[icernet] Bollywood struck by horror

[Arul Selvan]

  The Indian film industry is hoping a new genre of films will turn 
around its fortunes, after it reportedly lost half a billion dollars 
last year. The industry can't support losses like that forever so 
producers are looking for the next big thing - and scary seems to sell. 
Films like Raaz or Makdee and Raat which all dabble in the supernatural 
have been huge hits and some new films are trying to emulate that 
success. Ifran Ajeeb, a film programmer at the National Museum of 
Photography in Bradford, England, and a Bollywood critic, said he thinks 
the Indian film industry is going through a transitional period. Mr 
Ajeeb said love stories have been successful over the past decade, but 
now there are hints that Indian audiences are getting tired of seeing 
the same or similar stories over and over again.

Excitement is a financial winner then and in a sign that this trend is 
firmly established, Bollywood big wigs have got involved. Some of the 
Bollywood's top actors are signed up to star in Bhoot, another upcoming 
horror film. So should we expect India to produce the next international 
horror blockbuster? Will it sit alongside Hitchcock's Psycho as one of 
the all time spine chilling greats? Ifran Ajeeb doesn't think Hollywood 
should be too worried, it appears Indian horror will have a flavour all 
of its own.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2969101.stm