Under a spell?

Everyone loves a good ghost story.
Shakespeare understood people's fascination with the supernatural and used the motif of the occult in many of his major works. But the fascination persists despite claims that today we live in a rational and technologically advanced world. So, does the recent success of films like Arundhati and Raaz reaffirm our love of the magical spell?
Well the answer lies somewhere between yes and no, since not many films have been able to make it to the BO despite falling in the same genre.
Their phenomenal success however does make one wonder whether films that use supernatural motifs, tantrism, etc., point to a general belief in the occult. "I don't think so," says Shyam Prasad Reddy, producer of Arundathi, emphatically. "Films are made for entertainment and it should be left at that. Art imitates life but I can't say definitely, that life imitates art. If that happens, the world would have been such a wonderful place. People on watching the film Gandhi would have turned peace loving!"
But what inspired him to use the supernatural as his subject? "I wanted a film that's different. And I wanted to make a futuristic character like in the film Terminator but I knew that the Telugu audience will not be able to connect to it therefore I had to bring the villain from the dead. And to make the villain more powerful, we had to give him extra powers which is the supernatural element. Yes, people always have a fascination for the supernatural but the film was not made for that!"
However, CLN Gandhi, an atheist, disagrees with this point of view and says, "Films make a lasting impression especially on young minds and by making such films, film makers can create a belief in the supernatural. Is it okay then to have pornography for art's sake you may ask? No, filmmakers have a responsibility and should know where to draw the line."
But in a country like ours which is given to belief in the occult, wouldn't films on the supernatural do well ? "Yes it's human nature to be fascinated by the unknown and therefore films with a blend of the real and surreal have an appeal and would do well. I and many like me liked the film because there were mantras and tantras which I believe," says Aparna Prasad, HR consultant.
Apart from the big screen, even the small screen has a taste of this fare. A couple of serials like Nagastram , Kalikaalayam, are on air. But Raghu , PRO and film coordinator of a TV channel insists that there are no hardcore scary serials unlike in Hindi. "Television is something that the whole family watches together and therefore, this subject needs to be toned down by adding loads of sentiment, emotion and devotion that the audience connect with."
Adding to this view, Ramini B, creative consultant of a TV channel, says, "On the small screen we avoid serials on black magic. We concentrate on mythological and devotional programmes that have a positive message, as the illiterate masses constitute a major section of our viewers and banamati (black magic) cases in Telangana are rampant. We wouldn't want to encourage it any further." Survarna a regular viewer of the box however has a different view, "Serials that have black magic, etc, are interesting as they intensify our curiosity and are far better than the daily soaps."
Well, each to his own, we may say, but there is no doubt that the otherworldly is a subject that is bound to start a debate.