Last update:01 November 2024, 08:00 IST

Writer Niren Bhatt said that there is no formal guarantee that a film will work and stressed the importance of storytelling.

Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao headlined Stree 2.

The horror comedy genre has seen a sudden surge in popularity among movie buffs after films like Stree 2, Munjya and even Bhediya performed well at the box office. Niren Bhatt, who wrote all three films, recently spoke about the genre’s success and said that “it’s the storytelling that works.”

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Niren said, “This is not the kind that works; It’s the storytelling that works. If you make a bad film in the horror comedy genre, will it succeed? There have been other films in the horror comedy genre over the past four years. You can see the box office records of all these films. Regardless of the genre, for a film to succeed, everything has to come together. It has to be well written, directed and performed, whatever the genre.”

“Whether it’s a biopic, a social comedy or an action-adventure film. I don’t like the term horror comedy because what we’re trying to do is different. I’d like to call this a supernatural adventure thriller. So there are supernatural elements and comedy. So this is how to see things. So if a genre has good direction and good performance, it will work,” he added.

Niren Bhatt also mentioned, “I can understand the obsession with horror comedy because if something worked, you assume it’s because of a formula, so others start doing it too. The result would then be terrible. It’s the same trend we’ve seen in action films and biopics. This industry basically depends on originality in all departments, be it writing, directing, acting or cinematography. The success of a film depends on creativity. This cannot be attributed to the ABC genre. Equations don’t work in art. »

When asked how he subtly addresses themes like patriarchy and women’s issues in his stories, he replied, “If those things come organically into the plot and the story, then we keep them subtly in layers. We’re not trying to preach it. Cinema is not intended to give lectures or knowledge to the public. People come to the theater by spending on tickets; our job as artists is to give them their money’s worth.”

“So you try to involve them in any way you can. If we make a horror film, we scare the audience; if there is a comedy, we make them laugh. So we try to involve them accordingly. It is not a medium through which you transmit messages. At the forefront, an artist always tries to involve the audience,” he concluded.