New Delhi, 16 Oct

‘Thamma’ producer Dinesh Vijan says the trailer of ‘Thamma’, a vampire love story that's the latest addition in his horror universe, just shows a glimpse of an iceberg.

The Maddock head on Wednesday unveiled 20 minutes of footage of the movie in front of the media. He was joined by the cast, including Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Paresh Rawal.

"Whatever you see in the trailer is the tip of the iceberg, and we are really trying to hold back. And since we have built such a big universe, we thought we would show you the first 20 minutes of the film right here," Vijan said.

He said the reason he wanted to add the vampire romance to the Maddock ‘Horrorverse’, which began with 2018's ‘Stree’, is that it is deeply rooted in Indian folklore.

"Our culture is so old, 'Stree' is from Chanderi, 'Bhediya' is from Arunachal Pradesh, 'Munjya' is from Konkan, and our culture has had betaals before there were any vampires anywhere. We have come to Delhi with this film. Before a film, I think of reasons and I ask myself, 'Can I not make this film?' and if I can't make it, then I pick it. I keep telling my team we need to be unique, we need to be audacious, and the film should ideally not have a reference point," he said.

Directed by 'Munjya' director Aditya Sarpotdar, the film follows Khurrana's Alok, a Delhi-based journalist, who accidentally stumbles upon a different world of vampires, meeting the mysterious Tadaka, played by Mandanna, and a terrifying vampire played by Siddiqui.

Khuranna opened up about the challenges of playing a journalist, a vampire and a Delhiite.

"I think we are all natural journalists, we are all curious, but playing a betaal was extremely challenging for me because I have never done this much action before. I am falling off mountains, I am being dragged by bears, I have been beaten a lot in this movie," he said.

"I am doing action for the first time, but I loved it. You get to perform in a lot of films, but this is the first time I got to perform physically. I got to run and do a lot of action, so I was very excited," added Mandanna.

Siddiqui spoke about their faith in Sarpotdar as they all were new to the world of Maddock's horrorverse, with the exception of the director.

"To balance horror and comedy, I relied on our director. We went to sets as blank sheets, which the team filled however they liked. Every gesture and dialogue was designed and crafted. And even after the film, I still have so many of his mannerisms," he said.

Veteran Paresh Rawal, who plays Alok's suspicious father in the film, explained why he decided to explore the genre with ‘Thamma’.

"I have never done horror because I think it only revolves around the ghost, not the other characters. But this film is written in such a way that I had to say yes. There is a terrific focus on family and many other elements," said Rawal.

After the conversation, Khuranna joined with singer Soumyadeep Sarkar to sing the romantic ‘Thamma’ track titled ‘Rahein Na Rahein Hum’.

Mandanna and Khuranna also joined the dancers on stage to the beats of ‘Tum Mere Na Huye’.