First up is Ragini MMS, currently in production and co-backed by Ekta Kapoor's ALT Entertainment imprint. This will be India's first foray into the found-footage horror genre, iRock's CEO, Sid Jain, explained it to me like this:
Its a straight horror in the vein of Paranormal Activity, but very different in story/plot. It's in the found footage genre. First of its kind of Indian film. Releases in April this year.Anything new from Indian films is a welcome change from an industry that rehashes ideas far too often. The film is being shot in Hindi and Telugu languages for simultaneous release. No solid word on the leads yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing some footage from this.
The next horror film from iRock is the first-of-its-kind in India horror-comedy Shaadi of the Dead. Fangoria had a brief report on this film through a transmission from its FX artist earlier this week, who stated that he's going to begin work over the summer on the film. They had reported that the film would star Riya Sen, however, that is no longer the case. In the last 6 weeks or so, the film has found a new director in Navdeep Singh, and it is being completely recast. When I asked Jain about Shaadi of the Dead, he had this to say:
Well the project is under going a complete recast. It's now being directed by Navdeep Singh. I am producing the film. An all new cast will be announced my mid-Feb. It's India's first zombie-comedy. More like a Monsoon Wedding meets Shaun of the Dead. A complete original screenplay developed in-house by iRock.Sounds like it could be fun. Anyone who has seen even a few Indian films can tell you that at least 90% of them deal with weddings (shaadi), so this could be a good opportunity to take the conventions of traditional Hindi filmmaking and upend them a little bit. Plus, the note from the FX artist, Tate Steinsiek (Zombie Honeymoon, Plague Town), says the film is going to be pretty damned gruesome, so that ought to be fun. Apparently, a graphic novel is also in the works, so look out for that, too.
I'll keep you posted as more information comes through!