Veerana (1988)

A beautiful young girl, unfortunately possessed from her childhood by a vengeful spirit, wanders around lonely places to seduce and kill people and thus, gradually becoming lost into a dark world of revenge and lust.

Directors:

Shyam Ramsay, Tulsi Ramsay

Writers:

J.K. Ahuja (story), Shyam Ramsay (screenplay)

Stars:

Jasmin, Hemant Birje, Sahila Chaddha

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jasmin	...	Jasmine
Hemant Birje	...	Hemant
Sahila Chaddha	...	Sahila (as Sahila Chandha)
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Thakur
Satish Shah	...	Hitcock
Rajesh Vivek	...	Baba
Roy Kamal	...	Nakita
Vijayendra Ghatge	...	Sameer (as Vijendra)
Gulshan Grover	...	Raghu
Narendra Nath	...	Psychiatrist
Vijay Arora	...	Mechanic at Petrol Pump
Rajendra Nath	...	Thakela Hotel Manager
Rama Vij	...	Preeti
Tina Ghai	...	Governess
Baby Swati	...	Young Jasmine

Storyline

After the sudden death of her dad, Sameer, and mom, Preeti, Sahila goes to live with her grandmother and cousin in Bombay. Years later, now fully matured, she returns home to Chandanagar to live with her uncle, Mahendra Pratap, and cousin, Jasmin. This is where she will be exposed to a resurrected evil witch, Nikita, who has manifested herself in the body of Jasmin. Aided by a priest named Baba, she is determined to kill each and everyone of the remainder of the Pratap family members. And there is no known power on Earth that can stop Nikita.

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Plot Keywords:

lust | mansion | woman wearing a swimsuit | spiderweb | bed | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

6 May 1988 (India)

Also Known As:

Vengeance of the Vampire

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sai Om Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was supposed to release in 1985 but was delayed by 3 years. The reason of the delay was some scene were not liked by censors. The central board of film certification demanded some of the scenes getting reedited.

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Connections

Features The Thing (1982)

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Soundtracks

Saathi Mere Saathi
Performed by Suman Kalyanpur
Lyrics by Indivar, Anjaan
Music by Bappi Lahiri
Music on Venus

User Reviews

Hokey Hindi horror.

Hindi horror Veerana opens with the hanging of an evil witch, Nakita (Roy Kamal), executed by Noble Thakur Mahendra Pratap (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) for feeding on the blood of locals. Soon after, Nakita's body is taken by her loyal followers, led by evil magician Baba (Rajesh Vivek), who performs a ritual that allows the witch's spirit to possess the body of Jasmine (Baby Swati), Thakur's ten year old daughter.

Years later, Jasmine (now played by the comely Jasmin) is still controlled by Nakita, and proceeds to exact her revenge on her unsuspecting father, and his family and friends, including his pretty niece Sahila (Sahila Chaddha), her hunky new pal Hemant (Hemant Birje), wannabe horror film director Hitcock (comedy relief Satish Shah), and servant Raghu (Gulshan Grover).

Clocking in at 135 minutes, I reckon that Veerana could have done with being at least 40 minutes shorter (although a running time of over two hours seems to be standard for this type of film); however, I still have no hesitation in recommending it to fans of the weird and wacky, the film delivering a huge helping of bonkers Bollywood excess, with, of course, a few song and dance routines along the way.

In addition to its genuinely unsettling witch, who boasts bulging red eyes and an evil grimace, Veerana delivers a little titillation (both Jasmin and Sahila showing as much skin as is permitted in such films), some really cheesy fight action, lots of hokey sets filled with tacky dime store Halloween props, strange rock-headed beings (whose stony noggins explode in the finale), impalement by golden 'Om' symbol, and a couple of truly inexplicable 'WTF?' moments (including a child playing a middle-aged man smoking a pipe, and a dead cat pulling Hitcock into the ground). Special effects are generally cheap and unconvincing, with the two best shots lifted from a couple of Western horror movies (the dog with a human head from the 1978 version of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, and the erupting eyeballs from David Cronenberg's Scanners), but the lack of technical prowess only adds to the fun.