Director Vikram Bhatt, who is known for peddling fear through his films in Hindi cinema, is back with a new horror offering. His latest supernatural thriller, 1921, which stars Zarine Khan and Karan Kundra, is screening now in the UAE. Set entirely in London, the film is a cautionary tale of Ayush, a geeky pianist who moves into a haunted mansion in the UK. Strange things rattle his peaceful existence and a demonic spirit tries to take over his life.
Gulf News tabloid! caught up with Khan and Kundra to get to the bottom of 1921 and why horror remains a derided genre in Bollywood. Here’s their breakdown.
Five things to know about 1921
1. Zarine Khan plays a ghost whisperer named Rose. What’s a ghost whisperer?
“She can talk to ghosts or spirits and communicate with them. She can also help the spirits resolve incomplete deeds on earth. I am playing the mediator between ghosts and the mortal world,” said Khan. Ask Kundra, who plays Ayush, on whether he had any reservations with the concept of a ghost whisperer, and he says, joking: “Not if she looks [like] her [Zarine Khan].”
2. But 1921 isn’t just a supernatural thriller filled with exorcisms and spooky ghosts. There’s a beautiful romantic angle in the film, claims Khan.
“Rose is in love with Ayush, played by Karan Kundra. She wants to help him out when he is in trouble. The horror is just one of the elements in the story.” In real life, Khan is petrified of ghosts but she took up the role as she found it challenging and wanted to “push yourself”.
3. Kundra, who plays a consummate pianist, plunged into his role as soon as he finished filming for Mubarakan, which released in July last year.
“I had less than one month to learn how to look convincing as a pianist. I looked up and read a lot about playing the piano. For Mubarakan, I had to look like a bulky Punjabi, but Ayush was a lot more geeky. So it required me to transform myself,” said Kundra.
4. 1921 was shot in mansions in the UK that were believed to be haunted.
“The whole unit was spooked out by that idea. Even bumping into each other scared us while we were there. But the atmosphere while we are not shooting the film was fun-filled [and] jovial,” said Khan. Kundra claims that filming for a horror film can be comic, but director Bhatt extracted the best out of them.
5. Khan and Kundra believe that horror became a tainted genre in Bollywood because filmmakers attempted to mix sex and horror to titillate audiences. But things have changed on that front, claims Kundra. The actor believes that in today’s age, mixing adult content in horror films isn’t the way to go since such films are easily accessible to Indian viewers. Horror films now have to stand strong on its own merit.
“Horror is a genre liked by many people, but not many filmmakers explore with this genre. It has to be rightly made, otherwise it can turn into comedy. Luckily, Vikram Bhatt is a director who seems to have done a PhD in horror. He has a deep understanding of the paranormal science. There is logic and reasoning in his movies and it’s not about putting some cheap thrills for the sake of it,” said Khan.
Don’t miss it!
1921 is out in the UAE now.
