Dahshat (1981)

Dahshat is another early Ramsay’s effort that takes its cue directly from Hammer’s Dracula series, like so much of their stuff. The opening scenes are strongly reminiscent of Dracula, Prince of Darkness, where the village horsemen refuse to take travellers anywhere near the mist bound “basti” after dark as disturbing rumours have circulated about the place.

Navin Nischal is travelling home after a seven-year break. Unfortunately for him, his ancestral home happens to be right in the vicinity of the mysterious house where strange things are supposedly going on. This mystery house in the basti (locality) is inhabited by Dr. Vishal, a full-time mad scientist with various live animals in his lab.  He uses the creatures for his warped experiments involving strangling bats in acid while removing their blood and injecting it into apes!

Dr. Vishal also wears a queer black cloak and a very poorly done bow tie, yet that isn’t quite enough to have him arrested. Nadira is the Doctor’s highly frustrated alcoholic wife who is sick to death of her husband’s experiments and constant rejection. “You devil, you maniac, you rascal”, she rants at him without the slightest response. She does, however, suspect that her husband is up to no good. Yet, nobody appears to have any evidence to suggest that Vishal is connected in any way to the succession of deaths plaguing the region.

The Doctor also has a mute (goonga) who suffers a dreadful ashen complexion and wears one of the doctors’ hand-me-down black shrouds, which makes him appear fairly menacing.

One day in a mad fit of rage, Vishal’s wife injects him with one of his deadly serums. Days later, she delights in watching him begin to sprout unsightly growths from various parts of the body.

Slowly the gruesome plot reaches its shocking conclusion as Vishal’s condition deteriorates to cataclysmic levels. Never mess with nature, it doesn’t matter where you come from or which language you speak or religion you follow….never, ever mess with nature! – One of the ten commandments of Horror Movies is that.

The make-up effects and transformation scenes are fairly hopeless but what elevates this movie from the garbage pail is the brilliant performance by Om Shivpuri as the deranged Dr. Vishal. The manic expressions, bewilderment, twitching, and frothing rages are brilliantly portrayed by this master character actor, one of the most underrated performers of his era. He single-handedly transforms a rather mediocre exercise in predictable tedium into something quite spellbinding. Alas, the film is slowed down by the inevitable song sequences and the woeful Narendranath attempts at comedy.

Om Shivpuri and, to a lesser extent, Nadira take the only acting honours though Sarika screams well and Navin Nishal was to make a home for himself on the horror circuit for the next twenty years and more. Om Shivpuri’s tour de force supported by Nadira make this film well worth watching, and the Ramsay’s, to their enormous credit, haven’t let the comedy or the song and dance take precedence over the horror. At least this time, they have their priorities right, emphasising horror and less on the padding.

Dahshat is a commendable effort from the Ramsay House of Horror with a sensational performance by Om Shivpuri.