Dak Bangla

Dak Bangla is a 1987 Hindi horror film presented by the Ramsay brothers.

Plot

The film opens with a young couple locked in intimate embrace at a large dak bangla (rest house). They are interrupted by a deep knocking sound from somewhere beneath the rest house. An evil force (we do not see who or what) suddenly issues from somewhere and murders both of them.

Next, the film introduces Ajay (Marc Zuber), a middle-aged man looking for a job. He spots a job opening, manager of the dak bangla at Chandan Nagar, in a newspaper, applies for the position and is rather promptly given the job. The head manager- played by Viju Khote- informs him that the previous manager committed suicide. He explains that it remains unclear why, but the local townsfolk seem to think the place is haunted.

Ajay and Vaishali arrive at Chandan Nagar. When they ask for directions, the townsfolk simply recoil and look away: nobody wants to talk about it. Ajay and Vaishali are baffled, but eventually arrive, late in the evening, at the dak bangla. (At this point, we see that the chowkidar has been murdered and that the murderer Shakal — played by Ranjeet — is assuming his identity. Ajay and Vaishali don't know this.)

Ajay and Vaishali find that dinner has been laid out for them (by Shakal, posing as Khursheed Khan the chowkidar). The meet Shakal (Khursheed Khan) in the morning and he shows them around. He also indicates a locked door at the back of the dak bangla. When asked, he simply says (truthfully) that he doesn't know anything about it.

Ajay's niece, Sapna (played by little-known actress Swapna) and her friends, including her boyfriend Raj (Rajan Sippy), arrive at the dak bangla to spend their holidays.

The film turns when Sapna begins having the same nightmare every night. She is a princess and she is being molested by an ogre, ending in her being murdered. The nightmare somehow leads her and Raj to break into the locked room. This room is identical to the master bedroom. There is a large painting of Sapna, dressed as a princess, on the wall. There is a bloodstain across it. An ancient book is cached in the wall behind the painting.

The book reveals that the dak bangla was a royal palace many years ago. Thakur Mansingh was the ruler of that fief. His daughter, princess Sapna, was strolling in the woods at the outskirts of the land when she was suddenly attacked by a hideous figure, Ozo (Praveen Kumar). Her fiance, prince Kunal (Dilip Dhawan), comes to the rescue. Ozo is beaten and driven away.

It turns out that Ozo's father is a known devil-worshipper. Inflamed by this humiliation, he appeals to his azeem taquat (evil force, representing his demonic master), for evil powers. Infused with these powers, Ozo breaks into the royal palace and murders the prince and princess (while they are making love); he beheads the princess, causing her blood to spatter over the painting. His powers wane when the royal guard arrives. Thakur Mansingh orders that he be tortured, and ultimately quartered and beheaded. Ozo's father is summoned to take the remains of his son. Aghast, the old man sews his dead son back together, invokes his evil powers, and transmits his blood (and all his evil powers) into the body. The thakur orders the dungeon sealed and a large figure of Suryadevta (Hindu Sun god) placed across the portal.

The book ends with a sober warning to the reader to never displace the Suryadevta or enter the dungeon.

Sapna continues having the nightmares. Raj and Sapna are convinced that Sapna is the princess reborn, and that Ozo is inducing these nightmares to claim her again and exact his revenge on her loved ones. Flustered and angered by this, and wanting to end it for once and for all, Raj and Sapna remove the Suryadevta and enter the dungeon. They find the (lifeless) mummy and a skeleton (Ozo's father). Their fears are temporarily put to rest (the mummy appears quite dead).

Around this time, a gang of robbers arrive at the dak bangla. The real chowkidar's body is discovered and Shakal reveals himself. He is the ringleader of the robbers. They have recently looted a bank and want to stash the loot at the dak bangla and lie low here until the situation cools off.

With no Suryadevta to check it, the mummy returns on a deadly rampage of murder. Several of the robbers, and a couple of Sapna's friends, are brutally killed by the mummy.

Raj, Sapna, Ajay, Vaishali and Shakal spend the following night fleeing from the mummy (who possesses telekinetic powers). Around daybreak, after a few more casualties, they manage to lure the mummy back into the dungeon. Raj sets a trap where he embeds a large hook (connected to a pulley that pulls it upwards and out of the dak bangla) into the mummy and has it yanked out of the building and into the sunlight. Fatally exposed to the rising Sun, the mummy spontaneously catches fire and ultimately perishes to the will of Suryadevta. Ajay, who distracted the mummy so Raj could hook it, is killed in the encounter.

The film ends with the entire gang breathing much-needed relief.

Cast

• Marc Zuber ... Ajay
• Rajan Sippy ... Raj
• Swapna ... Sapna / princess Sapna
• Ranjeet ... Shakal / Khursheed Khan
• Mazhar Khan ... Shakal's brother
• Anil Dhawan ... Thakur Mansingh
• Praveen Kumar ... Ozo / mummy

Supported by- Aloka, Beena Banerjee, Preeti Ganguly, Yogesh, Saleem, Geeta Bhansali, Dilip Dhawan, Rajendranath, Narendranath, Leena Das, Viju Khote.

Soundtrack

External links

• Dak Bangla at the Internet Movie Database