Thrills and chills at 'Ek Thi Daayan' press meet

Picture this - dark shadows, lizards and 'daayan' (witch) dolls hanging from trees. No, this was not out of a horror film. It was actually the setting for the press conference of "Ek Thi Daayan" that started at midnight.

Discarding the staid press conference routine, Balaji Wednesday put up an electrifying act by Emraan Hashmi and his 'daayans' in an elaborate setting at Filmcity, featuring 'daayan' dolls hanging from tree tops and girls dressed as 'daayans' standing at the entrance handing out 'misfortune cookies' to the guests.

The forthcoming supernatural thriller, inspired by a short story by Mukul Sharma (Konkona Sen Sharma's father), offers an interesting mix of suspense, drama and spine chilling moments. The Kannan Iyer directed "Ek Thi Daayan" stars Huma Qureshi, Kalki Koechlin and Konkona in the female leads. Emraan plays the male lead in the film.

Accordingly, the bus that carried the media from the entrance of the Film City, which itself in the middle of a jungle, to the studio floor was titled Bus To Hell. And guests were in for a shock, when they found themselves with 'daayans'.

The act was opened by Emraan who performed a series of illusion stunts and eerie acts, before being joined by his leading ladies - Huma, Kalki and Konkona, any of whom could be the 'daayan' in the film.

The unusual event to launch the film worked well. In fact, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who made a surprise visit to the press meet, was completely floored and termed it the best he had seen in a while.

Later Iyer, creative producer Abhishek Chaubey, producers Ekta Kapoor and Vishal Bhardwaj, and the entire star cast of the film interacted with the media.

"We are showing two sides of a 'daayan' in our film. One side is very beautiful and the other is extremely scary. I can't give too much details about the film. To know more, you will have to see the film," Emraan told reporters.

The film releases worldwide April 18.

According to Iyer, thriller is a universally popular genre. "I feel a thriller on 'daayan' has not been made at all."

"We wanted natural actresses with flexibility. All three of the actress is so versatile that you will constantly wonder is she a 'daayan' or not. All three of them suited their characters,"

So, who is playing the 'daayan'?

"Among these three girls only one of them is a 'daayan' and I can't say who the 'daayan' is right now. For that you will have to see the film," Bhardwaj said.

Working in the film has been was a novel experience for Konkona who says she has not really been part of any supernatural films. "...I have a fascination for these kinds of films anyway."

"I really wanted to be a part of dark film," she added.