Daayan (1998)

Angel faced Tony is delighted as he leads his gorgeous new wife Julie to the bedroom.  He gulps a double shot of whiskey for courage and forces Julie to indulge as well.  Tony’s foreplay skills leave Julie in a state of heightened passion, writhing in unbridled ecstasy.  Just as she expects Tony to transform her to another level, Tony runs out of steam, failing to rise to the occasion.   Julie eggs him on but Tony has run out of gas at which point a highly frustrated Julie lashes out at him, accusing him of impotence.  She accuses him of deceiving her into marriage abusing him by referring to him as a “she-male” (hijra) and a “namard”. 

A mortified Tony’s pride stands shattered and he proceeds to stop her from outing him by dousing her with the petrol his brother hands him and sets her alight as his family watches approvingly.  The police arrive the following day and are satisfied that poor Julie succumbed to a horrible accident due to a short circuit in the bathroom.

Tony’s family is adamant that he finds himself another bride right away because in desi tradition, the elder brother must marry before the rest of his siblings can follow.  They suggest Lily, an open-minded beauty who will be a better match for Tony than the unfortunate Julie had been.  Moments later, Tony ties the knot with Lily, and once again, there is much wild, passionate foreplay, but when push comes to shove, Tony cannot perform. Lily is left complaining, “main ne to itna entertain kiya, aur tum ne mujhe compliment tak nahi diya!”  She realizes her husband cannot perform. Though highly frustrated, she tells him that she is an open-minded girl, “Main bohot adjusting qism ki larki hoon” and will find some way of adjusting to continue as a couple. 

Tony seems relieved and quite happy as he enjoys his morning tea the following day, but his sister interrupts and informs him that his new wife is making out with some young man in his bedroom.  Tony calmly goes to check things out to find that a young stud is indeed in his bed, enjoying the fruits of the new bride.  He lets fly at the young man in a rage only to have the tables badly turned on him as the man turns out to be a martial arts expert and beats the daylights out of Tony.  A furious Tony pounces on his opportunity and electrocutes Lily, taunting her for the “adjustment” she was trying to make with the young stud.  With two dead wives in a matter of days, Tony is fraught with guilt and refuses to marry ever again despite his mother egging him on. There are prophetic words from Tony (Raj Kiran), who begs his mother not to force him into marriage again because the burden of his conscience is threatening to drive him insane. 

Today Raj Kiran, in reality, resides in an asylum in the United States, unable to cope with the depression caused by a fall from stardom to playing roles in a film as Daayan.  It often has a crippling effect on the ego when a celebrity fades, and depression is pretty standard.  Though Daayan is a scintillating film, for the likes of Raj Kiran to have to be a part of it means the darkest days were upon him by 1998.  Time is relentless, especially brutal to those accustomed to youth-based stardom.

Events on screen take a turn for the fascinating as the resident witch squatting in some semi dilapidated house in the forest uses her powers to conjure “shaitaan”.  Shaitaan is the witches right-hand man and wears a court jesters outfit that would be quite at home on the stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race and wears the most splendid and fearsome Rubber mask.  He has immense physical strength, and his job is to supply the witch with fresh hearts to suck on as she requires. He is most adept at plunging his claws through a human chest and removing the heart, dripping with blood and resembling a bath sponge. Still, it certainly excites and satisfies his master, who appears to have taken lessons from Raven for her perfect make-up look.

Julie returns from her grave wearing a white sari and singing “Aaja re” songs of vengeance, and soon enough, things start going awry, and one by one, Tony’s family whittled away with their hearts serving as dinner for the cackling Raven-like witch. 

The police are increasingly suspicious of Tony and believe the two girls, Julie and Lily, met with some foul play rather than the accidents as claimed by the family. As they investigate, they discover a strong rumour in the area that a vengeful witch has already feasted on 97 freshly killed hearts. When her count reaches one hundred, she will attain immortality and rule the area like the local Kaptaan.

A man named Peter, whose brother is one of the 90 odd victims, claims he can see the ghosts (I see dead people!), and now he assumes the role of saviour and begins his quest to seek and destroy Raven, the wicked witch before she can acquire three more hearts.

Tony, the serial wife murderer, also joins the effort but is no match for Shaitan and the witch. Thanks to some timely advice from Father William (Satyen Kappu) and an amulet, he can make some headway and track the witch.

The film builds towards an exhilarating crescendo with a battle to death looming between the forces of good and evil.  Slightly strange is that a serial murderer is playing for the “good” team against Shaitaan, the priyatatmas (ghosts) and the wicked witch. 

Dayaan is a fabulously awful but deliciously entertaining film with a series of quite astonishing scenes that should have audiences weeping in delight in spasms of unintentional laughter.  Shaitaan is a scene-stealer though each cast member turns in an excellent performance as well.  Admirers of cinematic atrocities must not miss this marvel of a film that holds its head high and proud, deservedly so even if it sent poor Raj Kiran to his unfortunate demise. 

An atrocious yet marvellous film from beginning to end.  Shakti Kapoor’s name is prominent in the cast and it turns out he delivers a particularly tedious qawwali number and vanishes thereafter.  Jyoti Rana excels as the vengeful second wife but top honours go to the hulking rubber faced shaitan who is outstanding. 

It remains mystifying that the film makers chose to leave Raj Kiran, a serial murderer to live happily ever after with his latest bombshell of a wife and doesnt face justice from either the witch, Rubber face or from Harry the cop.  Just a minor blemish in an otherwise breathtaking social horor film dealing with such sensitive issues as Male Impotence and its horrific outcome.  Not one to miss.