“It really dug up a lot of memories for me and what these stories were the first time I came across them” : Tanveer Bookwala on retelling classic tropes in ‘The Haunting’..

Amazon miniTV – Amazon’s free video streaming service, recently launched a spine-tingling horror short film- The Haunting. The short film features Erica Fernandes, Gul Panag, and Prakruti Mishra in key roles, and the three drive the narrative of a young woman who has been plagued by a demon ever since her sister passed away, which is based on a true story. Soon after, when Moushmi (Erica) is accused of killing her flatmate, things take a bizarre turn.

National award-winning actress Prakruti Mishra commented about the engaging short film and how innovatively Tanveer knitted the story. She mentioned, “The lead character of the film is, Moushmi played by Erica Fernandes, it’s her story. So, this is obviously something that, as you know, made all of us glued to the film and was very beautifully executed by Tanveer. He has done a very good job by adapting that story, making it more interesting, creatively fun, and a lot of the jump shots and pointers that he did were cool.”

Elaborating on the creative process of reinventing classic tropes and the revolution of the horror genre in the OTT space, Tanveer Bookwala says, “It really dug up a lot of memories for me of being a teenager in the ’90s and kind of what these stories were the first time I came across them. And it also showed me how much things have changed in a lot of ways since then. It made me feel all grown up, which was really fun, in so many ways. That said, it’s much, much harder to sustain tension in the world of instant gratification. So horror is really tough on OTT. People switch quickly and are creatively exhausted. So you have to be engaging them on other levels. And that is the challenge I enjoyed the most.”

Graveling around the distinctive plot with an eerie finish, Tanveer throws light on the narrative of the petrifying film. He remarked, “It is loosely based on reality. A lot of this did happen, to a friend. In the way that we designed the story-telling in a way that I believe, even if you take away the scars, the narrative will still work. You will want to know what happened. I think that is what truly sets it apart. Most stories end, when the ghost is exorcised, our story ends, when possession is complete” the director further said.

Directed by Tanveer Bookwala, The Haunting features Erica Fernandes, Prakruti Mishra and Gul Panag in pivotal roles. The short film is currently available on Amazon miniTV within the Amazon Shopping App and on Fire TV for free.