Last Updated:
Nushrratt Bharuccha, who is awaiting Chhorii 2 release, says that she stopped meeting and talking to people post Chhorii shoot.
Nushrratt Bharuccha’s Chhorii 2 is set to release on April 11 on Prime Video.
Horror films, as a genre, has witnessed many changes over decades. The order of the day is horror-comedy and the success of Stree has led to a slew of films being made in that sub-genre, so much so that even regional film industries are now following suit. Nushrratt Bharuccha, who is gearing up for the release of her upcoming film, Chhorii 2, however feels that there’s still some time left before Hindi cinema can boast about making a true-blue horror film that can offer a holistic cinematic experience and points out that there’s a stark contrast between how Indian audiences consume Indian and international horror flicks.
In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, she says, “If an English-language horror film comes out, I’m the first one to book a ticket and go watch it with a shawl over my face, even without seeing the trailer first. But I don’t understand why there’s such a big difference in the perception between an international and an Indian horror film. That’s maybe because we haven’t made good horror films and raised the bar. Growing up, I watched some great Indian horror films. Revathy’s Raat was unreal. I couldn’t get it out of my head.”
Dishing out a couple of more examples, she stresses on the need for more and more filmmakers to take risks and invest their time and money on homegrown horror content. “I loved Bhoot and 100 Days too. Those films left an impact on me at that time and I wanted to consume more and more of horror films. But over the years, we lost the art and craft to make one and didn’t up the game. We inflicted ourselves [with other genres] and went lower,” states the Pyaar Ka Punchnama actor.
Nushrratt recalls the trend of horror-sex films that saw a sharp rise in the early 2000s and, in fact, reveals that she had even turned down one such offer. “There’s this other sub-genre that started back in the day called horrex. I don’t know how these words get coined! Somebody thought that a blend of horror and sex would catch more eyeballs and it did what it did for them. I said no to one. I can’t say the name out loud. But it went on to become a big hit,” she tells us.
As for Chhorii, the film grabbed attention for its gruesome and graphic depiction of violence. In a scene, she’s seen cutting her own womb. Talking about it, Nushrratt remarks, “There were some shots in Chhorii that we had to edit out. They were just too much to take. Thankfully, the audience didn’t have to watch all that. Not only did we live it and play it but also saw it on the screen while dubbing. It was really terrifying! I stopped breathing and something happened inside of me, bodily. It took me a very long time to get out of Chhorii. I couldn’t meet or talk to anyone. I needed to reset and forget the whole film to be able to become Nushrratt again.”