{"id":19426,"date":"2011-05-21T08:28:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T08:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=19426"},"modified":"2011-05-21T08:28:33","modified_gmt":"2011-05-21T08:28:33","slug":"i-watched-haunted-with-shyam-ramsay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/i-watched-haunted-with-shyam-ramsay\/","title":{"rendered":"I watched Haunted with Shyam Ramsay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shouldn\u2019t we feel the ghost lick us if it\u2019s 3D? Is the rape scene authentic?\u00a0Aastha Atray Banan<\/strong>\u00a0recounts the horror<\/em>
\n

\"Ghost<\/a>
Ghost buster<\/strong> Ramsay believes Haunted 3D needed more gore
Photo: MS Gopal<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nHORROR FILMMAKER\u00a0<\/strong>Shyam Ramsay seems to be an unusually generous man. He is happy to let Vikram Bhatt take credit for making India\u2019s first three-dimensional horror film,\u00a0Haunted\u00a0<\/em>3D, even though Ramsay made one way back in 1985. \u201cI made\u00a0Samri\u00a0<\/em>in 3D many years ago. It was the story of a child who turns into a demon called Samri. So, when I heard they were calling\u00a0Haunted<\/em>\u00a0India\u2019s first horror 3D, I was amused. Well, let him be happy,\u201d he smiles as we head to watch the film on a sweaty Sunday afternoon in Mumbai. The name Ramsay is film royalty when it comes to B-grade horror in India \u2014 it is the name credited with feeding our appetite for the macabre for nearly four decades now, with films like\u00a0Purana Mandir<\/em>,\u00a0Haveli<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Do Gaz Zameen ke<\/em>\u00a0Neeche<\/em>. Yet Shyam Ramsay is like a child excited at the prospect of watching\u00a0Haunted<\/em>\u00a03D. \u201cVikram is a good director, and I am sure he has done something different. There have been mixed reports about the movie, but I\u2019m sure we will have fun!\u201d he says sportingly.
\nAs fate would have it, his seat number is 13. \u201cWell, look at that!\u201d he laughs, before leaning in to ask with some shock, \u201cSo you really haven\u2019t seen a horror movie in a hall before?\u201d As one nods sheepishly, he winks in response \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t worry, and don\u2019t be scared. I am here, and ghosts are scared of me.\u201d Contrary to popular opinion that ghosts must flock to him, hankering for a role in his next film, then. And so it begins \u2014 as we put on our 3D glasses, one hopes to make it through the film without screaming. Ramsay, however, is clearly hoping someone will make him jump out of his seat. Fifteen minutes into the film, as the curiously depressed hero (played by Mimoh Chakraborty), installs cameras in his home, Glen Manor, to capture the resident ghost\u2019s movements, Ramsay is quick to point out, \u201cThis part is borrowed from\u00a0Paranormal Activity<\/em>!\u201d Shortly after, as the innocent heroine is raped by a lustful ghost in the bygone world of 1936, and Mimoh reads her letter in his present day Manor, the filmmaker sighs \u2014 \u201c…and this whole sequence is lifted from\u00a0Entity<\/em>.\u201d As the ghost finally lunges through the air with its black hair streaming across the screen, Ramsay still refuses to be impressed. \u201cDoesn\u2019t this part remind you of\u00a0The Ring<\/em>?\u201d Here is an audience member whose vast knowledge of horror films might give young Vikram Bhatt nightmares. When Mimoh screams out the evil spirit\u2019s all-too-real and banal name, the audience goes into splits. The man at our side is smug as he says\u00a0wryly<\/em>, \u201cArrey<\/em>, what sort of a name is Professor Aiyar? They are trying to be too realistic but a ghost needs a\u00a0wazandar<\/em>\u00a0name. Professor Khurana, no one would laugh at a name like that,\u201d says the Punjabi in him.
\nDuring the interval, Ramsay is pensive and seems unhappy. Are the 3D effects hard to stomach? \u201cThey are well shot, but they could have used the effects better.\u201d Is it the make-up that\u2019s making him cringe? \u201cIt\u2019s minimal, very chalky. But I like the coloured contacts they have used.\u201d It must be the music then, that is making him want to pull his hair out. \u201cThat\u2019s very disappointing. There should have been more silences because then the\u00a0dhamaka<\/em>\u00a0is better.\u201d What is causing Ramsay to mirror Mimoh\u2019s tortured expression? He seems hesitant at first, but then blurts out, \u201cThat rape scene just wasn\u2019t authentic,\u201d a dramatic pause follows. \u201cThe girl is being raped by a ghost who knows no concern, no boundaries. Then why will he not remove all her clothes?\u201d As we ponder over this slightly disconcerting question, he adds, \u201cAll her clothes should have been torn off. She should have been naked. They could have fogged it over. But you needed to give that effect that she is not wearing any clothes. Now, that would have made it truly authentic.\u201d
\nWe are trying to hide our misplaced discomfort at the suggestion when he adds some more trivia, \u201cThat bit where the spirit beheads his victims \u2014 I did that in\u00a0Purana Mandir\u00a0<\/em>back in 1980.\u201d Are we on the verge of staging a walk-out? Surprisingly, Ramsay is still optimistic, \u201cThe second half may just be better.\u201d But just a few minutes in, he shakes his head sadly. \u201cHow has the hero gone back in time? He can\u2019t change what happened in the past. How will the audience accept that?\u201d In a world where a ghost can rape a girl, and does it wrong at that, nothing seems impossible anymore. But Ramsay seems to be a strange mix of reality and the supernatural, so we stay shut. \u201cNo one will identify with this twist. How can a hero go back 85 years to save a girl? No, no, not going to work,\u201d he mumbles, almost giving up on the movie. There is a moment of redemption. As the spirit enters a woman\u2019s body and licks the girl with it\u2019s slimy tongue asking,\u201d Do you like that?\u201d and then proceeds to molest her, Vikram is back in Ramsay\u2019s good books. \u201cNow this is a sequence I like. The make-up is good. The tongue effect is also well shot, though as it was 3D, maybe we should have felt it licking us?\u201d he smiles wickedly, and we silently mouth, \u201cNo way!\u201d
\nAFTER ANOTHER<\/strong>\u00a0hour of the couple trying hard to run away from the ghost, who just seems intent on tearing off the heroine\u2019s clothes (though obviously that\u2019s not enough), the film is surprisingly tepid. Ramsay looks pretty deflated as well. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong. Vikram is a great director, but this just doesn\u2019t cut it. He tried to do something different. The fact that two ghosts \u2014 the innocent girl and the evil spirit \u2014 live in the same house for 85 years is a unique one. But I would have done three things differently. First, I would have made it scarier with more make-up, or more gore. Secondly, the music should be more haunting. Finally, and most importantly, they didn\u2019t really use 3D. It didn\u2019t matter if we were wearing 3D glasses because most of the effects don\u2019t work. If I had this medium now, I could do wonders,\u201d he adds wistfully, \u201cI do look forward to Vikram\u2019s films.\u201d While posing next to a\u00a0Haunted<\/em>\u00a03D poster later, Ramsay reveals his future plans, \u201cMy next movie is a horror musical. It\u2019s going to be very different.\u201d Was that the sound of Vikram Bhatt screaming?
\nAastha Atray Banan is a Senior Correspondent, Mumbai with Tehelka.<\/em>
\naastha@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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