‘Shaitaan’ (2024): The Enigma That Is Indian Horror

Directed by: Vikas Bahl || Produced by: Vikas Bahl, Jyoti Deshpande, Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Pathak, Kumar Mangat Pathak

Screenplay by: Aamil Keeyan Khan || Starring: Ajay Devgn, R. Madhavan, Jyothika Saravanan, Janki Bodiwala, Anngad Raaj

Music by: Amit Trivedi || Cinematography: Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti || Edited by: Sandeep Francis || Country: India || Language: Hindi

Running Time: 132 minutes

In my reviews of the handful of Indian horror movies I’ve watched (e.g. Kumari [2022], The Priest [2021], Andhaghaaram [2020], Tumbbad [2018]), I’ve noted how rare straightforward genre films (i.e., action, science-fiction, crime drama, thriller, comedy films, etc.), including horror movies, of any quality seem to be in South Asia. The bread-and-butter of Indian filmmaking remains the romantic film musical, of course, and Dravidian-language blockbusters from the southern tip of the continent are well versed in musical-action hybrids, but uncensored, mid-budgeted, high-concept genre pictures appear far rarer on the subcontinent than even in 2010s Hollywood when superhero franchise movies reigned supreme (horror has long been and remains a Hollywood mainstay, for example). The closest many popular South Asian films get to the horror genre, specifically, are serial-killer thrillers like V (2020) or Ratsasan (2018) that almost feel afraid to lean too much into their horror-adjacent aesthetics, while weirder supernatural fare without any song-and-dance numbers like Ooru Peru Bhairavakona (2024) still anchor themselves in romance plots and cruddy special FX to draw audiences.

Janki Bodiwala shows decent range as a spoiled upper-class teenager who becomes an unwilling puppet of Ranganathan Madhavan’s antagonist.

Enter Shaitaan (English = “Devil”) by director Vikas Bahl, whose career is mostly built upon generic crowdpleasers and sexual misconduct allegations like any self-respecting professional filmmaker, but is perhaps best known for his decidedly nontraditional coming-of-age story, Queen (2013), written by Anvita Dutt Guptan, who later made her directorial debut with one of my favorite Netflix Original Films, Bulbbul (2020). If box office results are accurate, Shaitaan is alleged to be the most successful Indian horror film of all time and one of the more popular recent Hindi-language remakes of another minority Indian language film, the Gujarati picture Vash (2023), in this case.

Shaitaan’s premise is based on the classical “mysterious stranger” trope (e.g. Knock at the Cabin [2023]) where an enigmatic, ominous interloper (Ranganathan Madhavan) invades the home of leads Ajay Devgn and Jyothika Saravanan, who play father and mother, respectively, to their diegetic children Janki Bodiwala and Anngad Raaj. Madhavan’s primary goal and the central narrative gimmick of the movie is to terrorize the family by controlling Bodiwala, who reprises her role from Vash, through black magic until Devgn and Saravanan verbally consent to her abduction. Although a halfway conscious viewer can surmise the probable origins of Madhavan’s villain, Bahl has him spell out his backstory, motivation, and precise modus operandi in a stereotypical preachy monologue that undoes much of the mystery and tension that the film’s opening act establishes.

The rest of Shaitaan can be pretty entertaining when the film gets out of its own way (see also the wholly unnecessary, wannabe edgy epilogue). Madhavan hams it up as a charismatic sociopath who delights in his villainy almost as much as Ian McDiarmid does as Emperor Palpatine, providing most of the movie’s personality and all of its best dialogue. The better parts of the movie revolve around the physical confrontations between Madhavan, Devgn, and Saravanan, which occur whenever the latter two lose their patience over the latest cruel, outrageous act the former has Bodiwala commit. Devgn and Saravanan’s characters work as relatable parental vessels through which the audience can project themselves onto the screen, although Devgn shifts somewhat into conventional Hindi hero territory by the third act.

Factors that prevent me from outright endorsing Shaitaan besides the aforementioned unnecessary exposition range from the movie’s excessive length (132 minutes for a straightforward home invasion flick is asking a lot), mediocre pace, occasional scenes of gross incompetence by certain characters (why can’t Devgn kick down a pantry door?), and irritating music. The latter attribute is perhaps the most surprising given not just Indian cinema’s natural inclination to the film musical but great songwriting in general, including background scores, but the repetitive chorus of the eponymous theme song drove me up a wall by the story’s end.

It’s nice to see a vulnerable, relatable Hindi protagonist for once in Ajay Devgn’s lead in Shaitaan. The only thing irritating about his character is that pesky epilogue.

All in all, Shaitaan is a serviceable Hindi horror film that could use greater auteur freedom. I appreciate its commitment to a purebred genre experience rather than throwing everything but the kitchen sink into its screenplay like most mainstream Indian movies feel inclined to do. With that said, director Vikas Bahl retains enough superfluous mainstream filmmaking baggage to the point where Shaitaan is little more than another mediocre, watered down major studio horror product a la The Conjuring (2013, 2016, 2021), the latest PG-13 Blumhouse scary movie (e.g. Imaginary, Night Swim [both 2024]), or the most recent Evil Dead (1981, 1987) ripoff. Most cheaper, non-FX heavy movies (re: non-blockbusters) benefit from a visionary director operating with greater creative control, and horror movies in particular should feel as uncensored as possible, I argue; yet Bahl’s work here feels like that of a hired gun who was never allowed to go for the audience’s jugular.

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SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION: If India’s horror filmmaking is to grow beyond the rare independent feature that is overlooked by the vast majority of the South Asian populace, it must explore past modest riffs on Western or East Asian horror properties, which is all that Shaitaan is. The movie doesn’t shoehorn the most obvious or out-of-place South Asian filmmaking cliches like tonally inappropriate musical numbers (see Guru [2007]), preachy nationalism (e.g. Fighter [2024], Jawan, Spy [both 2023]), cringeworthy comic relief (e.g. Munna Bhai MBBS [2003], Kuch Kuch Hota Hai [1998], et al.), invincible heroes (e.g. Jailer [2023], Srimanthudu [2015]), or superfluous fight sequences (e.g. Kasargold [2023]), but it’s still way too damned long, poorly paced, features overbearing music, and has way too much heavy-handed, on-the-nose dialogue.

— However… Ranganathan Madhavan’s villain is a memorable, fun character and his physical confrontations with the rest of the main cast are entertaining. The third act revelations are a nice touch.

—> ON THE FENCE; if you’re an English-speaking cinephile, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen a million times before in both major and independent Hollywood studio productions.

? Parents are “gods to their children?” How about we just say that parents are, well, parents!