The horror of that horror film that came out 48 years ago, an ambulance used to stand outside the theatre.

New Delhi .There was a time in Bollywood when the audience used to get goosebumps on hearing the name of horror films. Such an atmosphere of fear, mystery and terror was created on the big screen that people were not able to get out of its influence for a long time even after the film was over. A similar film released in 1978 created a sensation across the country. The name of this film was ‘Door’, which is still counted among the scariest films of Hindi cinema.

As soon as Ramsay Brothers’ films are mentioned, scary castles, mysterious voices and scary faces start wandering in people’s minds. The pairing of Shyam Ramsay and Tulsi Ramsay gave a different identity to horror films during that period. ‘Darwaza’ was also among those films which introduced the audience to a new experience of fear as soon as it was released. The atmosphere of the film was so frightening that many people got nervous after watching it.

The most shocking incident related to the film was that even ambulances were kept parked outside the theatres. It is said that during some trial shows of the film, many viewers started feeling uncomfortable due to fear. After this, keeping security in mind, it was decided to keep an ambulance outside the theatre. At that time, this news spread rapidly among the people and the fear of the film increased even more.

The publicity of the film was also quite different and unique for its time. A special challenge was set to create an atmosphere of fear among the audience. It was said that whoever watches the entire film sitting alone will be given a reward of Rs 10,000. At that time Rs 10,000 was considered a huge amount. But the effect of fear was such that no one had the courage to watch the film alone. This promotional strategy proved to be extremely beneficial for the film and people’s curiosity continued to increase.

‘Darwaza’ was not just an ordinary horror film, but became one of the most talked about creature horror films of that era. The manner in which scary scenes and mysterious incidents were shown in the film, kept the audience completely captivated. People who came to watch films in theaters would start screaming and at many places the crowd of spectators became so huge that it became difficult to get tickets.

Artists like Anil Dhawan, Shyamali, Imtiaz Khan, Anju Mahendru, Shakti Kapoor, Trilok Kapoor and Krishna Dhawan were seen in this film. All the actors made the scary atmosphere of the film more impressive with their characters. The film was directed by Shyam Ramsay and Tulsi Ramsay, while its story and presentation made it among the memorable films of Indian horror cinema.

Today, even though horror films are made more grand through technology and visual effects, the fear of films like ‘Darwaza’ is still alive in the hearts of people. This is the reason why even after decades, whenever this film is discussed, the memories of the old audience get refreshed.