Purani Haveli seems to be the last better flick from the House of Ramsays'. The film was released somewhere around 1989 and casts most of the actors that were simply tagged as horror veterans during the mid and late 80s. The film is long as most of the other Bollywood horror films of that time and features a mishmash of 3-4 tales, entwined with one other but they somehow work and doesn't leave the movie as boring as Ramsays' other horror films like 'Tahkhana,' 'Mahakaal,' and 'Ajooba Kudrat Ka'.
The film begins with a couple Raja (Anil Dhawan) and Rita (Priti Sapru) who unintentionally land up at a grand Haveli not really knowing its dire past. The couple succumbs to the peaceful atmosphere of the Haveli and believe that they have found a good place to spend night in the woods. As the Haveli is jinxed, the pair soon discovers that the Haveli is the lair of a wicked ghoul, who would kill anyone that comes there. Raja is soon killed by the ghost (Manek Irani, aka the notorious Billa), and Rita also meets the same consequence. We see an old man, who lives by the Haveli, somehow tackle the monster with a holy cross, then cage and lock him down in the basement.
We then see a small time photographer Sunil (Deepak Parashar), who is overwhelmingly in love with a rich lass Anita (Amita Nangiya). Ever since her parents died, Amita was looked after and brought up by her uncle Kumar (Vijay Arora). However Kumar and his wife Seema (Neelam Mehra) have spun a web of deceit and lies around Anita and are only looking for the good time to get control of Anita's financial assets. Anita trusts her uncle and aunt and never questions their intention. Seema wants Anita to get married with her brother Vikram (Tej Sapru), so that it would be easy for her to claim Anita's property. Kumar soon plans to buy a grand Haveli (yes the same Haveli) from Rana Sahab (Pinchoo Kapoor), who wants to sell it out. Kumar goes to the Haveli, but soon discovers that the Haveli is haunted. His belief is further strengthened when he finds Rana's corpse. Kumar tries to escape, but his efforts go in vain and he dies a gruesome death.
A few days later, Anita and her friends go to the Haveli to spend their break. Sunil follows Anita too but things turn badly when a stalking Vikram and his henchmen also land up at the Haveli. Vikram soon gets an opportunity and strikes Sunil making him unconscious. Sunil is dragged to the basement and is locked inside. When Sunil regains his senses, he hears some groaning noise. He comes to know that the sound is emerging from a caged room under the basement. He is about the unlock the cage when the same old man stops him from doing so. The old man reveals his name as Navin (Narendra Nath) and claims the monster to be his own son, who was hideously deformed when by mistake he and his wife had to stop at the Haveli as his wife was in labor pain and the hospital was far away. The Haveli was home to an evil spirit that possessed the sprog and since then, the old man guards people against this monster. Sunil somehow believes the old man and leaves the monster locked in the cage. The monster is mistakenly released by one of the perpetrators and the Haveli reanimates with foul incidents. Now its up to the lead cast to save themselves from monster, who won't let anyone escape from his domain.
The movie lacks constant atmosphere and most of the actors (minus the lead cast) look like rehab retards who pushily play their parts. Ramsays have once again applied the hairy monster formula, the efficacy of which fizzles out in between. The long comedy sequences and torturous parts by Satish Shah and Tina Ghai definitely prevent this to gain the 'higly recommended' status. Watch this only if you are a big fan of Deepak Parashar and Amita Nangia. Since this one is not as close to me as Ramsays' other gems like 'Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche', 'Sannata', 'Hotel', 'Dahshat' and 'Darwaza', I would give this 5/10.
