Vikram Bhatt is all set to make his screen debut with Star Plus' Ishq Kills. He informs Iknoor Kaur that his show explores love that breaks social boundaries
Vikram Bhatt is synonymous to thrill, fear and adrenaline. Thus, when you have him as a host on a television show, you expect a dark, romantic, spooky thriller stint that gives you goosebumps. But Ishq Kills is not even close to this. It has the romance and the thrill but a social message that lies under the skin of the story. “Ishq Kills talks about love that breaks and dampens social boundaries and changes the sense of priorities. However, it doesn’t preach or take a stand against or for anything. It just presents the actions and the consequences of those actions. It makes the audience look at a conflict and then it is for them to decide whether the action is worth the consequences. There is one episode where two cousins fall in love. Now when that happens obviously there will be a family upheaval and especially when the cousin is married. So you know the consequences of what you are doing. The question is, will you still do it,” explained Bhatt.
Though Bhatt is hosting the show, he said that he was taken aback when he saw the first few episodes. “I was quite blown because I didn’t expect this kind of caliber on television. Plus the stories appealed to me on a whole new level. All the stories shown on the serial are real life ones. They are not unbelievable — they are stories you have heard of before but behind closed doors and tried to convince yourself that they don’t exist even when they do,” he shared.
He added that the show is very different from crime shows. “Crime shows talk more about the crime and less about the emotion that goes behind the crime. This show is about how you are emotionally inclined to do something so drastic. These are crimes of passion,” he informed.
Bhatt’s stint with TV began in 1998 when he directed a show. Years later, he is back as a host. He said, “I think every director is a closet actor and for me this was a chance to come out of the closet. But more seriously, the series was so interesting and I was so glad that television is covering such issues that I immediately decided to take the jump.”
According to the director, TV is finally coming of age in terms of programming. “I think television is going to be a huge competition to films in more genres than we can imagine. I won’t be shocked if the scenario in India becomes like that abroad where TV series are doing way better than films,” he elaborated.
With a lot of such shows that have social messages doing the rounds, Ishq Kills is another sailor on the boat. Bhatt feels that love is not something that can be segmented as a subject of the youth. He said, “love is not the birthright of the youth. People can be in love at any age. These stories are about adults, consenting adults and the youth. Thus, putting it on a channel that all kinds of people watch was a wise decision.”
Apart from the show, Bhatt has two films in line, Creature and Mr X.