"Friday the 13th proved to be lucky for me!" - Nishant

Tell us something about your movie and your character.

Horror Story, as it sounds, is a complete horror movie.  It is a story of seven friends who get together for a farewell of one of their mate (Karan Kundra) and just for fun sake; they land up in an abandoned hotel which apparently turns out to be haunted. In the movie, I am playing the role of a middle class boy, named Achint, who comes to Bombay to become an actor. Owing to the fact that his friends have made it big in their respective career, while he is still struggling with his aim to be a star, yet, he is very loyal and helpful to them. Among the whole bunch of friends, Achint is the only person who believes in supernatural.

According to me, the best part of the film is its unusual concept, whereby, for the first time in a Bollywood horror film, the makers have left no respite for comedy or romance, no room for anything except the terror of the evil entity. Though the film wraps up in 92 minutes, it does not drift from its focus to build up thrill and anxiety amongst the audience.

It was a wonderful journey working with Mr. Vikram Bhatt. From the very first day till the last one, I learnt a lot and that helped me to keep going the notch every moment. On the first day itself, Bhatt Sir told all of us that "Tumhe logo ko darana hai. The audience will not be scared of the evil entity but by you. Until and unless you will feel the fear, the audience will not be scared. So you have to first genuinely feel the terror yourself."

Personally, I have been getting a very decent response till now. As a matter of fact, the horror genre does not please everybody, yet the film is doing well up till now. Also, the money invested in making of the film has been already recovered. Whatever revenue it is now earning is all profit, so all in all the movie is doing good.

Yes, we did. Like I said, the entire movie is shot in a haunted hotel with no ventilation, no electricity and absolutely no lights coming in. As we had heard several creepy stories, Karan and I used to loiter around at night to explore the hotel. I remember, once Karan was passing by the lobby when it was pitch dark. All of a sudden, one of the doors slammed right on his face and he just ran away.  Similarly, once I was roaming alone, I found a particular room that sparked off a red colored light, which said, 'Do Not Disturb'. Knowing the fact that there was no electric supply, the door light kept on glowing. This incident was very horrendous and I feel that gesture was an indication for us to not play around.

Basically, this film is a result of Vikram Bhatt's experiment with the genre. Since it's a horror flick, the story demanded a fresh cast, so that we can successfully build a fear amongst the audience. That is the precise reason the movie kept a low profile and did not indulge in too much of on-screen promotions. Basically it so happens, if the audiences will watch us laughing and dancing few days before our movie is to release, it won't be able to construct the required apprehensive emotions and will fail to have a long lasting scary impact. Nonetheless, the movie is gaining its share of appreciation by word-of-mouth.

Initially, Horror Story was slated to release in mid-August. And to be honest, I was the first one to realize that 13^th of September will fall on a Friday. I told this to my director Ayush Raina, as Friday the 13^th' is one of the rarest days and when he brought this matter under Mr. Bhatt's notice, he agreed to shift ahead the releasing date. I felt so proud when I came to know about it. I believe that two negatives make a positive. Therefore, Friday the 13^th proved to be lucky for me!

The movie does not have any songs in it. Do you think it will hamper the success of the movie?

We all know that when it comes to Mr. Vikram Bhatt-film, it always epitomizes outstanding music. On the other hand, in our case, when people asked me about the music quotient, I had to notify them that there are no songs in the entire movie, simply because it is a fast-paced horror story. Unlike other Bollywood horror films which are mostly based on romance and full-on drama, Horror Story is more of a Hollywood kind of drama. From the very beginning, the motive of the film was to create a hardcore feeling of dreadfulness and leave the audience catching their breath.

My next film is Single Chal Riya Hoon, which is by Mr. Sai Kabir who is presently shooting Revolver Rani with Tigmanshu Dhulia. I have already shot for it and I would be spending my next 3 months for its patch work.  The movie will hit the floors early next year. Adding to the list, I am also doing another Rom-com movie with Major Studios, whereby I'll be seen playing a Love-Guru. And my third movie will be a political thriller, about which I can't divulge any details at present. So, I have three different kinds of films which will be releasing next year.

Do you have any plans of returning to Television?

Frankly speaking, I had quit television 3 years back with a purpose to do something in Films. And now that I'm getting ample of opportunities to prove myself in the film industry, I don't think so that I should return to the daily soap saga again. Provided if there is some unique concept on television, something like the '24 Series', I would be more than glad to be a part of it.

We at TellyBuzz wish Nishant lots of luck and success for his future endeavors!

Monica Varma