Gehrayee is a Bollywood horror movie with an all-star cast. After Mahal, I think of Gehrayee as the Bollywood horror movie that had a cast few will match.
The cast consisted of Shreeram Lagoo, Anant Nag, Indrani Mukherjee, Padmini Kolhapure, and Amrish Puri in a special role. Aruna Raje directs this script by Vijay Tendulkar.
Interestingly, conversations about the film today are clouded by silly controversy. It’s a unique and well-made movie that could have spiraled down the path of squalor. Perhaps a director at the helm did not allow that to happen. Here is everything you would like to know about Gehrayee.
Gehrayee Synopsis
Chennabasappa is a successful businessman who has decided to sell the land in his village. His family’s servant, Baswa, isn’t happy about that, but he can do little more than accept his employer’s edict.
Chennabasappa tells Baswa that he will make sure to get a job at the factory he is starting. Chenna’s family, including his wife, son and daughter. Chenna does not believe in the supernatural and has a strict and domineering nature.
Although everyone respects him, no one is happy with his domineering nature. His son, Nandu, already has a conflictual nature with his father. Things never go well between father and son. Uma, the youngest daughter, is also busy with her life, her school being the center of her universe. Nandu decides to go on a picnic on the eighteenth of that month.
His servant, Ramu, tries to persuade him not to travel that day. Both Chenna and Nandu dismiss this as rural superstition. On that fateful day, Chenna does not have a positive board of directors. Also, they get a call that Nandu has encountered an accident. News of the accident turns out to be a false alarm and Nandu is back home safe and sound.
Uma begins to behave strangely and the family tries to solve the problem. Things get worse when one day, Uma behaves strangely with Nandu’s girlfriend, who had come to visit the family. The family is now desperate for how Uma behaves.
The most problematic aspect is that Uma begins to speak in a harsh and cheeky language and speaks in a rural and very vulgar dialect. The seemingly high society and the cultured family cannot bear it.
One day, Nandu decides to spend the whole day with his sister, to refresh his eyes. Nandu and Uma have a good time together. However, when they return home, Uma goes into a trance and tries to seduce Nandu.
The psychiatrist now says that the only solution for Uma is shock treatment. Uma’s mother is very concerned about this. At the same time, the family is also shocked by Uma’s behavior with Nandu.
That’s when the house servant Ramu suggests that they should show Uma to a Baba. When the family is a bit picky about it, he tells them that he could at least bring a purified lemon with some holy chants. He tells them that the sung holy lemon should be placed under Uma’s pillow. If the next morning the lemon turns black, Uma is possessed. If the lemon doesn’t change color, all is well with Uma.
Nandu tries to reason with the father against the shock treatment, but to no avail. Distraught, he accepts Ramu’s idea of the sacred lemon. That night, they put the lemon under Uma’s bed.
In the morning, Nandu and Ramu check if the lemon has turned black. However, to his surprise, in the morning, the lemon had disappeared. The trio keep this to themselves.
At night, when Uma plays wagon with the family, she enters another illusion and talks about a Mahadeamma, who committed suicide because she was pregnant out of wedlock. It is then that Chenna’s wife finally realizes that this possession has something to do with her husband and Baswa’s wife.
Chenna confesses everything to his wife. He tells her that he had a one night stand with Baswa’s wife when he was very young. That concluded that she was pregnant. After this, Uma receives shock treatment.
Uma returns from shock treatment, but things are not going the way they should. The next day, the food turns into cow dung. Chenna goes crazy and accuses Rama of trying to disturb the house. Ramu leaves the house.
Uma’s condition worsens and problems between Nandu and her father increase. But observing Uma’s condition, even he agrees to use supernatural activities to heal Uma. They get in contact with various Swamis and Gurus.
Chenna forgives Ram and Rama also returns. One of the gurus promises that Uma will be fine. He asks Uma’s mother if Uma is a virgin. She responds positively and Baba says that she will perform a pooja the next day.
However, he kidnaps Uma at night and tries to sacrifice her to a God he prays to. However, the family does not give up and makes contact with another learned Baba. When he enters the house, he immediately discovers the lemon, lying on top of the roof.
The Baba then tells the family that they will find something in the trees. As expected, they find witchcraft material. The Baba burns the material along with the lemon.
He invites them to his house the next day, so that he can pray with Uma and banish the demon forever and ever. Chenna has some apprehensions, but eventually submits to the will of her family.
During the prayer ceremony, Baba learns everything there is to know about Uma’s possession. The demon confesses that Baswa had another Baba capture him and order him to possess Uma.
Baba banishes the spirit, who promises that it will never return. Nandu also closes by going to the village and questioning the spirit of Baswa, who recounts everything that happened between his wife and Chenna.
Gehrayee Review
There can be no movie like Gehrayee. Gehrayee is one of those rare Bollywood horror movies that gets under your skin, scares you, and rebels you.
All of this, while sending a message about everything that is wrong with India: the caste system, the divide between rich and poor, and the strange misogyny we live in, even today.
The movie was released in 1980, but the story is still relevant today. Fire up any of your favorite true crime series and you’ll see a Gehrayee-like story. The sacrifice scene, Uma is naked in that one.
Director Aruna Raje uses a quirky camera angle that comes across right on this side of voyeurism. Not the 90s type of camera angle, but still. Another controversial scene is when Uma approaches Nandu, her biological brother.
Even for those who find it controversial, it is a mild shock and something that creeps under the skin for a while. That same year saw the release of the Padmini Kolhapure opener Insaf the Tarazu.
That movie also had a prolonged sexual assault scene filmed on Padmini, which placed it in the infamous category. Raj Kapoor cast her in the lead film Prem Rog.
However, she won the Best Supporting Actress in Film award for Insaf ka Tarazu. Gehrayee is a must see for horror movie audiences of all ages and regions. It will be a learning experience for them.