Kafan (1990)

The Bohra brothers were among the also-rans during the horror boom of the 80’s churning out several low-cost formula shockers. Kafan was one such effort, directed by Dhirendra while brother Virendra produced. The movie includes a cast of horror stalwarts with MacMohan, Huma and Javed Khan, and Raza Murad and Jamuna.

The film begins with a voice-over explaining how all of the universe and existence is a battle between those people like the Maha Tantrik who try to resolve problems and do good for humanity and those dastardly heathen swine who are followers of the master of darkness – the devil himself. We are introduced to a group of five Satanists who have devoted themselves to the master all these years are finally ready to move up the ladder of evil. All they have to do is find a young virgin who will then be sacrificed in a blood ritual, after which the men should assume enormous powers that will ultimately lead them to world domination!

The voice-over explains whenever there have been evildoers, they have met with forces of good and been defeated. This time a beautiful young student with a medical condition known as “intuition” is to find herself as the unsuspecting pawn in the deadly game between good and evil. The five Satanists decide to pounce on their stand in maid as the hoped-for virgin, but two of them find her utterly irresistible and rape her the night before the black magic ceremony. Because the sacrifice was not virginal, things go horribly awry and diabolical things happen with alarming regularity! Neelam is slowly taken over by the spirit of the deceased dead maid and begins to behave bizarrely indeed.

Though Kafan is a somewhat confusing jumble of ideas, somehow, it is a gripping experience, and some scenes are memorable. The film’s strength is mainly that unlike most Bollywood horror films, this one doesn’t waver from its central plot and romance and comedy play a distant second fiddle while the film’s entire focus remains on thrills and chills. The background music is wonderfully eccentric, and the horror props are deliciously wild. Some of the special effects are done in a “Coffin Joe” style and come off spectacularly well with the demonic Neelam on the attack zapping her enemies with death rays scratched onto the films enamel!

The film is full of energy and has a manic atmosphere primarily caused by the wonderful music, the feverish camera movements, and the lighting technicians’ wizardry and those responsible for the smoke machines working to great effect! It’s cheap and tacky and instead a typical formula horror movie but one of the most entertaining one’s of its kind due to the welcome relief from tedious stretches of comedy by idiots such as Jagdeep or Narendranath or Paintal or one of their ilk. The songs are kept to a minimum as the film attempts to pile on the horror rather than create more threads to the story. Another of the film’s strengths is that the film’s insane plot is all based on local customs and traditions rather than being a rehash of western horror.

Javed Khan is suitably awful as the male lead, but the seasoned Scream Queen Jamuna shows exactly why she earned that title as her own. Horror veteran Raza Murad turns in a solid performance as one of the evil Satanists, and MacMohan lends good support. Kafan, despite its formulaic plot and its cheap budget and lack of star quality, manages to surprise and proves to be one of the most entertaining Bollywood horror films of all.

The best thing about Kafan is that it has done away with those elements of desi horror that are the downfall of nearly all local horror films – no-plagiarized, rehashed scenes, no insufferable comedy and very few songs! It’s a diabolical, whacked-out, ultra-cheap, homemade roller coaster ride of cheesy horror – highly recommended.