With an attempt to come out of the cloud of a “comic character”, Hemant Pandey, who is better known for his role as ‘Pandey ji’ in the serial Office -Office is all set to be seen in a serious role in the movie 2 Nights in Soul Valley that released this Friday. Hemant, prior to this has worked in more than a dozen Bollywood films and TV serials. The film also marks the debut of Harish Sharma as a director. The basic plot is that five friends go to the Soul Valley for their vacations. During their journey they encounter many untoward incidents. The valley is infamous for such mysterious happenings and the story portrays this clutch of youngsters trying to save themselves from the negative souls that haunt the Soul Valley.
“Sometimes the real life incidents are more thrilling than reel ones and this movie will present one such incident. Apart from Hemant all others are relatively fresh faces. The song Milky Way by British singer-actor Milli Moonstone is one of the attractions of the film. Most of the shots are taken in Pithoragarh — the place where the incident occurred. We have also taken care that the local Kumaoni culture also gets reflected in the film so as to reach the interior regions too,” says Sharma.
“I am playing the role of a cryptic guide in the film who switches from positive shades to negative which adds to the spook factor of the film. I will neither smile nor make you laugh this time!”, reveals Pandey. Asked about his shift from comic to serious roles, Pandey adds, “I am tired doing comedy as I have been doing for a long time. While doing a comic role it is not necessary that you intrinsically feel yourself associated with the role. Many a times I did it just for the sake of doing it without much enthusiasm, so I wanted to switch over to something different which would allow me to explore other themes and traits too.” Pandey hopes that his first role in a grey character will fetch him more serious roles.
But for someone who has spent almost two decades humouring the audience, it remains his forte. “The strength of humour is that it breaks the barrier of stardom. With wit you can get along with anyone irrespective of the tall image that he/she may carry along.” The first-time director Sharma emphasises that this will be a “different horror” film “in the sense that it is devoid of blood and murder. You will not find draconian faces anywhere which are now an integral part of horror films. Not much attention is given to special effects as it makes the story unnatural. Here you can expect some raw edges. More emphasis has been given on the better use of sound and silence. Silence is a very effective tool in horror films provided used properly.”-
