AATMA (2006)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 112 Minutes 11 Seconds
Audio: Hindi DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Deepak Ramsay
Cast: Kapil Jhaveri, Neha, Vikram Singh, Amiena
Aatma (2006) is directed by Deepak Ramsay, the son of Tulsi Ramsay, who was one half of the Ramsay Brothers who directed classic Bollywood terrors like Purana Mandir: The Haunted Temple (1984) and Veerana (1988). This is his first feature film, but the apple did not fall far from the tree with this guy. Honestly, I had pretty low expectations going into this, while I usually jam on the earlier decades of Bollywood horror, jumping into 21st century entry was a first time I feared it just would not have the same charms that attracted me to the the earlier era of Bollywood horror. I am happy to report that this is very much in the vein of an older Ramsay produced Bollywood terror, it's very entertaining, has some terrific Evil Dead/The Exorcists style make-up effects, and is garishly lit up like a Lamberto Bava flick from the 80s!
In it Dr. Aman Mehra (Kapil Jhaveri) leads a blessed life, he has a promising medical career, wealth, and a gorgeous wife Neha (Neha Bajpai, Acid Factory). That all changes when late one night as the happy couple are celebrating their first wedding anniversary, when a late night caller come knocking at the door. Dr. Aman answers the door and finds a strange looking man who cryptically tells him that he will perform a post mortem the next day on a man named Avinash (Deep Dhillon, Bloodstone), and that he must write a truthful report about the cause of death, noting that it will be a poisoning. If he does not file an honest report the stranger warns that terrible things will happen. The next day while walking on the beach with his wife Amana he is acosted by a man and a woman on the beach, one of them is the very sexy Shanta (Upasna Singh), who offer a bribe, telling him that when he performs the post-mortem he'd better indicate a natural death, or else. He then arrives at the hospital and finds a bug-eyed lawyer named Khurana (Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Purana Mandir) who tells him the same thing, that he will list the cause of death as natural causes, or they will kill his wife, who they have kidnapped. So, obviously there's something very sketchy about this guy's death, and Aman is shocked to discover when he finally performs the post mortem that the deceased is none other than the man who came to see him that night!
It turns out that the dead man was Avinash (Deep Dhillon, Bloodstone), a wealthy mobster, whose younger brother Vikram (Mukesh Tiwari) poisoned him to usurp his wealth and status. Unfortunately for everyone involved Avinash was an advanced practitioner of black magic, and his restless soul refuses to pass onto the other side until he has had his revenge on those who killed him, and those who aided and abetted the killers in the cover-up. To that end he possesses the body of Aman’s wife, who then becomes an unwilling avenging force.
Other characters entwined in this possession horror are Aman's wife's younger sister Aarti (Amreina) and her bad-ass boyfriend Inspector Siddharth (Vikram Singh). Aarti offers some cute, comedic relief, highlighted during an early scene of her picking up a cake for her sister's anniversary, only to upset the shop keeper by nibbling on other cakes set out for display, unable to stop herself from enjoying an illicit sweets. Immediately afterward she is attacked by a group of guys who saw her with a wad of cash at the bakery, only to have their asses handed to them by her boyfriend Siddharth who shows up just in time. It's Bollywood, so expect some humor, and also some musical numbers, which there are three of, and they were pretty solid musical productions with great choreography. Perhaps because these are more contemporary I thought they just were more sultry and erotic than the ones I recall from the '70s and '80s.
The film also opens with a electrifying prologue of Avinash performing an exorcism, and it's quite effective sequence with spooky atmosphere and some cool Evil Dead deadite style make-up effects. The whole film is chock full of colored lighting, it looks like Demons-era Lamberto Bava did lighting on this film, and the exorcism make-up effects throughout the film look pretty terrific, at least the practical stuff. Some of the 2006-era digital effects are less convincing, but all the practical make-up work looks fantastic, and the digital stuff is used sparingly.
Audio/Video: Aatma (2006) gets a region-free Blu-ray, presenting the film in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. This is a 4K transfer from the film negative, digitally restored, and it looks gangbusters. The source is in wonderful shape, the colors are super-saturated and vibrant, the garish lighting is steeped in eerie blue, red, green, purples and pinks and it translates gorgeously in HD, in a lot of ways Deepak is channeling the looks of his father and uncle's films from the earlier era, updated, but kindred just the same. Audio comes by way of Hindi DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, I didn't notice any distortions or sibilance, and the dialogue, musical numbers and eerie score sound great.
The only disc extras are a 7-min Intro to the film by writer Tim Paxton, plus the 2-min Original Trailer. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided wrap featuring a new artwork by Jolyon Yates.
Special Features:
- Brand new 4K transfer from the film negative, digitally restored.
- Intro to the film by writer Tim Paxton (6:38)
- Original Trailer (2:08)
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
Buy it!
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