There are a few movies which have hosted themselves deep in my childhood memories. The Glory of Khan, The Perfect Murder(Ivory Merchant film) and Gehrayee are three of them. I watched Gehrayee for the first time when I was 14 or 15 I am not sure, on Doordarshan. It had scared me then. When I saw the DVD of this movie I grabbed it and watched it again. Today though the treatment of the film feels a little outdated, the movie can still haunt you. Gehrayee is one of those horror films which truly get under your skin. Chennabassapa (Sriram Lagoo) owns Betalnut grooves in Karnataka (I think it is South Canara). He has a loyal servant Basava who has spent his entire life nurturing these grooves. The movie begins with Chennapbasappa revealing the fact to Basava that he has sold his land to a soap factory and soon the farmland will be replaced by a soap factory. And then Chennabasappa leaves a devastated Basava behind to move to the city of Bangalore. Here he wants to live rest of his life with his wife Saroja (Indrani Mukharjee), son Nandu(Anant Nag) and daughter Uma(Padmini Kolhapuri). Soon Uma starts acting strange. Her academic performances decline. Sometimes she blurts out obscenities at length. And one night she even tries to seduce her brother Nandu. Chennabasappa consults a psychiatrist and Uma suffers through diagnosis and treatment which includes the dreaded 'shock treatment', but with little success. Now Saroja and Nandu realise that there is a supernatural element involved. With the help of their servant they seek help of Tantriks to put an end to Uma's misery. There is also in instance of Chennabasappa's infidelity in the story which complicates the plot further. Who was behind all this mayhem and does Nandu successfully find the culprit and get answers is a part that needs to be watched. The movie is almost shot completely in and around Bangalore. The Hindi composition in the movie is very South Indian which sometimes is a little irritating. But the art-house(Indian cinema saw this movement of Parallel cinema which was extremely popular during 80s) treatment given to the movie makes it one of its kind. Gehrayee is totally devoid of the loud jarry sounds, fast cuts, gory effects and campy camera work which are cornerstones of any horror movie that we know of. Do not expect an Evildead or Braindead. This is as we say in Bangalore 'Namma Exorcist'. LOL. PS: Long before the Shyamalans of Hollywood, Gehrayee introduced us to the true concept of unorthodox surprise endings!
