If you would have said ‘I love vampires’ about five years ago you could expect raised eyebrows. But these three lovely words sound the coolest right now with vampires acquiring more dimensions than just the bad and the ugly. Thanks to the Twilight series and TV shows such as True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Buffy The Vampire Slayer – that have tweaked folklore and created good, bad and grey vampires (!) – the paranormal trend has got a huge fan following that’s showing no sign of dying out (pun unintended).
Supernatural and paranormal activities have always intrigued the human mind like none other. Call it escapism if you like. Away from the boring mundane routine, shows on the living dead are definite TRP churners. Fairies are for babies, so elders (read teens) are happy to welcome vampires, werewolves, witches and trolls. While the Twilight series can arguably be credited with kicking off this craze, some of the initial movement happened with the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the movie Blade. Both carried the good versus bad theme.
They have all the ingredients for entertainment – enough scope for high-tech visual effects, super stunts and drool-worthy male/female protagonists. Sadly, home-grown TV concepts have failed to make the mark in the TRP game. Zee had a show called Shree, Sony had Achanak 37 Saal Baad, Star One is currently showing Pyar Ki Ye Ek Kahaani – but none of them can claim the kind of viewership that shows in the US boast of.
That has prompted Star World to bring the successful Supernatural series to its Indian audiences on prime time. The show traces the adventures of the Winchester brothers whose mother was the victim of mysterious supernatural forces. The two have been trained by their father to hunt and finish off the evil. Star World is bringing the first five seasons to India. Currently the show is in its seventh season in the US.
(Supernatural airs Monday-Friday on Star World at 9 pm beginning December 27)
