Couldn’t come together and share your ghost story on National Paranormal Day? Fret not. Tune in to Laal Ishq on &TV, a romantic/horror series that brings you a new ghost and monster with each episode to satisfy fans of horror genre, says SHALINI SAKSENA
Believe it or not, besides Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and a slew of other days, there is a National Paranormal Day. It is celebrated on May 3 and people are encouraged to come together and share their eerie stories and or experiences. But given the present situation — COVID-19 lockdown — the get together is not be possible. So how the next best thing? Watch ghosts come alive on your small screen.
“There is a reason why we love to hear or see shows and films that relate to the paranormal. We have all grown up listening to bhoot ki kahanis from our grandparents: ‘Ki aisa usne dekha thha’. That fascinates us. Just like those who are addicted to sci-fi movies and want to believe in aliens, we have out our home-grown bhoots,” Mayank Mishra says, who has been playing the ghost for the last one year on the show. He tells you that he has forgotten how many different ghosts he has played till now since one rolls into another.
He tells you that it was his dream to play a ghost since he was a kid. “While growing up, we each dream of becoming or doing something. Since I had always wanted to be an actor my dream role was to play ghost and today, I am living it. It is interesting to play a bhoot. It is unlike playing any other character. There is so much more than just role play. Since each episode has a different ghost, I need to give it a different look, walk and voice. I do a lot of study and watch shows and films around the genre to try and see how I can improve on the creature that I have to play. Then there is the whole time spent in getting the prosthetics and make-up and wearing a costume that weighs over 10 kg and spend the next 12 hours in that get up and then shots. It is extremely challenging but I love it,” Mishra tells you.
Though Mishra may have played over 25 so far and counting, there are two creatures that he loved playing. One was the episode he which he played the ice man. “There was something so interesting to play a creature that was covered in white from top to bottom and coming out of a fridge. The other was Chanda mama, the moon ghost. This was nice since the kids loved what I have done here,” Mishra tells you whose favourite Bollywood ghost movies as Raaz, 1921 and IT (Hollywood).
Nitica Kanwar, one of the writers who came on board for the show tells you that one of the biggest challenges that come with writing a monster story as opposed to any other story is how it is different from what one has done before. “One has to be more creative, imaginative and think out of the box. Every story that you have has to bring in a new element, not seen before. So that people, when they come back, have a new creature and a new ghost. It is definitely challenging and a lot more fun,” Kanwar says who came on board when the show had more of creatures, monsters and bent towards fantasy rather than ghosts.
She tells you that when you write for such shows, a lot of research has to go into studying if there was any folklore associated with what you are writing about or if there was a mention in mythology. “One doesn’t want to create a monster or a creature that doesn’t exist or impossible to imagine,” Kanwar says. While it may not always be possible to go out and create a Marvel on TV, what is not lacking is the talent to write scary fantasy stories. One has to see if what I have written can be executed. The first concern is that the creature doesn’t appear to be tacky. We have to see if one can shoot it was the graphics and VFX level. Also, horror/fantasy as a genre has not been explored much and in the industry and that brings in its own challenges. It involves a lot of work as well,” Kanwar says. It takes her around two-three days to write story before the process of positive feedback from the channel and the producer beings before the story is finalised.
Hemant R Prabhu, tells you that working with horror/fantasy genre is a passion for him and not only has he produced 13 episodes of the show, he has directed most o them. For him there are two biggest challenges. First, to keep the audience thrilled enough so that they don’t surf. Second, revolves around the look of the monster. “There is so much software out there. Every story has to be different and new look,” Prabhu says.
Directing comes easy to him since most of back-end works in taken care of before the episode goes on the floor. “Most of the work is beforehand. A lot of homework is done. Pre-production meetings take care of any other wrinkles that may come up,” Prabhu says.
Jitu Mhatre, the man behind the prosthetics and make-up who has given face to 90 per cent of the monsters tells you that the biggest challenge he faces is to deliver things on time. “We are given only three-four days to come up with the look that is finalised. This takes a lot of time and effort and a slew of people. We also have to ensure that the monster even though scary is not yucky. People should be scared not repulsed with the monster. This is what attracts people to horror genre; the fact that we have come up with a new look that has not been seen before,” Mhatre explains.
Then there is the VFX and the challenges that for a show on ghosts. Sarika who is behind the camera and ensures that the ghost does all scary stuff like fly and appear and disappear in less than a fraction tells you that while the make-up artist will give the look, it is not always possible to have a perfect looking ghost or a monster. This is where the VFX people step in and ensure that the ghost does what it does best — scare the jeebies out of you.
“Even after the prosthetics artist has done his job, it has limitations. He can’t make the eyes glow nor can he make the arms or the entire body twist and turn at a horrible angel that will scare you. That is where we step in. The CG can do so much more. Even if it a small scene, it can create that scare quotient. This adds to the thrill factor for the fans of horror genre and they love it. They also want to know what new we have to offer to them that will add to the whole experience of watching a really scary show,” Sarika says.
