Why wait for Friday the 13th when a Tuesday has all the ingredients for a spine-chilling night? Attend a horror-special event to listen to original paranormal stories and tuck into gore-themed food
Most horror movie lovers in the country watch Indian gore not for the goosebumps, but for belly laughs. Ghouls, screeching witches, haunted havelis and blood-thirsty apparitions have remained frozen in time, and the tropes are as popular in cinema as they are in mass-produced literature. If paranormal stories with a contemporary feel are what you think will change the game, get a glimpse of it at Fright Night. An evening of horror stories and theme games, one of its highlights includes the narration of excerpts from the new horror audiobook, Meri Lekha, by Rachna Mahadevan. The event has been jointly organised by Storytel, an app-based audiobook subscription platform, Books on Toast, a platform for bibliophiles, and The Cuckoo Club.
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"While Monday brings with it the blues, Tuesday is the day when it begins to sink in that the week is not going anywhere. Which is why we chose it for Fright Night, so that people can end their day on an exciting note," says Sharin Bhatti, co-founder, The Cuckoo Club.
Rachna Mahadevan
Apart from Mahadevan's work, which will be narrated by her publisher Ratna Saksena, two storytellers and comedians, Kapil Chandra and Vikrant Sharma, will narrate more horror stories. "We also made a call for entry and participants who attend our storytelling open mic events sent in their horror story submissions. The best entry will be shared tonight. Besides, our food menu is getting a gory makeover for the event," she adds. Apart from scary tales, which will be told in an apt horror-themed decor, the evening also includes a host of giveaways and a spooky surprise.
Mahadevan, who has worked as a producer in Indian television industry for close to a decade and has also worked on a horror reality show, shares that while the genre is experiencing renewed interest abroad, what with the surge of spooky stories on audiobook apps and platforms like No Sleep on Reddit, the trend is yet to catch on in India. "Meri Lekha is a blend of sci-fi, horror and inner turmoil that the audience can relate to. It's about a writer's estranged relation with her mother, and the things that unfold when she visits her native home in the hills after the latter's death," she explains.
Ratna Saksena
Citing the example of the popular sci-fi/horror Netflix series, Stranger Things, Saksena adds that both she and Mahadevan were clear that the book was not going to be about lost spirits, an old woman in a saree or even Halloween-centric tropes. "It is a parallel world that unfolds within the walls of a bungalow," she reveals. When asked about what it takes to narrate a horror story — Saksena has also done the narration for the 10-episode book — she says, "While reading a romantic or dramatic story requires the narrator to get into the character's mind, a horror piece demands that the narrator also thinks about the listener. If my narration scares me, it will scare others — that's the rule of thumb I follow."
ON Tonight, 8 pm
AT The Cuckoo Club, 5AA, Mac Ronells Compound, Pali Hill Road, Bandra West.
LOG ON TO insider.in
COST Rs 299 (inclusive of a cover of Rs 100)
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