Horror film legend Shyam Ramsay passes away at 67

Indian horror film legend Shyam Ramsay passed away aged 67 this morning. He was suffering from pneumonia. 

The Ramsay Brothers were a filmmaking combine consisting of Tulsi, Shyam, Kumar, Keshu, Arjun, Gangu, and Kiran Ramsay. Together, they pioneered a genre of low-budget erotic horror films through the 70s and 80s. Their notable works include Guest House, Veerana, Purana Mandir, Purani Haveli, and Bandh Darwaza. They created the successful TV series Zee Horror Show, which ran from 1993 and 2001.

Tulsi Ramsay, Shyam’s elder brother and founder of Tulsi Ramsay Production, passed away in 2018.

The Ramsays originally hailed from Karachi. Their father, FU Ramsay, moved to Mumbai with his sons after the partition. After running an electronics shop on Lamington Road for a while, he turned to film production and produced films like Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh (1954), Rustam Sohrab (1963), and Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi (1970). 

Shyam Ramsay worked on more than 30 horror films in his career. He directed his first Indian vampire film, Neighbours: They Are Vampires, in 2014. The film starred Arbaaz Ali Khan, Roushika Reikhi, Shakti Kapoor, and Gavie Chahal. His last credited work is the horror film, Koi Hai, which he directed in 2017.