Mahakaal

Mahakaal (1993)

Runtime: The version I saw was 129 minutes long; there's a cut out there that's like 145 minutes long

Directed by: Shyam Ramsay/Tulsi Ramsay

Starring: Karan Shah, Archana Puran Singh, Johnny Lever, Mayur Verma, Reema Lagoo

From: Cine Films

Would you believe that this is a Bollywood remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street... or that there was several different remakes of that in India? Well, this would be the most famous one to Western audiences and as I've known of it for years and it can be watched on YouTube, that is what I watched last night and it was as wacky as you'd expect. I talk about it below in my Letterboxd review: 

For years now I have heard that there's an Indian version of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Actually, I have heard that there's more than one of those, but this-also known as Mahakaal-is the one most known to Western audiences. Well, as the DVD of it on Amazon (paired with another film) goes for over 100 bucks (!), that is why I-ahem-watched it on YouTube. Lord, what an experience. Let me list some highlights:

* Aside from it being upper class Indian college attendees, it follows the original Fred Krueger movie rather closely.

* As it's from India, of course there are random song and dance numbers throughout, none of which feature Indian Freddy Krueger, sadly.

* The first dream scenes we witness are in an abandoned place with giant chains hanging from the ceiling and fog all around... so basically, similar to the Wild Boys video from Duran Duran.

* There is a comedy character named CANTEEN; we first meet him in a restaurant which has up posters of Rambo and the cover to the Michael Jackson Bad album and he dances to the song Thriller, then some tremendous 80's electro. He dances to 80's electro a few other times later in the picture. He kisses the A-hole who lusts after the main girl (Anita) despite the fact that Anita has a boyfriend anyway. Why Canteen kisses a guy when he's not portrayed as homosexual (in fact, he plays Peeping Tom on another girl later!), I am not quite sure. Also, Canteen usually wears a tremendous red Puma tracksuit.

* The way that Indian Freddy looks... think trenchcoat, grey burn-makeup that is not quite up to what we saw Krueger wear.. .and he has a MULLET. It's not the only mullet seen in the movie either.

* The guy who plays Canteen also plays a hotel owner for Lord knows what reason. I presume something got lost in translation as the hotel owner acted like he just ingested an eight ball of coke!

* There's more than one moment where someone starts sexually assaulting a girl or a gang starts doing that to a pair of girls; this results in kung-fu fight scenes from the heroes. The almost rapes are treated more like a goof than it should have been.

* There is a version of the “Tina in the clear bodybag” scene from the original NOES... except that this involves giant blocks of ice.

* Other horror movies are ripped off, like The Evil Dead and Day of the Dead. Also, the waterbed scene from the 4th NOES is “borrowed”.

It is an odd motion picture with bizarre and wild switches in tone and attitude, but how is it overall? I can rate it as being “fine”. It's not even for sheer entertainment factor in not knowing what wacky song will come up next (there's one about being at a picnic), or what odd out left field bit will pop up out of nowhere. It actually does have some creepy moments and not all of them are direct copies of NOES. At times they did their own versions of famous Freddy moments. Besides the aforementioned clear bodybag scene, there was Indian Jsu Garcia not being killed due to hanging in the jail cell but rather being attacked by a bunch of snakes in his jail cell. Besides, the backstory for Indian Freddy Krueger (i.e. Shakaal) is different; it is more personal for Anita and her family.

Point is, it's not as good as the Wes Craven classic although I'd say I had a better time with this than some of the Freddy sequels. Like I said it's uneven and it feels pretty long w/ the 129 minute version I saw (apparently there's a 145 minute cut out there that people have seen) yet I can say that it was entertaining overall and I don't regret enjoying the one of the kind experience that is Bollywood cinema once again.