Shaitaan, The Devil Wants to Make You It’s Meat Puppet

In 2024, the Indian cinema horror and thriller niche dropped “Shaitaan” (translated as “Devil”) onto the Netflix platform. A title that feeds into good versus evil and takes the reins of what it means to be a parent, Shaitaan really gives you more bang for your buck. If you’ve never dabbled in the Hindi language movie realm, this is probably as good a place as any to start.

Directed by Vikas Bahl (with Queen and Super 30 being box office hits.) The film is a remake of a previously released 2023 version “Vash” which was produced in the Indian Gujarati language. Both titles include most of the same cast however, the original movie received a lot less attention.

Fortunately, whatever changes were made (apparently Vash had 8 cuts) to get Shaitaan to a wider audience, this is a film for lovers of clear and clever narratives. There is deep and rich cinematography, and enough vicious nasty scenes to satisfy most of the horror movie crowd.

Opening scenes set the bar in terms of what to expect. In a swirling close-up scenic shoot of what initially looks like a commercial sewing room, I was reminded of the title sequence for the Dexter TV series. Its opening theme song provided visuals that made objects that were not dangerous look like they were. In Shaitaan, needles stab into larger material objects, red dye is shown seeping into coarse absorbent surfaces and everything looks industrial while a low chanting throbbing song plays in the background.

The end of the sequence offers up the first big reveal when the camera pulls back as fire flickers up from the bottom of the screen. The red dye is blood being stained onto a room filled with Voodoo dolls. The needles are piercing through the hessian bags that make up the form of the doll. Filmmakers create a scene that feels non-threatening before slowly revealing that there is nothing non-threatening about it. The title sequence is great and it fits the overarching message for Shaitaan.

It doesn’t matter where you are, I will always find you.”

Quote from the movie Shaitaan 2024

The Family

Mom and Dad Jyoti and Kabir are introduced as a perfectly happy family unit alongside their two young children Janki and Druv. Dad comes out as an early contender as Father of the Year as well as a digital Macguyver and teenager sleuth champion. Mom is singled out as someone who likes carbs but is also a touch strict when it come to the welfare of their brood.

The audience is treated to a pivotal journey for a boy and his goldfish and a very Bollywood scene of the family frolicking in a pool fully clothed. Whatever the case, there is enough build-up in the first quarter to care about these people, they seem nice. So when they head out to a coffee shop and a random stranger buys Kabir a cup of tea, nothing is untoward to suggest anything sinister in this family’s future.

When the man, Vanraj, turns up at the family’s vacation farmhouse, an erroneous feeling settles into the procedings. Like many iconic and popular Westernized horror movies, Shaitaan employs the ideal of a family being terrorized in a single location setting by a seemingly deranged person. Only this time, there are enough religious and mythological markers that it doesn’t matter what your faith is, Vanraaj soon adjusts his behavior so that the menacing nature of his character is openly laid bare.

Simply put, Vanraaj thinks of himself as a God who collects young girls bestowed with free will. His grand plan is to control the world, one custodial parent at a time. A Black Magic connoisseur making families sit in a storm of torment for as long as they are willing to hold out on handing what he wants over. And any horror movie fan will tell you how that works out.

Lord Vanraaj is Shaitaan

She will be a toy without a remote forever

Quote from the movie Shaitaan

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