PURANI HAVELI
(The Old Mansion)
dir. Shyam and Tulsi Ramsay, 1989.
India. 145 mins.
In Hindi with English Subs.

TUESDAY, MARCH 4 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 13 – 7 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 22 – 10 PM

Anita, whose parents were killed when stopping in for a quickie in an abandoned mansion, is all grown up and wants to marry the lowly fashion photographer Sunil, but her auntie and uncle have a plan to steal her inheritance, which involves moving her and her entire entourage into a haunted house — by coincidence, the very house where her parents died, and where she, her suitors, and her gal pals are duly menaced by terrifying visions and dreams of the hairy beast who lives in the basement; a sentient and menacing but extremely slow-moving suit of armor which no one seems able to simply run away from; and a strange old man who wanders around the grounds moaning out dire warnings that everyone mostly ignores even after their peers have started to die mysteriously.

Plus: A subplot about a dangerous and romantic bandit king (and lover of Donna Summer) who bears a striking resemblance to the crew’s portly homophobic servant.