Image Source : INSTAGRAM/HARDIK MEHTA Roohi director Hardik Mehta says, ‘In our universe, the chudail is filmy’
With gags, gasps and a shout-out to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ), Roohi goals to additional generate curiosity about horror-comedies, a style that permits creators to subvert the folklore to current a recent story, says the movie’s director Hardik Mehta. Starring Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma, Roohi revolves round a singing ghost who places grooms to sleep so it might possess their brides.
The trailer of the film, which is slated to be launched theatrically on March 11, reinterprets the enduring scene from DDLJ the place Shah Rukh Khan’s Raj wills Simran (performed by Kajol) to ‘palat’, that’s to show again if she loves him.
In Roohi, the viewer sees the character performed by Kapoor, who’s possessed by the ghost, rotate her neck to 360 diploma after Sharma says ‘palat’.
Mehta stated the intention was to offer a brand new twist to the memorable dialogue whereas honouring the basic horror trope with a bit of snickers.
“Horror films have always used this twisted neck or turning around the neck for horror effect but here we have subverted that and combined the ‘DDLJ’ mainstream memory of ‘palat’ and given a chudail (witch) ‘palat’ moment. It was something not done before. In our universe, the chudail is filmy,” the director informed PTI in an interview.
Roohi is the second movie in producer Dinesh Vijan’s horror comedy universe, which was envisioned following the success of “Stree”, that includes Shraddha Kapoor and Rao. The 2018 film additionally featured Abhishek Bannerjee, Aparshakti Khurana and Pankaj Tripathi. Mehta, who made his function size directorial debut with the Sanjay Mishra-starrer drama “Kaamyaab”, stated there’s loads of curiosity round this style, which isn’t utterly found in India as but.
“We all have grown up with so many folk tales and rumours about ghost and witch and each region has a specific folklore. That helps establish a folklore, create curiosity and subvert it in today’s 21st century, where you can be rational about few things but you can also give up your rationality after few times,” he stated.
The idea of Roohi, Mehta stated, got here from writer-director Mrigdeep Singh Lamba of “Fukrey” fame and Gautam Mehra and is predicated on a preferred folklore of north India.
“There is a chudail (witch) called ‘mudiyapairi’, who targets grooms and as they fall asleep, she abducts the brides. The film is based in a fictitious town, he said, quipping they didn’t name the place “as a result of instances are altering”.
While Stree and Roohi come from the identical secure and style, they’re “completely different films”. Roohi’ has its personal particular person identification. The movie has nothing to do with ‘Stree’ besides it’s a horror comedy style and it’s coming from the identical producers. Content sensible it’s not related,” Mehta stated.
The filmmaker, who gained the National Award for his 2015 quick documentary in Gujarati titled “Amdavad Ma Famous”, stated the largest problem for the makers is to realize full engagement of the viewers.
“Horror movies have a typical trope like somebody would possibly seem in entrance of the door, keyhole or above the cabinet, and many others.
We have seen sure issues in Ramsay Brothers films or ‘The Conjuring’. They have grow to be a part of our mainstream viewers reminiscence and subverting that makes the comedy.
“The most important thing is to not lose the concentration of horror, the moment you try to dilute horror it might become comedy-horror and not horror-comedy. And then it becomes spoof and more dangerous,” he famous.
A graduate in Dairy and Food Technologies, Mehta initially labored at a number one firm in Surat however his ardour for storytelling led him into the movie trade the place he co-wrote films like “Trapped” and internet sequence “Paatal Lok”.
The director, who served as script supervisor on movies like “Lootera” and “Queen”, stated he’s completely happy to be related to numerous initiatives.
“I am glad I got the opportunity to do different kinds of things and I am not being put into a box for making certain kinds of films only. Bollywood, otherwise, is known for its stereotypes. In today’s time a good film cannot be ignored irrespective of the genre,” he added.
Also starring Manav Vij, Sarita Joshi, Anurag Arora, “Roohi” is without doubt one of the first Bollywood initiatives to reach in theatres after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting allowed cinema halls to function at full capability with adherence to COVID-19 security norms.
Mehta stated the staff is beneath stress to recreate the success of “Stree” together with his movie, in addition to getting folks to go to cinema halls amid the pandemic.
“We have all kinds of pressure. There is a successful film in the same genre from same producer and there is pressure of getting people into cinema halls given there is a talk about second wave (of COVID-19). We are hoping to get people back in cinema halls,” he stated.
“Roohi” is offered by Jio Studios and Vijan’s Maddock Films.
