Shift from content to special effects in horror genre: Ghose

Tracing the rich genre of ghost films in Tollywood, critically acclaimed actor Rudranil Ghose says from the days of Hanabari to Bhooter Bhabisyot, the tradition of literature driven cinema continued.
"However, there had been a new addition. The art of making technically sound films with supernatural content, on the lines of Hollywood and Bollywood spectaculars where more than story, the special effects matter," Rudranil said referring to 'Maya' a recently made ghost tale about the bizarre turn of events in the lives of a celebrity couple and their little daughter.
"While Hanabari and Kuheli - two cult movies of retro era - represent the literary traditions of Bengal, Bhooter Bhabsyot and Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy more or less stuck to that genre in today's idiom. Films like Maya introduced the new genre of horror films where shock and emotion were the two main ingredients," he said,

"If technique is a global phenomenon, even in the sphere of art, why should Bengali cinema be driven by content only," the Chaplin actor reasoned.
"Like 14 crore tales on love and romance in the world, there can be equal number of ghost stories to scare the audience and some may click for literary contents and others on special effects and strong emotional content", Rudranil, recently appointed chairperson of a state-run commission in Bengal, said.
"A film is as much good as it runs successfully for weeks in a theatre. There is no other recipe," Rudra said when asked if two back-to-back recent releases - Surinder Films' Maya and Galpo Holeo Shotti will bring back the audience of Bhooter Bhabisyot.