Unsaid Words and Said Silences

 

Are you scared of the dark?

I am scared… I am sure there are more people among you who are scared too.

Since childhood I could never sit through horror TV shows or films. I never saw anything, but the fear element stayed forever.

 

When I entered the film Industry, it was clear in my head that I would never cross paths with the genre of thriller films. The reason can definitely be that I don’t understand them and their purpose as part of cinema.  A few Bollywood films like “Veeraana”, “Raat”, “Raaz”, “1920 Evil Returns”, and the most recent one “Warning” have all the ingredients of horror thrillers.

 

One day a very close friend just called up and offered me to be his associate director for a thriller film he was directing. The reply was very straight and clear, a big NO! A horror film was just out of question and it was not my genre.It took a lot of convincing for my friend to get me on the project and I finally entered the scary door making screeching noises, Just like those scary movies.  After signing up, the next step was to read the script. It was ironical how someone who normally hides behind the pillow when the ‘ghost’ appears on screen, was already intrinsically involved in a supernatural thriller film script. I started research work for the film. I couldn’t stop myself from exploring the dark side, which I believe, coexists in this world. The human psyche is not ready to adapt to the unknown. The content is so gripping that you will want to explore more and more.
There are theories, concepts, and ideologies about the dark side. The sense of uneasiness that settles in the pit of your stomach while reading about these things, is equally challenging to portray on screen. The term “ghost” is a deformed figure which is not visually appealing and can make you skip a heartbeat.

Recently released “Conjuring”, directed by James Wan, was considered to be scary by majority of the audience. I was shocked to see an 11:45pm screening slot in the theatre going housefull. The trailer of the film was sufficient enough to scare the audience but still draw them to the screens.
Horror cum thriller films have a growing audience in India, especially for films from the west. The filmmakers today have to keep in mind that it is not easy to scare the audience. The audience has developed a profound intellect in understanding the nuances of cinema. The cinema on the other hand has evolved too in terms of technology and infrastructure.

Let’s not entirely put the blame on cinema for engineering fear in our psyche. I believe that cinema has valiantly portrayed the concept of the negative and the positive or the ‘yin and yang’ in the world through horror films.You cannot deny it but believing it, or not, is always a choice you can make.
“We cannot see ghost, we can feel ghost”, says filmmaker Joel Smith. He has experienced some creepy incidents in his real life so he believes that there is some power, which can disturb us.
I would certainly agree, as my experience working on a thriller film is getting eerie and creepy as the days pass by. Maybe someone is watching me while I am writing this post…