Seeking divine help for a horror flick

I am fully energised, rejuvenated and spiritually blessed these days, says Ekta Kapoor, who travelled all the way to Mahakumbh, Allahabad this week to seek blessings for the success of her upcoming horror flick Ek Thi Daayan, scheduled for released in April.

She had travelled with her entire team including Emraan Hashmi and Huma Qureshi.
Not surprising, as many filmmakers seek divine intervention before the release of their films. “Undoubtedly, you seek help when you know that you are taking a risk,” says Ekta. “Ek Thi Daayan is an unusual horror movie inspired from the character of a daayan (witch) in our folklore. The difference is that the concept is formulated in an urban setup,” shares Ekta.

Interestingly, Ekta is not trying her luck with horror flicks for the first time. Earlier in 2004 she had come up Krishna Cottage and in 2011, Ragini MMS. “I love horror films as they are always fun to make. Horror films have their own appeal. However, this genre has a bigger market in Hollywood as compared to India. This difference has to be minimised, I think,” says Ekta.

From horror to underworld and raunchy comedies, Ekta’s movies have struck a chord with audiences successfully. What kind of cinema is Ekta looking forward to now? “ I believe in doing all kind of films as a producer. I think like a viewer, who looks for new stories and experimentation in story-telling since he has spent money to watch a film. As a producer you also feel good and confident when your experimentation pays off in terms of accolades,” replies Ekta.

However, one genre that Ekta has not touched is romance. It seems romantic movies don’t find a place in Balaji camp? “No, it isn’t like that. We are coming up with a few rom­a­ntic films this year. One of them is with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. It is yet to go on floor but it has a very romantic story line. Generally, love stories are very boring. We are trying to make this differently. Secondly, Lootera is also a hardcore romantic film. Let’s see how people like it,” says Ekta.

On the other hand, violence and bold scenes feature prominently in her movies. Why? “There is nothing wrong about it. Both are common in our society and I am not presenting anything unbelievable. It’s the acceptability factor. When we question it or raise objections to such cinema, all we reveal are our double standards. We can see violence and bold scenes in English films but when it comes to Indian films people raise questions,” counters Ekta.

Does she believes that films play a role in changing the mindset of the audience and are somewhere responsible for crimes, especially against women? “It is a myopic way of looking at conditions around you. It’s all about shifting the responsibility to someone else’s shoulder instead of handling the situation,” she says.