Horror Story (film)

Horror Story
Theatrical release poster[1]
Directed by	Ayush Raina
Produced by	ASA Productions and Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
Written by	Vikram Bhatt Mohan Azad Sukhmani Sadana
Starring	Karan Kundra Nishant Malkani Ravish Desai Hasan Zaidi Aparna Bajpai Radhika Menon Nandini Vaid Sheetal Singh
Edited by	Kuldip Mehan
Distributed by	ASA Productions and Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
Release dates	13 September 2013 (2013-09-13)
Running time	90 Minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	Domestic collections:2nd weekend: Rs 6.62 crore

Horror Story is a Bollywood dramatic horror film written by Vikram Bhatt and directed by Ayush Raina.^[2] The film stars Ravish Desai, Hasan Zaidi, and features the Bollywood movie debut of television actor Karan Kundra.^[3] The film was released on 13 September 2013.^[4] The plot revolves around a night spent by seven youngsters at a haunted hotel.The film received positive reviews and was successful at the box office.^[5] The film is based on the 2011 horror film Grave Encounters as well as the 2007 John Cusack film 1408

Plot

The film opens with Vikrant Nerula (Bikramjeet Kanwarpal) entering the deserted hotel Grandiose all by himself. He proceeds to room 3046, then goes to the terrace and jumps off, killing himself.

Seven friends, Sam (Hasan Zaidi), Margesh(Ravish Desai), Achint(Nishant Malkani), Neel(Karan Kundra), Neena(Radhika Menon), Sonia (Nandini Vaid)and Maggie(Aparna Bajpai), reunite in a local pub after several years apart to celebrate the farewell of one of their friends, who is going abroad for higher studies. They learn about an abandoned hotel that is reportedly haunted. It had originally been a mental asylum for the criminally insane but was almost completely destroyed in a fire, the origin of which has never been fully explained. After years of neglect, the ruins were refurbished into a five star hotel by a builder who is Vikrant Nerula. The hotel was unsuccessful due to the strange happenings and drove the owner to suicide, though rumors state that he was pushed by the ghost of an asylum inmate. Intrigued, the group decides to explore the abandoned building.

They enter the hotel and Neena observes strange things but Neel brushes her claims aside. They find a TV set on with no transmission or power and both Achint and Neel hear the sounds WELCOME.Ignoring it as mental concotion, they proceed to room 3046, a notorious suite room and there, Sam is killed first. The group flee in panic and shock and come to realize that they are trapped inside the hotel with no way out.Achint & Margesh try to go to the terrace to find the network where Margesh is killed by ghost spirits and the group start being terrorized by a ghostly woman. Sonia is dragged into the darkness by the ghost. With three people dead, the remaining four find an abandoned jeep, which they use to try to get out of the hotel amid ghostly apparitions. After a tiring drive through misty areas, the group reach someplace new, only to find that they are back at the door of room 3046. They realize that the only way to escape is to survive till dawn.

Soon they are confronted by Sonia, whom Achint and Neel think is the ghost, but a tearful Sonia tells them that it is really her. The group come to know that when the hotel was a mental asylum, a possessed girl named Maya(Sheetal Singh) was admitted after she murdered her entire family. Maya would always claim to have 'married the devil', and would become very violent at the hospital, even killing the doctors. The fire that broke out killed all the inmates. The group realize it is Maya who is terrorizing them.

Sonia tries to contact Maya to know what she wants. She gets a call from Maya, saying that the spirit wants to kill them all, nothing else. The terrified group then discover that Sonia is actually dead and Maya is speaking through her. Neena asks the time from Neel, only to be told that it is the same time (i.e 3:55 am) she had seen on the clock in one of the rooms shortly after entering the hotel. Believing it is some kind of intuition, they decide to go back to the same room to understand Neena's extrasensory perception. They find a book containing paranormal explanations and a way to locate the energy source of dark spirits. With the help of incantations from the book, they have hallucinations about the past when the hotel was a mental asylum and find that the energy source of the dark spirit is in a shock machine. They decide to burn it down to end the horror. Neel and Maggie go to kitchen in search of something flammable where Maggie first sees a chudail sitting on chair and reading newspaper and when she reaches towards her, Neel again brushes her asides.And then Maggie is killed by Maya who comes in the form of Heel. Achint is beheaded by the spirit, leaving only Neel and Neena alive.

Neel tries to burn the machine but is pulled by the spirit into the closet. Then the spirit starts terrorizing Neena. Neena creates a flame and decides to finish the task, and amidst ghostly apparitions and obstructions and with the help of the spirit of the Vikrant Narula who had died in the beginning of the film, she manages to burn the machine down, resulting in the destruction of Maya's spirit. The film ends with the entrance doors of the hotel opening at dawn and a traumatized Neena, being the only survivor, walking outside.

Cast

• Karan Kundra as Neel
• Nishant Malkani as Achint
• Ravish Desai as Maghesh
• Hasan Zaidi as Samrat
• Aparna Bajpai as Maggie
• Sheetal Singh as Maya/Ghost
• Radhika Menon as Neena
• Nandini Vaid as Sonia
• Bikramjeet Kanwarpal as Vikrant Nerula

Production

Of the film, Bhatt has stated that he did not want Horror Story to contain any songs or any sex scenes.^[6] He also remarked that he wanted to avoid casting "big stars" in the film, as he believed that they "cannot turn the audience fearful" in what he termed as a "hardcore horror film".^[6][7] Ravish Desai has commented that the movie will be the first in a franchise and that planning for further films has already begun.^[8]

Bhatt had earlier made films in the same genre, namely - 1920, 1920: Evil Returns and Haunted. In an interview, he had commented, "While [my] Raaz 3 and 1920 were romantic sagas with songs and full-on drama, this one is more of a Hollywood kind of drama. The horror lies in the story."^[9]

Marketing

The promo of the movie released at Tulip Star Hotel in Mumbai. At the event, the director-writer-producer unveiled both the look of the film and its cast.

Critical response

Avad M of Bollywood rated Horror Story 3 out of 5 stars and stated that though the film has routine horror scenes, the way it has been executed is very interesting. He also added that there are moments when you are truly terrified because of the sound and lighting effects in the film.^[10]

Sequel

Work on a sequel is currently being planned. ^[8]

References

Sources

• Hemmady, Jaidev. "Horror Story - Movie Review". MovieTalkies. Retrieved 13 September 2013. 

External links

• Horror Story at Bollywoodhungama
• IMDb