Bengaluru to get spooked and hooked; Ramsay Brothers’ Veerana to be screened on 29 October

Come Saturday, 29 October, Bollywood Crypt will screen one of Ramsay Brothers’ most popular films, Veerana, in Bengaluru. The film, released in 1988, has been restored in 2K HD from its original negatives.

Called a Night of Fright, the event will include a talk by film historian Dhruv Somani, a performance by noise artist Hemant Sreekumar, and a stall selling merchandise inspired by their films.

Also involved with Bollywood Crypt is Deepak Ramsay — son of Tulsi Ramsay and nephew of Shyam Ramsay, the duo who directed films under the Ramsay Brothers banner — who will also grace the event. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap will be the chief guest.

A precursor to Ramsay Film Festival

Horror film fanatic Sandesh Shenoy. (Supplied)

“The event is a precursor to the Ramsay Film Festival being planned in different cities next year,” Shenoy told South First.

The Ramsays were the contemporaries of legendary Italian horror filmmakers like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. The brothers did some incredible work on lighting, sets and scripts but never got their due credit.

“They deserve the respect and credit for their contribution to the genre. This is my way of acknowledging their brilliance,” Shenoy hastened to add.

He also runs Cyclopean Eye Productions, a Metal and Electronics music label. The Night of Fright film festival marks a collaboration between Ramsay House of Horror, Mondo Macabro, and Bollywood Crypt.

Even as Ramsay Brothers’ horror movies garnered commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, they were considered crude and B-grade films. The low-budget flicks followed a typical formula of sex, gore and comedy, and got the masses hooked.

Back in 1991, Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay directed Inspector Dhanush starring the revered late Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan in the leading role.

“Around six years ago, Deepak tied up with Mondo Macabro and released the DVDs of films like Veerana, Purana Mandir, Tahkhana, Band Darwaza, Purani Haveli, and Mahakaal,”  Shenoy recalled.

A still from ‘Veerana’. (Supplied)

“These DVDs are not available as they got sold out on their platform. Now, some of these DVDs are being sold by individuals on e-commerce portals like eBay, priced anywhere between US $150-200.”

Seven of Ramsay films restored

Mondo Macabro is a US-UK-based video label which brings old forgotten horror films back into the spotlight.

The company has now restored seven Ramsay Brothers’ films: Veerana, Purana Mandir, Purani Haveli, Saamri, Aatma, and Band Darwaza. It is also releasing these flicks as a Bollywood Box Horror set.

“For Mondo Macabro to be restoring Ramsay films is quite noteworthy,” Shenoy said, with a tinge of pride in his voice.

People in Bengaluru will be lucky to watch Veerana on Blu-ray, much before anybody else in the world, the horror-film aficionado added.

Deepak Ramsay, son of Tulsi Ramsay and nephew of Shyam Ramsay. (Supplied)

Also, he felt the need to go beyond merchandise to promote the genre. “I feel that it can’t be just merchandise. It has to be something special that is better than the original film.”

“People in Bengaluru will watch the film on 29 October, whereas Mondo Macabro is releasing the box set on 31 October,” he informed.

The restored version of Veerana in 2K HD will be a delight for the viewers. “We were lucky. Not much deterioration happened in the case of Veerana, but certain scenes had to be restored,” Deepak Ramsay, who directed the well-known Zee Horror Show on TV in 1993, told South First.

“Its colours will be sharper and it will look more gorgeous. Horror sequences which were underdone at that time will come out as more powerful.”