High Point, Pritish Nandy plan Indian genre slate

London-based High Point Media Group and Mumbai-based Pritish Nandy Communications are working together on a slate of genre films from India, which they are calling “I-Horror.” The first project the companies are working on is Abhijit Chaudhiri’s The Accident, starring Shiney Ahuja and Soha Ali Khan. That film is going into post-production now.

High Point and PNC are also developing three other horror/paranormal films from India to go into production in coming months. Those include Sanjay Khanduri’s The Pilgrim Express and Kushan Nandy’s Of Brothers and Sisters.

The companies will work together on all aspects of development and editing for each film, to ensure the films strike a balance of national identity and international audience appeal.

“The whole concept of I-Horror goes right to the very heart of what PNC and High Point share as a vision for bringing quality, uniquely-flavoured films from India to a wider, international audience,” said High Point’s Carey Fitzgerald in a statement. “As with the J-Horror phenomenon, for example, which is distinctly rooted in Japanese culture that is also exportable, I-Horror will be the new by-word distinguishing genuinely scary films that, by their vibrant colours and character, unmistakably herald from India but also tap into a wider consciousness.”

Nandy added: “India offers a rich and unusual variety of sights and sounds that are entirely unique. We want to tap into them to create this genre and we are hoping that people across cultures will respond to them because of their universal idiom. That’s where the experience and expertise of High Point comes in, to reach these films to much larger audiences overseas than our traditional movies have addressed. Crossover may be too ambitious a word but if any kind of cinema can cross over easily, horror is the best example as we have seen in recent times with Japanese, Korean and Spanish films. I-Horror is India reaching out to a global audience.”