Filmmaker Jeet Ashok has been a fan of horror and mystery genres since childhood. Taking this a step forward, he will be making his Marathi film directorial debut with a horror mystery titled Victoria. The film is co-directed by Virajas Kulkarni and stars Pushkar Jog, Sonalee Kulkarni and Aashay Kulkarni.
Jeet shares, “I do believe horror films have a way of engaging an audience which is very unique to these genres. Fear is a strong emotion. And fear of the unknown is the strongest fear- which is the principle that mystery and horror stories rely upon."
Exploring horror mystery, a fairly new genre in Marathi films, was a challenge, he says while adding that difficulties arise also because there isn’t a lot of groundwork already laid for these films yet in Marathi cinema. “So, when we decided to make it, we did not have a lot of examples to follow – but that also means that we had the opportunity create something completely original of our own."
Victoria is a visual driven film. It had to have a specific style in terms of lighting, shot design, VFX and prosthetics make up involved. Jeet adds, “And we made it in a very challenging schedule divided between Mumbai for a couple of interior set work and Scotland for the majority of the length of the film."
Jeet was the associate director for Ti and Ti, in which he has worked with Pushkar Jog and Sonalee Kulkarni. On his equation with the star cast for this film, he says, “Sonalee in a lot of ways was our strongest pillar honestly. As our senior in the industry, with so many wonderful films and performances behind her – she grounded the character immensely with her craft. She really brought out the best in the character we wrote. I was so amazed that being so much more experienced than the two of us, she was still extremely open to experiment with us…to come up with new ideas….to play along with the genre while still creating a unique character!"
On actor Pushkar, he shares, “Pushkar who had the added pressure of also being the producer of the film really knew how to switch between his two responsibilities. He really knows how to give in to the demand of the character and is extremely open to experiment. The result of that is that you will get to see him in a very different light in this film."
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On having a film release post pandemic, Jeet strongly feels that if filmmakers do not undermine the audience- if they do not take the audience and their creative intelligence for granted and really think and work towards giving them a fresh and unique experience each time then the audience will reciprocate that love. “It is not a Us vs Them situation as it is made out to be sometimes. Film watching audience that spends their hard-earned money for entertainment deserves fresh, varied, not repetitive, not generic cinematic experiences. And I hope this is something the Marathi audience will find in this film, if nothing else."
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