Bollywood is going through a frightening spell.
Never before in the history of mainstream Hindi cinema have so many moviemakers put their heads together to tackle the genre of horror.
Anurag Basu, who partly directed Ekta Kapoor's moderately successful supernatural thriller Kucch To Hai, is now wrapping up Saaya for producer Mukesh Bhatt. It was Bhatt's Raaz (Bipasha Basu, Dino Morea) that triggered off the trend in making supernatural thrillers.
Saaya, featuring Jism's John Abraham and Om Jai Jagadish's Tara Sharma is a remake of the 1980s' Hollywood hit Ghost (Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore). Ghost revolved around a woman who makes contact with her dead husband.
Director Talat Jani, who made no waves with Jeena Sirf Merre Liye last year, is going ahead with his remake of Hollywood's The Others (Nicole Kidman), featuring Juhi Chawla in Kidman's role.
Ekta Kapoor is busy wrapping up her untitled supernatural thriller, featuring Sohail Khan, Isha Koppikar and Natassha, in Mussoorie. "The misty, mysterious climate of Mussoorie lends itself well to the supernatural thriller," enthuses Ekta, reminding us of the 1960s when late filmmaker Raj Khosla shot his supernatural thriller Woh Kaun Thi (Sadhana, Manoj Kumar) in snowcapped Shimla. "Unlike most other films in this genre, my film is an absolute original," she promises.
Sangeeth Sivan's Sandhya (Raveena Tandon, Jackie Shroff) is a dark, brooding, intense tale of love, madness, rage and death written by late actor-filmmaker Amjad Khan's son, Shadab. The film, which is ready for release, is almost entirely shot in dark silhouettes and stark whispers, creating an ambience of foreboding.
Hansal Mehta, who is now planning a supernatural thriller (an "absolute original"), probably with Rani Mukherji in the lead, thinks dark thrillers have a bright future. "They cost a reasonable amount to make. One does not need to spend money on stars and other paraphernalia. All one needs is a good music score and a suspenseful plot line."
Debutant Prabal Pandey's Darna Manaa Hai (Vivek Oberoi, Saif Ali Khan, Fardeen Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Antara Mali, Isha Koppikar), being readied for a June release, is a unique six-episode supernatural thriller featuring an array of stars. "If it works, it will open up a new door into the supernatural," says Pandey with his fingers crossed. The film is a Ram Gopal Varma production.
The future of supernatural thrillers depends, to a large extent, on the success of Varma's Bhoot (Ajay Devgan, Matondkar, Rekha), which opens on May 2. He had earlier made the thriller Kaun with Matondkar, but it did not fare well at the box-office.
Said to be the most expensive supernatural thriller made in India, Varma has situated Bhoot in the heart of Mumbai. "There are no scary monsters, no green liquids spewing from crazed mouths, no creaky doors and foggy nights. The fear is generated completely from within," he says.
