Khandala House (2008)
Cast:  Anil Dhawan, Paintal, Nafeali Khan, Meghna Patel, and Poonam Dasgupta
Director: Ravi Basera
Nutshell:  Luscious and lusting nympho must murder 13 handsome men if she is to achieve her quest for immortal youth and beauty.
Review by Omar Khan

An amorous couple return to their room at the highly upmarket Khandala House resort after a party they describe as “rocking”. Keen to keep the flames of lust and romance burning, the young lad serenades his curvaceous, sultry companion with a saxophone and song. At the same time, she dances provocatively and strikes increasingly suggestive poses.

The nymph then disappears into the washroom, where, for reasons best known to herself, she straddles a white horse to crank the lustful atmosphere up another few notches.

When she returns, the poor fellow is already in the throes of ecstasy, only for her to suddenly burst into a witchlike cackle. Understandably confused, he asks what on earth has happened to her personality, at which point she plunges into a lengthy flashback.

A long, long time ago, the beautiful Sundari Devi lived in a haveli with her ailing father. Desperate to save him from death, she summons a tantrik for help. Unfortunately, the young mystic appears rather more interested in Sundari’s cleavage than in the condition of her father and spends much of the consultation struggling to keep his eyes where they belong.

He informs her that if she truly wishes to save the old man, she must bathe in cold water and come to him at midnight.

The tantrik spends the intervening hours in mounting torment, haunted by visions of Sundari’s cleavage and eagerly awaiting the stroke of twelve. When she finally arrives, spiritual healing rapidly gives way to something altogether less sacred, and the two proceed to satisfy one another’s desires.

Meanwhile, Sundari’s doddering father somehow manages to get out of bed and stagger to the top of the haveli staircase. Hearing unmistakable sounds of his daughter cavorting with the tantrik, he promptly loses his footing and comes crashing down the stairs to his death.

So much for the cure.

Later, the tantrik reveals that he intends to transfer all his mystical powers to Sundari. He boasts that he himself has acquired eternal youth and good looks after sleeping with thirteen young women, each of whom contributed to his miraculous preservation.

Sundari immediately brightens and asks whether she too will now be entitled to thirteen handsome young studs so that she can secure eternal youth for herself.

This is not the response he was hoping for.

The tantrik informs her that she does not need anyone else because, through him, she already possesses eternal beauty. Sundari, however, is far less enthusiastic about the prospect of spending eternity with just one man. The idea of dozens of lovers appeals to her considerably more.

So she stabs him to death.

From this point onwards, Sundari becomes an insatiable nymphomaniac, embarking upon a spree of sexual debauchery with a succession of young men whom she murders once they have served their purpose.

Eventually, a concerned relative reports her activities to Sundari’s uncle, and the family seeks the help of a more senior and presumably less easily distracted tantrik. He succeeds in exorcising her and orders his followers to burn her corpse after dousing it with specially prepared mantrik oils.

Unfortunately, on the way to the funeral pyre, a violent storm erupts, and the ceremony goes badly wrong. The earth splits open and swallows Sundari’s corpse before anyone can finish the job.

Decades later, excavation work in the area uncovers her remains and, predictably enough, all hell breaks loose.

Sundari returns with a vengeance, unleashing a series of increasingly bizarre supernatural attacks that nobody seems capable of understanding, let alone stopping. Among the highlights are some spectacular scenes in which the old hag’s casket goes on the rampage through a hospital ward, leaving the entire community traumatised by the apparently limitless scope of her devilish powers.

Age may have reduced Sundari to a cackling hag, but it has done nothing to diminish her ambitions. Her desire for eternal youth remains as strong as ever. She has already killed nine young men and requires just four more before reaching the magic total of thirteen, at which point she believes she will become young and beautiful for eternity.

With the help of an old accomplice, she resumes her mission.

As the bodies pile up, one final hope remains: a much-vaunted tantrik who lives on top of a hill and is entrusted with putting an end to the horrors once and for all. His best weapon is an ancient book of scriptures discovered near the excavation site beside Sundari’s coffin.

The stage is therefore set for the inevitable battle between virtue and evil.

Unfortunately for our holy man, the odds are not encouraging. Sundari is still cackling away with great confidence and now requires only one final victim before achieving eternal youth.

The fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

Shabby, cheap and thoroughly tawdry, the film barely holds together from one scene to the next, but it eventually delivers most of the ingredients expected from Z-grade Indian horror. There is plenty of seduction, a generous helping of saucy scenes and no shortage of wild-eyed tantriks waving around lotions, potions, charms and assorted mystical trinkets.

Our witch cackles heroically throughout.

It is cheap and cheerful tripe, but not altogether unenjoyable. Fortunately, the songs are kept to a minimum, while comedian Paintal is mercifully restrained and never allowed to completely derail proceedings.

One for dedicated genre addicts, certainly.

For almost everyone else, probably not.