Given that the Raaz (2009) series catapulted him to success, returning to the horror genre felt like homecoming for Emraan Hashmi. Set to feature in Amazon Prime Video’s Dybbuk, Hashmi doesn’t consider working in horror movies — a genre that has not found favour in the industry — a risk. “The genre paid [off] for me. My biggest grossing films have been those of the Raaz franchise, which earned over Rs 80 crores at the box-office. However, we don’t make many good horror films. An exception to this is Tumbbad (2018), which was tastefully made,” Hashmi tells mid-day.

Highlighting that international markets have aptly exploited the genre, Hashmi says filmmakers in India haven’t been able to decipher ways to make promising horror movies. “The genre hasn’t evolved in India because not too many people understand it. Also, we make few horror movies, so, as far as the genre is concerned, what we see is stagnation, not evolution. We lack the aesthetics, as well as good scripts. We need to up the [bar], and this film does that.”