Season of horrors

A few years ago, horror was an indispensable element of Malayalam television industry. Shajiyem’s Nizhalukal, which is claimed to be the first horror TV serial in Malayalam, set off the trend in 2000. The screenplay of Nizhalukal was written by Ranjith Sankar, who, in one of his blog posts, wrote, “The story of Nizhalukal was inspired from a  cover story India Today did during my engineering days. It was about a six-year-old Gujarati kid speaking in the voice of a 60-year-old grandmother and reciting Bhagvad Dita etc (sic).” He later placed the characters in the Kerala milieu and added some drama. “I loved creating every character of it. Lakshmi, Muthassi, Prof. Karumadom. One thing I was very particular was that it should not have the ‘yakshi’ moving around in a white sari singing songs. It should be set in an environment which was real and we have witnessed in our lives,” his post reads.  

The serial aired on Asianet was a hit and came out in series. Following in its footsteps, a few more horror serials such as Kadamattathu Kathanar appeared on television. However, the trend didn’t last long as sobbing daughter-in-laws and sullen mother-in-laws caught the fancy of Malayali television audience, especially women. The advent of such serials also made a section of audience abstain from watching serials. 

Still from Ottachilambu After a short gap, the horror genre is making a comeback to enthral the audience, in a different form. “I think the trend is rekindled by the serial Nagin (Nagakanyaka),” says actor Urmila Unni, who plays a major role in Ottachilambu, another horror serial broadcast on Mazhavil Manorama. She plays a thampuratti, who witnesses the events in the tharavadu, in the serial. “There is a charm for these kinds of stories and people like it. Hence the trend is back,” she adds. Contrary to what we have seen before, the new serials have adopted fresh narratives. Gone are the days when ghosts clad in white attire chase men and suck their blood. Sahayathrika, directed by K.J. Bose and written by Kishore Abraham, telecast on Surya TV is an example. It is set against the backdrop of a campus. K.V. Anil, script writer and fiction head of Surya TV, says, “People enjoy watching horror serials. The core theme may be same — revenge of the spirit.

The change has been brought into the ambience and the background where the story takes place. In Sahayathrika, the spirit comes through Ouija board. The tagline of the serial is ‘campus-horror-thriller’. That makes it different and audience enjoy variety. Horror caters to all. It can attract the male and young audience who were staying away from television.” Besides, the serials have advanced technically and they are not as scary as in the past. “There is a great scope for graphics in horror serials,” says Anil. Urmila Unni concurs.

Still from Sahayathrika“Graphics makes effects easy,” says the actress, who acted in the second part of Nizhalukal. “During that time, it was challenging. In Nizhalukal, Poornima played my daughter’s role. There was a scene where we meet. The shooting was happening in a studio. Poornima was wearing a contact lens. When the blower fan started operating, the lens flew off,” Urmila laughs. “In another shot, I was lying inside a circle of fire. And my hair narrowly escaped from the fire,” she says.
Vishnu V. Nair, who plays the male spirit in Sahayathrika, chose the offer only because it was something different. “Movies like Ayushkalam and Njan Gandharvan rushed to my mind when I listened to the script. I found it different and took it up. The response is good,” he says. He is seen in normal costumes throughout the serial. “That was my relief,” he chuckles. “We wanted to make it different. Therefore, we went for normal costumes. Also, our serial has no scary gimmicks. That was another reason for choosing the script. I don’t think that the current generation would get scared watching a horror serial.” Besides Nagakanyaka, Ottachilambu and Sahayathrika, another one Chandrakantham has also been announced. If the trend goes well, we can expect more outings in the same genre.