The year 2002 was a crucial one for Vikram Bhatt; it was when the filmmaker in him tasted horror for the first time with Raaz. An adaptation of Robert Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath it was about a couple trying to piece together their disintegrating marriage in the hills of Ooty. A haunted house, an evil spirit, strange voices, supernatural twists — the film had all the spooky elements to scare the audiences. These elements continue their way forward in Bhatt’s latest offering in the fourth of the immensely successful Raaz franchisee — Raaz Reboot — that releases mid-September. Bhatt has also written 1920 London, the third film in his other homegrown 1920 horror franchisee, which releases later this year. Clearly with Bhatt it’s all about minting gold out of ghosts.
Branding horror
After assisting Mukul Anand, Shekhar Kapur and Mahesh Bhatt in his early years, being extremely prolific as a director and delivering hits across all genres — be it Ghulam (1998) or Awara Paagal Deewana (2002) — Bhatt seems to have grown committed now to sending a chill down his viewers’ spines. Was it a conscious decision to embrace horror? Bhatt, busy mixing the new film, tells us sardonically over the phone that being prolific and versatile can’t get a director any brownie points, “People want to slot you. They don’t want to pay for your prolificity but for what they want out of you.”
Having said that, Bhatt also thinks becoming a big brand is a tough thing: “Every director wants to brand himself.” Be it a Madhur Bhandarkar or a Rohit Shetty. So if his own brand ambassadorship of horror appeals to the audience why not?
Horror, with its conventions and hackneyed shock and scare tactics, might seem like a genre that is easy to master but is not quite that simple. “It took me years to come to this point,” recounsts Bhatt. Six years after Raaz he returned with 1920 in 2008 followed by Shaapit in 2010 and Haunted – 3D in 2011. It was followed by Raaz 3D in 2012 and since then there has been no looking back. The third of the Raaz series is often called the Sholay of horror films, possibly the biggest money-raker in the horror genre till date.
Primal instinct
But horror is largely not considered sophisticated enough, certainly not something to view with the family when the films already come with an ‘A certificate’. But as a genre it’s known to have the most committed viewers: “It is the safest, with the best hit rate and is less expensive to make than any other genre.” What gives the genre its fans? It’s the fear factor. Why do people like getting scared? “It’s a primal instinct, is in the DNA. It’s like being on a rollercoaster or bungee jumping,” he says.
But what is the logic in some typical horror conventions repeated in film after film? For instance, going to a remote house and staying on there despite the lurking fear, or entering a dark and forbidding room despite it being dark and forbidding? “Real life has no logic either. Battered wives often don’t leave their husband,” counters Bhatt. According to him, a prerequisite of fear is the creation of a fearful situation and all the spooky, even conventional elements work well despite the overfamiliarity.
From Kamal Amrohi’s 1949 apparition-filled reincarnation tale Mahal (of Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Aayega aanewala’ fame) to the kitschy horrorfests of the Ramsays, from Ram Gopal Varma’s urbane Bhoot (2002) to Pavan Kirpalani’s recent psychological thriller, Phobia, Bollywood horror has kept altering and transforming over the years. Bhatt has been one the few to have been instrumental in giving it a new blueprint: a profitable mix of the traditional and the contemporary.
God and family
So his Raaz 3 (2012), like Mahal, may have been about spirits and the “other” world that hangs somewhere between life and death but was also about Christian theology — about an innocent soul becoming the battleground to good and evil, Christ and Satan. It was localised with a dose of black magic, Hindu religiosity, especially kaali vidya, i.e. tantra doctrines and occult practices associated with the goddess of death and destruction. Bhatt was not coy about showing skin, flashes of cleavage and sex-n-kisses either. But there was also Lord Ganesha at the core who eventually delivers anyone from anything, quite like the promise of protection offered by the cross in Hollywood horror films. Creature 3D (2014) married horror with a monster from Indian mythology –Brahmarakshas, a man-eating mutant.
When asked about he’s brought to the horror table, Bhatt says it’s his take on life, philosophy. If 1920 was about the tussle between atheism and belief, Haunted (2011) was about sacrifice and love. All his horror films mandatorily come underlined with love. “They have to be intense love stories,” he says. Indian audience prefers horror that is romanticised, lyrical, with good music. “We are emotional people. An attempt to play little brother to Hollywood will fail,” he thinks. So no found footage movies, no slasher films for him either. Even Bhatt’s international faves come with a strong emotional core—Conjuring, Omen — with a family at the core. Or the classical one: The Exorcist.
A heady cocktail
His latest is also rooted in love. Betrayal, heartbreak Raaz Reboot has all. “Our ethos is about that kind of cinema. Why change it?” he asks rhetorically. Horror then is like an antagonist, a hurdle in overarching love. It can’t be unrelenting, running from the beginning to the end. Terror can’t be constant. “Fear is an integral part but if you look at our horror films we are selling much more.” The idea is not to offer horror neat but as the main ingredient of a heady cocktail. In fact, Bhatt recognises that the desi genre is more supernatural thriller than pure horror.
But doesn’t he feel constricted by the genre? Pat comes the answer: “I am not just a filmmaker. I am not what I make.” He doesn’t think that it’s necessary to make films to get creatively satisfied.
“Those days are gone. There are so many avenues to quench your creative thirst,” he says. He wants to start his own web channel with an adult series called Maaya. He will also be producing a rom-com and a comedy for the web channel. But in the immediate future he just wants to walk home with yet another horror hit.
