Director Vikram Bhatt talks to City Express about his upcoming film, horror movies and 3D technology.
After the success of ‘Raaz’ and ‘1920’, what is so different about ‘Haunted’?
I’ve attracted audiences to my films and managed to scare them. Horror sells the most basic emotion, which is fear. The thrill and the chill send your adrenaline rushing. Horror and 3D together ... that’s the scariest combination. My film’s not for the faint-hearted! After my successful trilogy, people wanted me to make another film, but I didn’t want to make anything similar to what I’d done before. What seduced me here was the 3D aspect, that was something different.
Having tasted the success with mainstream movies like ‘Ghulam’ and ‘Awara Paagal Deewana’, Why did you get attracted to the horror genre?
I love horror films ... I enjoy making them. Directors like David Dhawan, Karan Johar and Madhur Bhandarkar weave laughter, love and social issues into their stories. Similarly, I love to scare people. I like to sell fear. It may be horror or something else, but my shop will always sell fear. My inclination and passion lies in the thriller and horror genres.
What do you mean by 3D film in layman’s terms?
In the early days of 3D, films were converted from 2D and viewed with special glasses to mimic the illusion of depth perception that is the hallmark of 3D. The new wave of 3D film uses polarized light to view a scene from two perspectives — the left and right eye — and then creates the perception of depth by superimposing these stereoscopic images.
Was making ‘Haunted’ in 3D a soothing ride?
A 3D film is something which you think will happen; but making it is almost like your worst nightmare coming true. Technological advances in Hollywood come here only after a couple of years. Here 3D is still in space where it wants to create a sensation.
Does fear excite you?
Yeah. I get scared very easily. I don’t think someone who doesn’t get scared can scare people because if you don’t feel something you can’t fake it!
Many people still associate 3D with animation and kids films. How are you trying to break this image?
There is a kid in every cinemagoer. However much you age, if you go to see a film, you go to get entertain yourself. So why not make an entertaining film for adults? And it is happening all over the world. It is my prediction that all the films will be made in 3D in future. I remember when I was Mukul Anand’s assistant director during ‘Agneepath’ the four-track stereo had come and people said you should stereo in action films or in song films like ‘Hum Apke Hai Kaun’? What is the need to use it in social films? But today every film is in Dolby stereo or 5.1 some even in 7.1, when we accept one thing it becomes a part of us.
Will 3D be successful in India and are Indian audiences ready for this new trend on a regular basis?
Indian audiences have loved the movies that have released earlier in 3D format and the movies have done fair business in India. 3D has the ability to draw the audiences in another kind of world. The number of 3D screens has been rapidly growing in India, going from around 40-50 screens at the time of ‘Avatar’s release in India to around 120-130 screens today which is likely to double by the time of ‘Haunted 3D’s release in May 2011 bracing the 220-230 3D screens mark.