Bandh Darwaza (The Closed Door) Had Just a Hint Of Incest

Posted by Red Claw

The Indian horror films industry has evolved a lot. But decades ago, not many people took horror films seriously, more so, they didn’t take Bollywood horror seriously. That’s because what could be the scariest horror movies turned out to be laughable because of the non available of funds. So, most people just ignored the new horror films coming up. Therefore, there was an ‘anything goes’ mentality even in the best horror films. Bandh Darwaza is the perfect example of this.

Bandh Darwaza Synopsis:

A Thakur and a Thakurain have been trying for a child since a long time but to no avail. A servant tells the Thakurain about Nevla, a mystic character who stays in the hills, named Kaali Pahadi. She says that Nevla will give her the boon, but she will have to sacrifice her first-born to Nevla. She agrees and when she goes to pray to him, she is part of an intricate ceremony where he straight up impregnates her. Now, the woman’s motherly instincts come up and she refuses to give up the child. The servant kidnaps the child and brings her to Nevla, but is saved in the nick of time by the Thakur. How the Thakurain’s one moment of weakness wrecks havoc for the Thakurs and their relationships form the rest of the story.

Bring the Ramsay Story Home

Bandh Darwaza Review:

Bandh Darwaza is Bollywood horror gold. At the cusp of the new decade, the Ramsays have definitely laid their hands on newer, better technology to make a better product. Bandh Darwaza is one of the first films where we see Anirudh Agarwal’s face clearly. This could be mainly because of Srinivas Roy, the make-up artist getting a better material to work with.

Bandh Darwaza is also important because it is one of the first films to give a human and highly visible body form for the antagonist. There’s no longer a need to hide behind smoke, bad lighting and all that – the golden era of Bollywood did peak with the Bollywood horror film Bandh Darwaza. T K Desai comes up with an amazing art direction. The props, the temple and others are perfect for the 90s brand of Bollywood horror.

Anirudh Agarwal’s ‘Nevla’ look in Bandh Darwaza is the iconic Bollywood horror look that has been replicated several times. Bandh Darwaza is also another Ramsay film that thanks Jawahar Mills. The other Ramsay film that thanks Jawahar Mills is ‘Veerana’, released in 1988.

The film stars Vijayenra Ghatge and Beena. Vijayendra Ghatge starred in some other Bollywood horror films too. Fun Fact: On the day of writing this article, Ghatge’s ~~daughter~~, niece, Sagarika Ghatge got engaged to Zaheer Khan. Other than these two, the only two recognisable faces are Kunika (now Kunika Lal), Johnny Lever and Aruna Irani.

Parting Shot:

But it’s 2017 and we have all grown up. We cannot ignore the fact that the film has some straight up incest. Think about it, Nevla impregnates the Thakurain and she has a daughter. He captures the daughter and then tries to impregnate her. Anywhere else in the world and this would’ve caused an uproar – we all know what’s up with Manos: Hands of Fate, right?