Deepak Ramsay Says Ramsay Brothers Were Mocked Despite Box Office Success

Deepak Ramsay has spoken about the lack of respect the Ramsay Brothers received in Bollywood despite delivering commercially successful horror films through the 1970s and 1980s. In an interview with Hindi Rush, Deepak said the family was often dismissed as “C-grade filmmakers” even as their low-budget films consistently earned profits at the box office.

“Our movies were made on a shoestring budget. It was experimental cinema at that time,” Deepak said, describing how the family worked with smaller crews, newcomers and limited resources while shooting films in locations such as Mahabaleshwar.

At a time when mainstream Hindi cinema focused largely on romantic dramas and large-scale productions, the Ramsays built a niche in horror and supernatural storytelling with films including Purana Mandir, Veerana, Purani Haveli and Bandh Darwaza.

Deepak said the family’s filmmaking model stood in sharp contrast to bigger Bollywood productions.

“Filmmakers would work with hundreds of people, have vanity vans, huge budgets and massive expenses, and despite all that, the films wouldn’t always work. Meanwhile, the Ramsays’ low-budget films would consistently make money,” he said.

The success of Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche

Deepak recalled that the Ramsays’ breakthrough came with Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche, which was reportedly made for less than Rs 5 lakh. He said the film earned seven to eight times its production cost and established the family’s identity in the horror genre.

“After this, we got the stamp of horror. People were asking, ‘When are you making the next one?’” he said.

During that phase, the Ramsays went on to make around 50 films in the horror, supernatural and murder mystery genres.

Deepak also said the family was among the few filmmakers willing to release films alongside projects headlined by stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra.

“Whenever an A-list film, especially one starring Amitabh Bachchan, would release, nobody would dare to release their films alongside it. The Ramsays were the only filmmakers who released films alongside movies starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna or Dharmendra. We believed in our films,” he said.

Horror cinema inspired by Prithviraj Kapoor

Deepak revealed that the family’s move into horror filmmaking was inspired by Prithviraj Kapoor. According to him, patriarch F.U. Ramsay noticed audiences reacting strongly to a scene featuring Prithviraj Kapoor in heavy prosthetic makeup in Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi.

That reaction eventually led the family toward making full-fledged horror films.

Deepak also addressed comparisons between the Ramsays and the Kapoor family, saying both worked in very different cinematic spaces.

“Raj Kapoor’s style of filmmaking and genre were completely different, so there’s no comparison between Kapoor and Ramsay films,” he said, referring to Raj Kapoor. “But in no way were the Ramsays lesser filmmakers.”

Veerana and censorship battles

Speaking about the content of Ramsay films, Deepak said the family leaned into sensuality and gore because many of their films were already headed for adult certification due to horror elements.

He described Veerana as a film that had an “inherent requirement for sensuality,” explaining that the story revolved around a seductive witch character wandering at night.

The film faced repeated objections from the Central Board of Film Certification, he said, and underwent several cuts before release.

“They gave an ‘A plus’ certificate, made a lot of cuts and then the film was released. It was a nightmare, as far as the censors were concerned,” Deepak said.

He also claimed that an uncensored version of the film would have offered “a different experience” because of its more graphic horror sequences.

Jasmine Dhunna’s disappearance after Veerana

Deepak also spoke about actress Jasmine Dhunna, who starred in Veerana and later disappeared from the film industry despite the movie’s popularity.

“She created an enigma,” he said, recalling how producers approached the Ramsays hoping to cast her after the film’s release.

According to Deepak, Jasmine eventually stopped taking calls and requested the family not to share her contact information. He also mentioned hearing rumours that some underworld figures were trying to contact her, though he said he could not confirm whether those claims were true.

Actor Hemant Birje, who co-starred with Jasmine in Veerana, later said she lives in the United States and frequently visits Mumbai.

The Ramsay Brothers dominated Hindi horror cinema for nearly two decades before shifting toward television projects in the 1990s. Their films later gained cult status and helped shape the commercial horror space later explored by filmmakers such as Ram Gopal Varma and Vikram Bhatt with films like Raat and Raaz.