The filmmaker, who made last year’s horror comedy, Stree, talks about the late Shyam Ramsay and his contribution to Indian cinema
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; September 20, 2019)

Shyam Ramsay, who made about 30 films and a popular 90s horror series on television, passed away on Wednesday in a Mumbai hospital. The 67-year-old filmmaker was suffering from pneumonia.

Shyam was one of the seven Ramsay Brothers active in Bollywood between the 1970s and 80s, making horror films. Some of his prominent films include Darwaza, Purana Mandir, Purani Haveli, Bandh Darwaza, Tahkhana and Veerana. They diverted attention to TV shows towards the end of the 1980s and early 1990s. Shyam Ramsay returned to Hindi films with Dhund: The Fog in 2003, Ghutan in 2007 and a horror comedy titled Bachao in 2010. His last film was Neighbours in 2014.

Reminiscing his contribution to Hindi cinema, filmmaker Amar Kaushik, who made the acclaimed horror-comedy Stree (2018), says, “Most Indians who grew up in the 1990s were introduced to horror with their show on TV. Ramsay Brothers were synonymous with horror films for years, they gave the genre its first formal identity. I remember I was a young boy and we were in Arunachal Pradesh at that time. I saw Bandh Darwaza in a video parlour, all alone. I was the only one who turned up and that screening turned out to be my first horror film experience. Today, you might laugh at what the Ramsay Brothers had tried to do, but Shyam Ramsay’s film actually scared me at that time. They had stiff budgets and several challenges, but they made films for their small, but loyal audience. Horror ka doosra naam was Ramsay Films. You must remember that this happened at a time when names of producers didn’t register as much. Imagine the impact of their cinema!”