Horror films have always been a favourite of the audience, but the 2002 film ‘Raaz’ gave the audience a much more joyous experience. From romance and soulful music to a thrilling love story, this Vikram Bhatt film had it all. Starring Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea, the film not only became a box-office success but also ushered in a new genre of romance-horror. It also spawned sequels. However, none could match its success. In an exclusive conversation with IndiaToday.in, director Vikram Bhatt revealed how the film industry discouraged him from doing the film, believing it would fail.

“All I remember about ‘Raaz’ is that the whole industry thought the film would fail. They were like ‘What is this?’ “What is this? It was put in the C-grade genre of horror. Nobody had faith in me except the boss (Mahesh Bhatt). He was sure it would work. I remember I had this burning anger as a director that I wanted to prove everybody wrong,” Vikram said.

According to the internet, ‘Raaz’ falls under the ‘erotic horror’ genre. But when asked about it, the filmmaker scoffed, “I don’t know what was erotic in it. A man strays into his marriage with another woman, and she commits suicide. You have to show a love affair between them so that the relationship is impressive. Otherwise, why would the wife be upset? There has to be some sin in it, because the basis of horror is its dark side. If people feel that a simple love affair can be erotic, I am happy to provide it.”

His latest film ‘Bloody Ishq’ starring Avika Gor released recently on Disney+ Hotstar. Talking about how the genre has changed since ‘Raaz’, the filmmaker said that the horror quotient has increased, “People want more of it, it’s almost like an addiction. Earlier we had 30 minutes of horror, then an hour, and now people want more. I remember a few films after ‘Raaz’, I met people who said they wanted more scary scenes. I asked them if they wanted a story or should I just make a compilation of those moments?”

Vikram Bhatt also spoke about the biggest challenge of making a horror film in today’s times. Stating that the decreasing attention span has become a threat for filmmakers, he said, “Horror needs to be built slowly, you can’t just move on to the next scene. However, people have become so impatient now that the director has to find even more ways to keep them engaged. With ‘Bloody Ishq’, our attempt is what the Boss (Mahesh Bhatt) calls impatient editing. We needed to be fast and smart so that the remote is not touched. When it’s a theatrical release, the audience buys the ticket and is in a dark room, so it’s easier to keep them engaged. However, when you’re watching it on OTT, the lights are on, the phone is ringing or your child is crying next to you. It becomes really difficult to scare people through all these distractions,” Bhatt said.