Shyam Ramsay, director of horror films like Veerana, Purana Mandir, dies at 67 from pneumonia

Shyam Ramsay, one of the seven Ramsay Brothers known for cult horror films such as Puraani Haveli and Tahkhaana, died in a hospital here on Wednesday, his family said. He was 67. Shyam Ramsay died of pneumonia on Wednesday morning at a city-based hospital. "He was hospitalised two-three days ago as he was not feeling well. He passed away in the hospital due to pneumonia at around 5 am today," a relative told PTI.

The origins of the horror empire set up by the band of brothers can be traced back to a modest radio shop in Karachi in undivided India. The shop's proprietor, Fatehchand U Ramsinghani, had relocated to Mumbai after the Partition and decided to get into the business of film production. It was Ramsinghani who adopted the last name Ramsay and went on to make films such as Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh (1954) and Rustom Sohrab (1963), which featured screen icons Prithviraj Kapoor and Suraiya.

The films worked like magic on the box office and Ramsinghani pulled all seven of his sons - Kumar, Tulsi, Shyam, Keshu, Kiran, Ganguly and Arjun - one-by-one into filmmaking and the Ramsay Brothers were born. But they suffered losses when Ek Nanhi Munni Si Ladki (1970), starring Prithviraj Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha bombed at the ticket window.