All those, who have watched and appreciated the 2013 acclaimed psychological horror flick ‘Oculus’, will now have a chance to watch the Bollywood version of it in ‘Dobaara: See Your Evil’, which hit theatres on June 2. The experiment has been done by Bollywood Director Prawaal Raman, of ‘Darna Mana Hai’, ‘Darna Zaroori Hai’ and ‘404’ fame, who has dared to remake the movie with his own interpretation of ‘Oculus’.
The movie stars Huma Qureshi, her real-life brother Saqib Saleem, Adil Hussain, Lisa Ray in lead roles and Romanian actress Madalina Bellariu Ion of her debutant act in Bollywood. Interestingly, ‘Dobaara’ is the official Hindi adaptation of ‘Oculus’; in fact this is the first time in history that a Hollywood remake in Hindi has been officially screened for the original creators as they are named as executive producers of the official remake.
On May 26 a special screening was held for the ‘Oculus’ producer Trevor Macy and Director Mike Flanagan in Burbank. Also present at the screening were Raman, Ion and North America Distribution Head for B4U Movies Jatin Grover.
Post the screening, Flanagan while addressing the press, gave a thumbs up to ‘Dobaara’, and said that it provides a fresh take of his film with added elements.
He was also quite pleased with the production, sound and casting of the film and hoped to see and be a part of such collaborations between Hollywood and Bollywood in future.
‘Oculus’ Producer Macy clarified, “Initially I was sceptical and had no idea how the movie would be translated, but today after watching the movie all my fears have rested. It is a new perspective and Raman has done a great work.”
“You never know what you are gonna get when you licence your movie to somebody else and Raman has done a brilliant job on the subject. Hope he gets to remake more of our movies,” he added laughing.
When asked about his feelings, Raman explained, “I was quite nervous before presenting my film to Mike and Trevor. ‘Oculus’ was a very smart movie and how can you better something which is already best. I have created it in a different time space, with different stars and a different stage. Hope you all like my interpretation of this beautiful work.”
Detailing the story, the Director added, “The film is an emotional journey of Natasha Merchant (Huma) and Kabeer Merchant (Saqib) dealing with the death of their parents, Alex Merchant (Adil Hussain) and Lisa Merchant (Lisa Ray) a decade ago. Natasha believes that it’s the paranormal mirror which is responsible for their deaths and is adamant to prove her brother’s innocence to the world, who has been in a juvenile correctional facility for 10 years, as an accused in the murder of his parents. However, Kabeer does not agree with his sister Natasha’s theory and believes that he killed his father while saving themselves. Finally what happens-who wins is ‘Dobaara’.” But, will the Indian-American or Indian audience, which is really smart and above the jump tactics of Bollywood horror movies, like to watch a remake of ‘Oculus’? Answering, Prawaal stated, “The story revolves around ‘Oculus,’ but has added elements and my interpretation.”
So what is different? Prawaal adds, “For instance, we show an Indian family dealing with the troublesome situations in London, then we have an actual ghost in the movie, also people would be able to watch Anna’s character in detail, which never happened in ‘Oculus’.” Great! But what about the apple scene, which is a classic modern horror scene? Taking the question, which was directed towards Raman, Mike said, “It is a very special scene and Prawaal has done complete justice to it.”
Talking about the choice of name ‘Dobaara’, Raman quoted the lines from the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes “What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.”
Following the press meet, Ion also answered some questions. She encouraged people to watch ‘Dobaara’ and take the scary ride. “It plays with your mind and is for the brave,” she mentioned. Talking about her character, she said at length, “My character Anna is having an extramarital affair with Alex (Adil Hussain), but it is not a regular affair as they are bounded intellectually. When I read the script, I immediately found some elements from Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. I must say that it was challenging to play this role especially speaking Hindi lines.” So lets “join the Merchant family on a revelation through time as they alternate between the past and present to uncover the truth, debarring illusions, bizarre occurrences, amidst the presence of the spooky mirror.
On May 26 a special screening was held for the ‘Oculus’ producer Trevor Macy and Director Mike Flanagan in Burbank. Also present at the screening were Raman, Ion and North America Distribution Head for B4U Movies Jatin Grover.
Post the screening, Flanagan while addressing the press, gave a thumbs up to ‘Dobaara’, and said that it provides a fresh take of his film with added elements.
He was also quite pleased with the production, sound and casting of the film and hoped to see and be a part of such collaborations between Hollywood and Bollywood in future.
‘Oculus’ Producer Macy clarified, “Initially I was sceptical and had no idea how the movie would be translated, but today after watching the movie all my fears have rested. It is a new perspective and Raman has done a great work.”
“You never know what you are gonna get when you licence your movie to somebody else and Raman has done a brilliant job on the subject. Hope he gets to remake more of our movies,” he added laughing.
When asked about his feelings, Raman explained, “I was quite nervous before presenting my film to Mike and Trevor. ‘Oculus’ was a very smart movie and how can you better something which is already best. I have created it in a different time space, with different stars and a different stage. Hope you all like my interpretation of this beautiful work.”
Detailing the story, the Director added, “The film is an emotional journey of Natasha Merchant (Huma) and Kabeer Merchant (Saqib) dealing with the death of their parents, Alex Merchant (Adil Hussain) and Lisa Merchant (Lisa Ray) a decade ago. Natasha believes that it’s the paranormal mirror which is responsible for their deaths and is adamant to prove her brother’s innocence to the world, who has been in a juvenile correctional facility for 10 years, as an accused in the murder of his parents. However, Kabeer does not agree with his sister Natasha’s theory and believes that he killed his father while saving themselves. Finally what happens-who wins is ‘Dobaara’.” But, will the Indian-American or Indian audience, which is really smart and above the jump tactics of Bollywood horror movies, like to watch a remake of ‘Oculus’? Answering, Prawaal stated, “The story revolves around ‘Oculus,’ but has added elements and my interpretation.”
So what is different? Prawaal adds, “For instance, we show an Indian family dealing with the troublesome situations in London, then we have an actual ghost in the movie, also people would be able to watch Anna’s character in detail, which never happened in ‘Oculus’.” Great! But what about the apple scene, which is a classic modern horror scene? Taking the question, which was directed towards Raman, Mike said, “It is a very special scene and Prawaal has done complete justice to it.”
Talking about the choice of name ‘Dobaara’, Raman quoted the lines from the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes “What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.”
Following the press meet, Ion also answered some questions. She encouraged people to watch ‘Dobaara’ and take the scary ride. “It plays with your mind and is for the brave,” she mentioned. Talking about her character, she said at length, “My character Anna is having an extramarital affair with Alex (Adil Hussain), but it is not a regular affair as they are bounded intellectually. When I read the script, I immediately found some elements from Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. I must say that it was challenging to play this role especially speaking Hindi lines.” So lets “join the Merchant family on a revelation through time as they alternate between the past and present to uncover the truth, debarring illusions, bizarre occurrences, amidst the presence of the spooky mirror.
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