A spook story

Close on its heels is the return of Mano Ya Na Mano Season 2,spinning its spine-numbing tales. Starting August 21 on Star One,“The show will capture unusual and inexplicable powers and events that are beyond the imagination of the human mind. A lot of research has helped us bring back the second season. The crew has travelled across India to dig up jaw-dropping stories,” says producer Siddharth Kak.

While TV is digging old ghost tales,the film fraternity is also planning to utilise our fascination for the inexplicable. Yash Patnaik of Beyond Dreams Ent Ltd is ready with India’s first live action film,Kaalo. “Almost all horror films have been made during the night…it’s generally believed that ghosts appear only at night. But that is not the case with Kaalo,” he says. Based on a Rajasthani folklore,the story is of a centuries-old flying witch who creates havoc. Shot on locations notorious for being haunted,Patnaik had his share of paranormal with Kaalo. “Kaalo is the deadliest ghost ever,” says Patnaik who has departed from employing familiar tropes like dilapidated buildings and creepy chowkidaars to focus on fear,more specifically the fear of death. Patnaik had headed Sony’s Aahat for seven years and knows what the audience and producers will react better to. “The new deal is to shoot at real locations,all times of the day,with not necessarily a star-powered cast,” he adds.

Writer-director Wilson Louis,who has also worked on Kaalo and will release his horror film Mallika in September,feels that the business of creating fear is gaining in popularity. “We are split personalities,who believe more in fiction than fact. We lie and that’s what makes us great storytellers,” they say. The horror genre is such a hit,they say,because of the capacity of the human mind. “See what it can conjure up — images,stories,beliefs and it’s hard to make out the real from the unreal,” Wilson says.

To make their stories more rooted and believable,the duo refrains from following Hollywood horror movies. “We are working on Indian horror. Japan used to dominate the genre of horror films,now it is the turn of Thailand. Indians falter when copying a horror film. The film Help was a bad copy of The Unborn-Grudge-Shining Star so we decided to spin grandma’s folk tales of witches with turned feet,” says Wilson.

Horror is the only genre that doesn’t need a star,Wilson says,but “only a ghost”. “The best part it you make a horror film for Rs 3 crore,sell it on satellite TV and make 4 crore,” he adds. The 1960s saw some of the best horror flicks from Bollywood — Gumnam,Bees Saal Baad,Kohra,Woh Kaun Thi being some of them. Now,the genre has got more stylised with loads of special effects. Some of the horror movies on the anvil in Bollywood include Fired starring Rahul Bose,Militza Radmilovic and Dinesh Lamba and directed by Sajit Warrier,Udita Goswami’s paranormal flick Rokkk to Help,Shawn Arranha’s Hide and Seek,13B among others.

Talk to Shawn Arranha who uses claustrophobia to perfection in his Hide and Seek,he says it’s the effect that keeps the audience glued to their chair.

“It’s a lot of hardwork — music,camera,lighting,visual effects,” says Wilson. “I personally love watching action cum thriller movies and I feel the audience likes such movies as it keeps them on the edge.”