Exorcism, black magic and supernatural thrillers rock Tollywood

Hyderabad: It seems to be the season of supernatural thrillers in Tollywood and filmmakers are cashing in on it. With massive success of films like ‘Masooda’, ‘Virupaksha,’ and “Maa Oori Polimera 2’ which raised more than Rs 80 crores together in two Telugu states and  unfortunately giving more credence to black magic and supernatural tricks.

"We aren’t promoting black magic since the audience is intelligent enough to understand that it is just a movie and nothing to do with real-life ,” says leading producer Bogavalli Prasad, who minted more than Rs 50 crores for his film ‘Virupaksha. “It was one of the biggest horror thrillers in Tollywood. Of course, our film revolved around black magicians and the gripping thriller also talked about evil spirits. It was meant to be a gripping spooky thriller and the audience lapped it up since our taut screenplay retained the curiosity factor till the end,” he adds.

Talking about curiosity factor, famed writer Gopimohan says, “Once the trailer of such films is unveiled, audiences are curious to know what is in store for them in the movie. With action and romantic films turning predictable, supernatural thrillers have taken centre-stage and spin box office magic.” He further adds, “Most of the revenue for these kinds of films is generated in single theatres in towns and villages, where some people believe in black magic and talk about evil spirits. Besides, such films break the monotony of song and dance routine and clichéd comedy tracks, but just rides on the content and keeps the audience glued to their seats," he adds.

He claims that the massive success of ‘Kantara’ which talked about folklore gods and his brief appearances to resolve people’s woes has inspired few Telegu filmmakers. “Kantara has inspired a few makers to travel this path and raise the bar on horror flicks. Invoking gods and spirits are going to happen for some more time since even digital platforms are lapping up such films.

They are dubbing in varied languages and making money since supernatural thrillers breach language and regional boundaries,’ he points out.

Gopimohan also claims that such themes don’t need big stars and can be made within specified budgets and best option for aspiring directors and producers “It is the perfect genre for young filmmakers to make their mark and then move on to regular films. With content being the king, directors can bank on novel themes and also showcase grip over filmmaking by scaring the shit of the audience,” he says and adds, “I am also working on a supernatural script after doing commercial movies since it was a new challenge for me,” he concludes.

Giving an actor’s perspective, pretty actress Nandita Swetha, who is donning a ghost role in her next film ‘O Manchi Ghost’, says “ We go through lot of mental stress and body pain for all those screams and unusual antics and end up with sleepless nights," says actress Nandita Swetha, who also played a ghost in 'Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada’.