Blending elements of mysticism, black magic and slapstick comedy,[3] Mahakaal is the second Bollywood film derived from A Nightmare on Elm Street, following 1989's Khooni Murda, which was produced by Mohan Bhakri.

[2] A college student, Seema, has a nightmare that a horrible looking man wearing steel claw gloves and attacks her.

Her boyfriend is put in police lockup where he sees the horrible man who makes snakes appear by magic.

[4][5] Its lackluster box office performance has been attributed to an oversaturation of horror films in the Indian market by the end of the 1980s,[4][5] as well as to the economic and social reforms that had expanded the number of television channels available in India, allowing viewers the ability to watch such films as the American original, A Nightmare on Elm Street at home.

[5] In 1997, British author Pete Tombs wrote that Mahakaal "was well made, very atmospheric and took few liberties with the original story.