The transition from a VFX artist to a filmmaker took 16 long years for Vishal Furia. The Marathi director who has impressed all with his debut film Lapachhapi in 2017, made his Bollywood debut with the remake of the same, titled Chhorii, with Nuhsrratt Bharuccha in the lead. Furia, who had also co-directed Criminal Justice season 1, is back in news for his second horror film, Bali that released on Amazon Prime Video this December 9.
We talk to Furia about the same and his upcoming Hindi movie Forensic 2022.
Chhorii was well received by the audience. Did you feel a bit odd to debut in Hindi with your own remake or did you want to play it safe?
Not at all odd. In fact, it made me feel extremely happy to be able to start my Bollywood journey with the story that's closest to my heart. Also, I had a few more things to add to the existing film and I was looking forward to telling that story to a pan-India audience. And I feel nothing is safe since filmmaking itself is a risky affair by all means.
Horror as a genre in India is yet to reach a subtle yet spine chilling state, where do we lag behind?
The genre took a little beating due to its categorisation as a B-grade genre at times thanks to the usual and predictable Bollywood tropes. But globally, it has undergone a great evolution while we lagged behind. But with a ready audience, I am hopeful that we'll pick up.
Your film Bali has a romantic hero, Swapnil Joshi, how hard or easy was it to mould a romantic hero?
Swwapnil is amazing as an artiste. His years of experience and the ease of working with him came in handy. He can portray emotions perfectly and that added to my strength of telling horror stories.
Tell us a little about Forensic 2022?
It's a psychological crime thriller written by Vishal Kapoor and stars Vikrant Massey and Radhika Apte in lead roles. Prachi Desai also plays a crucial role in the film. It's in the post-production stage now and I'd like to speak more about it closer to the release date.
If you feel like doing movies apart from horror ones, which are the genres you will try?
The story is more important than the genre and the genre should fit the storytelling to make it impactful. So, I am not restricted by genres at all.
The horror filmmakers you look up to?
Guillermo Del Toro, Takashi Miike, James Wan, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polansky.