collapses beneath them and the two snakes tumble directly onto an extremely irate Tantrik played by Om Puri.

The Tantrik is furious that his pratiksha has been interrupted and promptly condemns poor Vasundra to death. The snakes apologise profusely but he remains unmoved. Eventually the distraught reptiles threaten to smash their heads against nearby rocks unless he relents. After several minutes of determined head-bashing he finally softens, but by then it is too late. The curse cannot be reversed and Vasundra dies.

Kapil is informed that he must now wait until the next century before finding her again, which he solemnly vows to do.

Divya returns to her dormitory in a highly confused state and remains blissfully unaware that when her friends insist she attend a party at a particular location it is actually the same rapey degenerates from earlier impersonating her friends over the telephone in order to lure her into a trap.

A particularly unpleasant assault follows, at the conclusion of which Manisha impales herself while promising vengeance upon those responsible. Unfortunately she seems to have forgotten that only two members of the group actually deceived her.

Manisha dies again and now it is left to Kapil to exact revenge upon those involved. One by one he tracks them down, utilising his considerable snake powers to devastating effect.

The film is essentially a loose rerun of the mid-70s hit Nagin. The major difference is that in the original it was the Nagin, played by Reena Roy, who returned to avenge her slain partner. This time it is the male Naag who takes up the cause.

The entire production has clearly been manufactured as another attempt to launch the career of the producer’s son Armaan, later rechristened Munish, and on this evidence the plan doesn’t look especially promising.

The lad provides most of the film’s major laughs. His primary mode appears to be “The Matrix Snake”, complete with long overcoat and leather attire. There are scenes shamelessly lifted from The Six Million Dollar Man with the Naag sprinting at the speed of light in pursuit of justice. He can morph into living creatures, inanimate objects and practically anything else that takes his fancy. Shades of Wishmaster and Terminator 2 abound.

His body repairs itself in liquid-metal fashion after sustaining catastrophic damage. He can walk on water. He can constrict victims like an anaconda before snapping their necks with one savage jerk. Most importantly, he seems highly proficient in aerial kung fu, which is not behaviour one normally associates with snakes.

There are also numerous scenes inspired by The Mummy and its dire sequel. Indeed, a large part of the film’s entertainment value lies in spotting the various “homages”.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that snakes should never attempt to incorporate disco and break-dancing routines into the traditional snake dance. Had these two stuck to the tried-and-tested wriggling movements and finely tuned tongue action of previous generations, none of these unfortunate events would ever have occurred.

The film suffers badly from its obsession with slick action scenes and special effects at the expense of atmosphere, dread or genuine horror. It is highly derivative, thoroughly nonsensical and surprisingly cheap-looking. Even local audiences are likely to sneer at effects that were handled far more effectively in the South Indian horror hit Maa Ki Shakti several years earlier.

Hopefully Bollywood horror is not about to become too enamoured with special effects because genre fans could be in for some very testing times yet again.

Early reports suggest that the film has struggled in the more sophisticated urban centres but is receiving a far warmer reception in areas where even Mithun’s later films continue to enjoy considerable popularity. There are therefore suggestions that, despite everything, it may still prove to be a financial success.

Finally, Sonu Nigam would be best advised to remain behind the microphone rather than in front of the camera, though to be fair he is hardly worse than anybody else on display. It was nice to see old horror veterans Kiran Kumar and Raza Murad popping up in cameos but, on the whole, the new Jaani Dushman is little more than an embarrassment. Barely good for a giggle.

Do, however, keep an eye out for the new-fangled multi-religious anti-evil amulet introduced towards the end. In a country as religiously diverse as India, it could prove a very useful investment indeed.

The songs, by the way, are dreadful, though that is hardly surprising when Anand Raaj Anand is involved.