Kirti Kulhari riding high on the success of Shaitan, is starring opposite Luke Kenny in Rise of the Zombie

The Oxford Dictionary recognises the word “zombie” as “a corpse supposedly revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions”. Informally, the dictionary suggests that the word can be used in the context of an apathetic person, in a state of trance or hypnosis but responding to surrounding stimuli.

Zombies, or the living dead, are hugely popular in Hollywood and even A-list actors like Will Smith have been seen in such films. As a concept, it holds its own as filmmakers dabble with both comedy and drama for an audience that can easily differentiate a zombie flick from the average supernatural horror film.
This year may have been Bollywood’s turn to lap up horror as a genre with Vikram Bhatt’s various offerings and RGV’s return to the oeuvre, but this Hollywood-obsessed industry has also been working hard to introduce a genre of acquired taste. Bollywood has Go Goa Gone starring Saif Ali Khan, Rock the Shaadi with Abhay Deol and Luke Kenny’s Rise of the Zombie, each battling it out to be the first to give Indian viewers an indigenous zombie flick.

Knowing Zombieland

Actor, standup comedian and singer Vir Das will be seen in Saif Ali Khan’s Go Goa Gone along with Kunal Khemu. For all his comic capers and witty one-liners, Vir believes the zombie genre is serious business. “I have been a fan of films like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. I think they (zombie films) work at various levels. Firstly, I think we all have a certain obsession with the afterlife, apocalyptic scenarios and the walking dead. As a filmmaker, a zombie flick allows for a lot of geeky playing, which I really like. Makeup and special effects involving gore and blood are all tough and very technical things to pull off in a film, the process of which I really enjoy.”
After a stellar performance in Rock On!!, actor and television host Luke Kenny is looking to make his contribution to the genre’s debut in Bollywood. Luke believes it’s all about telling a story effectively. “The zombie concept represents a kind of metaphor for society gone wrong, which always has an adverse effect on the human condition. This is an interesting storyline to explore. Rise of the Zombie is the story of an individual’s journey against the backdrop of his own isolation, a journey that has its own demons.”

Target audience

Filmmakers feel this is perhaps the best time to experiment, go creatively crazy and push all boundaries of cinema — particularly since the youth today is a lot more exposed to pop culture and going global is after all, the buzzword.
“The main target audience for this film is the 16-34 years group. They try new things and are open to newer ways of engagement when it comes to entertainment. Acceptance will be gradual, but it will surely become an interesting genre in the next few years,” says Siddhartha Jain, producer and CEO, iRock Films.
Siddhartha and Ekta Kapoor have produced Navdeep Singh’s Rock the Shaadi, starring Abhay Deol, Genelia D’Souza and Preeti Desai. He started developing this film in 2008 when it was called Shaadi Of The Dead, at a time when the average Hindi film watching audience wasn’t quite aware of zombies.
Luke feels that the changing face of the Indian audience today makes it the ideal time to bring in a new genre. He says, “Filmmakers particularly target audiences for edgy content and stories which fall into the 18-30 age bracket, which is roughly 60 per cent of the country. A large percentage of that 60 per cent is well tuned into pop culture and its spinoffs, be it games, graphic novels, American TV shows, Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and even apps. So there is a dedicated fan base for the genre — all we have to do is tell a good story with the right amount of blood.”
The svelte Kirti Kulhari, riding high on the success of Shaitan, is starring opposite Luke in the film. She feels, “I think if the execution and presentation is proper, it will be received and accepted well by the discerning youth. Also with the number of horror films coming in, a zombie film could bring a fresh perspective to what one feels is scary.”

ZomCom or serious stuff?

Even as the genre is yet to hit Indian theatres, filmmakers are divided about what would be the most effective way to reach out to a new audience. “Comedy is the best way to introduce new concepts, especially zombies. Fun cushions the other bits for an audience and draws them to sample something new. I feel zombie-comedies are the way to go in India. Serious, gory zombie films will be difficult to accept,” says Siddhartha, whose Rock the Shaadi is touted as a ZomCom.
Luke is launching a zombie-origin saga, not a comedy like Rock the Shaadi or Go Goa Gone. “It is a human drama story of what happens to a human being when he begins turning into something that is unexpected. The mental breakdown, the physical decay, the inability to relate to rationality... All these elements have been explored in various zombie stories in different capacities in the past. We have brought it all together into one nutshell with a cliff-hanger end that leaves the story open-ended and sets it up for the sequels to follow.”
After the stupendous success of Delhi Belly, Vir the funnyman was being offering only comedies — until Go Goa Gone came his way. “I think good content will sail no matter how niche the genre is. The audience is super-conscious of what makes a worthy Sunday evening after watching a single promo. Content is king. When directors Raj (Nidimoru) and (Krishna) DK offered this role to me, I took it up because this was a perfect fit — action meets comedy meets really strange content.”

Marketing strategy

Siddhartha had earlier in the year launched a graphic novel Zombie Talkies: Bloodfest In Bollywood, which was well received by the graphic novel devouring circuit in metros. “The first run of Zombie Talkies has almost been sold out. That too with zero publicity or PR. We are converting that into a film next year and the second print batch will be on sale next year, with a new cover. The ZT comic book was an attempt to slowly introduce the concept in India and the strategy has worked,” he says.
But Siddhartha, like any other producer in Bollywood, knows that marketing is everything. He adds, “The key is the marketing strategy and how we break the first poster and trailer of the film. Communication is essential. If you look at the poster of any Western zombie film, you will know that it’s not about some bhoot, but is in fact something else.”