The Ramsay brothers are synonymous to the horror genre in Indian cinema. Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (meaning Two yards under the ground) was the first such full fledged horror movie from this group. Made on a shoestring budget with minimum production values, it was a huge hit which set the tone for many more to follow. The movie is full of loopholes but fun to watch for all the absurdity going around.

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The Plot

The film opens with a graveyard scene. Rajvansh (Surender Kumar) has come to offer flowers to his dead wife’s grave who passed away a year ago. He is a rich widower staying in a big house with 2 servants for company – Ramdas (Dhumal) and Chanchal (Smita). He is also a chemist constantly experimenting in his laboratory set up in the house. One day he is collecting plant samples near the forest, when he sees a girl screaming and goons running after her. Being the hero, he tackles them easily. The girl is Anjili/Anju (Shobhna) who is staying far away in Khandala. She has a mother and uncle (mamaji).

Rajvansh brings her home for the night. She settles down by wearing his dead wife’s clothes and has dinner with him. Later in the night she gets scared of sleeping alone in her room and goes to Rajvansh’s room and lies down quietly. He gets seduced by her and they end up spending the night together. In the morning, Rajvansh is repentant of his actions and agrees to marry Anju and demonstrate he is a “shareef” man. Anju readily agrees as this is all a plan of her mamaji (Satyen Kappu) to entrap Rajvansh and enjoy his wealth. She is already married to Anand (Imtiaz Khan) but this is (obviously) not revealed to Rajvansh.

They get married and mamaji is a frequent visitor to their house. He always leaves with a wad of money under the pretext of sending it to his sister i.e. Anjili’s mom. Why Rajvansh keeps giving him money is never explained. The mother is never shown to come and meet her daughter or vice versa. Rajvansh is frustrated with his wife and her uncle but seems helpless.

Enter heroine no. 2 Meena (Pooja). Out of nowhere, a young girl Meena comes singing a song about being a free bird etc. As the song ends, she slips and falls into the lake. The always chivalrous Rajvansh rescues and takes her home. He seems to have a habit of saving young women (Anjili taunts him on this point too!). It is revealed Meena is a nurse working in the neighbouring town and is related to the servant Ramdas.

Meena is recovering and spends a few days in Rajvansh’s house. She sings a Krishna bhajan. Anjili insults her as she suspects Meena is after her husband. One day, Rajvansh is experimenting in his lab. He does not realize the water in the lab is contaminated and drinks it. Unfortunately this leaves him paralyzed. Meena offers to take care of him. Interestingly Anjili does not allow Rajvansh to be taken to the hospital. She has arranged a specialist doctor to come and stay with them to treat Rajvansh.

The doctor is none other than Anjili’s husband Anand. He reluctantly agrees to be part of the plan. Mamaji further plots to inject poison and kill Rajvansh. Anand is against the plan of murder but agrees on Anjili’s insistence. The plan is carried out and Rajvansh’s body is placed in an old trunk and buried do gaz zameen ke neeche.

But the three plotters realize they are unable to find the keys to the Godrej safe where Rajvansh used to keep the money and valuables. They even dig up the body but the keys are not to be found. Surprisingly they are found in mamaji’s pocket and Anand suspects mamaji of planning to keep the money for himself. They open the safe but its empty except for blood inside which is taken as a bad omen. However they find Rajvansh’s diary which reveals some important details.

Things here take a twist. As per Rajvansh’s diary, he had instructed Ramdas (Dhumal) to transfer the money from the Godrej safe to a safer place. Also, he was studying about American zombies and how the soul ( aatma ) can make a dead body walk. He had been successful in finding this formula.

And soon Rajvansh’s dead body returns to take revenge of his murderers. Will he be successful? Did the formula work? How will all this end?

The Music

The movie does not have scope for any songs and Sapan Jagmohan’s music is wasted. There are 3 songs including an item number of Helen.

My Thoughts

While being a pioneering movie, it is as bad as it can be. And that makes it hilarious too. It seems to be shot completely on location in Mahabaleshwar; the rooms are typical hotel rooms. The movie is a sequence of random things happening. The background music is suspenseful even when the scene is not.

Among the actors, Surender Kumar has personality but the two ladies Shobhna and Pooja are lacking. Imtiaz Khan (Amjad Khan’s younger brother) is impressive.

The concept of a full horror movie, that too with an adult rating would have been a novelty at that time. And credit to the Ramsay brothers, for identifying the opportunity and making a successful movie. It could have been a better movie with better actors, better budget, better direction, …almost better everything. But yes, in spite of its flaws, the movie went on to become a cult classic and served as a template for many more horror flicks in India.