Darwaza 1978

[Victoria Steigerwald]

RamsayBrothers are seven brothers and sons of filmmaker Fatehchand U. Ramsinghani (a.k.a. F.U. Ramsay). The Ramsay family moved to India from Karachi (now in Pakistan) to Bombay during the Partition of India.

Way back in 1972, Indian movies had a budget of Rs. 50 lakhs (Rs. 5 million) and it would take a year for principal photography and post-production. They made Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neechey on a minuscule budget of Rs. 3.5 lakhs (Rs. 350,000) (USD 8000) in 40 days in a government guest house with rental cameras and equipment. The movie was a box-office success and Ramsay Brothers became the pioneers of horror offering classic cult horror films.

Many of the following Ramsay movies received criticism for its poor content. In 1978, they released Darwaza (The Door), a pure Ramsay-style horror that scared the audiences. Purana Mandir (The Old Temple) released in 1984 was one of the biggest hits by Ramsay Brothers and it voted among the top cult horror classics.

In 1988, Ramsay Brothers outperformed themselves with Veerana (The Ruins). The movie had an ensemble cast, good songs and loads of horror to scare the audience. In 1989, they released Purani Haveli (The Old Mansion) followed by Bandh Darwaza (The Closed Door) in 1990. By this time, Ramsay Brothers had established themselves as the Kings of Horror in the Indian film industry.

During the early 90s, the television space expanded with the rise of satellite private channels offering fresh content for its viewers. Ramsay Brothers moved to television shows and they were also pioneers of horror on the small screen. Conventional Indian TV series were family-based dramas and kid shows until the 1990s. The insanely popular The Zee Horror Show on Zee TV was the first of its kind television series. It was for the first time ghost-based horror stories were reaching into Indian homes. The rising TRP rating was encouraging enough for them to expand and create new horror TV series like Anhonee (Impossible) which would focus on supernatural stories. The Zee Horror Show ran for 364 episodes from 1993 to 1998 eventually inspiring other producers and production companies to step into the horror genre.

I find it so difficult to imagine classic horror films made in India. Now some of the true life terror stories about trials and living conditions, underworld conditions- those are horrific enough for me. I never knew about these brothers but I am certain my son does.

I decided to write about this because these were the horror movies I saw in my childhood and sometimes I would piss in my pants as well. These movies now seem like comedies now because we have better technology and equipment today, but I still love classic movies of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s because it has better content. I also listen classic music. I still have songs of MJ, Madonna, Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton, Eagles, and so many great classic artists.

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