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Jaani Dushman
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Wikipedia article
'Jaani Dushman' is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language horror film produced and directed by Rajkumar Kohli under the Shankar Movies banner. It features an ensemble cast including Sunil Dutt, Sanjeev Kumar, Jeetendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Mehra, Rekha, Neetu Singh and Reena Roy and music composed by LaxmikantPyarelal. The film is recorded as a 'Super Hit' at the box office. In 2002, Rajkumar Kohli directed another film with an identical name starring his son, Armaan.
Plot
The film begins with Thakur Jwala Prasad who was murdered by his wife on their first night. Since then, his evil spirit kills the newly wedded brides wearing a red dress by turning into a monster through a human body. The person holding the spirit is unbeknownst to reality. The only way to eliminate him is by stabbing his chest. Yet, Jwala Prasad's soul transforms into the next person.
Time passes, at an estate where the brides are missing when their palanquin reaches the temple and even their corpses are not found. Thakur Saab is a top-tier of that region his son Shera, a nasty & stubborn always perturbs him. Lakhan a valorous villager stands for piety and confronts the mischievous deeds of Shera. He loves a girl Reshma on whom Shera lusts. Besides, Thakurs daughter Shanti also falls for Lakhan. On the other side, Shera safeguards a village girl Champa who adores him despite his refusal.
Meanwhile, the vanishing of brides goes on, when several people are suspected, a madman, the temple priest, and Shera. Thakur Saab also joins them as he becomes panicked viewing a red dress due to a misfortune that happened to his sister. Parallelly an anecdote, Lakhans sister Gowri loves a guy Amar, unfortunately, her alliance is fixed elsewhere. During her procession, she too goes missing when Lakhan suspects Amar but he finds him dead consuming poison. Even the monster realizes that Gowri also committed suicide.
After some time, Lakhan identifies an earring of his sister nearby the temple priests slipper. Thereby, the entire village flares up on him, but the priest proves himself guiltless with the help of God. Right now, Shera decides to marry Reshma, so, Thakur approaches Reshmas blind father Vaidji but she denies the proposal. Then one night, surprisingly Shera discovers that Vaidji is not blind and is a thief. Exploiting it, Shera compels him to knit Reshma with him but considering his daughter's life, he reveals his true identity and pleads pardon. Furthermore, he requests Lakhan to marry Reshma which he receives. Listening to it, Shanti understands the situation and prepares for the match chosen by her father. At that point, Lakhan requests Thakur and accompanies her palanquin as an escort. The madman overhears it and secretly schemes with his henchmen. Fortuitously, Shanti safely crosses the temple as she does not wear a red dress due to Thakur's fear.
Just after, Lakhan accuses Thakur of the brutality as he is the single soul who knows their plan. Thus, Thakur attempts suicide out of ignominy when Thakurain obstructs and divulges that she has conveyed their plan to her son. Hence, everyone revolts, and Thakur seeks to kill Shera. However, he absconds, the same night he abducts Reshma and Lakhan chases him when the brawl erupts. Suddenly, Shera is struck by fire and everyone assumes him as dead but he is saved by Champa. At that juncture, Shera reforms understand the virtue of Champa, and decide to remove his taint. Eventually, the wedding arrangements of Lakhan & Reshma are in progress. Once again it repeats at the temple when Lakhan witnesses that the monster clutching Reshma into an underground ruined cave. Immediately, he rushes and spots Shera, but realizes he is innocent and they catch the madman one that turns into a cop. All of them lion-heartedly encounter the monster and Lakhan stabs him. Here as a thunderbolt, it is known that Jwala Prasad has possessed Thakurs body. At present, Thakur blocks Jwala Prasad until his spirit promises to mingle in the universe and he does so. At last, Thakur leaves his breath conveying his apology to the public. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the marriage of Lakhan & Reshma including Shera & Champa.
Cast
*Sunil Dutt as Lakhan
*Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur
*Jeetendra as Amar
*Shatrughan Sinha as Shera
*Vinod Mehra as Inspector
*Rekha
*Reena Roy
*Neetu Singh
*Yogita Bali
*Bindiya Goswami
*Sarika as Bindiya
*Vikram
*Premnath
*Amrish Puri
*Raza Murad
*Shakti Kapoor
*Mac Mohan
*Madan Puri
*Jagdeep
*Paintal
*Roopesh Kumar
*Aruna Irani
*Jayshree T.
*Sulochana Latkar
*Indrani Mukherjee
*Neeta Mehta
*Shobhini Singh
Soundtrack
All lyrics by: Verma Malik
Trivia
Two of the movie songs were listed in Binacca Chart of 1979; "Chalo Re, Doli Uthao Kahaar" by Mohammed Rafi and "Oh Meri Jaan" by Kishore Kumar and Anuradha Paudwal.References
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