Indian indie filmmaker Junayed Alavi‘s calendar is brimming with upcoming directorial projects. On his way to expanding his journey as an auteur, the West Bengal-based director has added another golden star to his portfolio. Alavi is ready to unleash 10 spine-chilling stories through his horror anthology film, Terror Tales, which is now in production. Joining him aboard this adventure, 2016 Vietnamese action comedy blockbusters Saigon Bodyguards and Daddy Issues director Ken Ochiai has taken on indispensable responsibilities as the film’s producer.
Ochiai’s American production company, Photosynth Entertainment, is backing the ambitious project. His LinkedIn profile reveals that he “made his first film at age 12. Immediately following his high school graduation, he left his hometown of Tokyo, Japan, to pursue his dream of becoming a film director in the United States.” Furthermore, “Ochiai is now working as a professional writer/director in Los Angeles and has a number of projects in development in Japan and the U.S.”
About Junayed Alavi’s latest directorial Terror Tales
Bridging 10 bone-chilling stories, Alavi’s anthology film enlarges his existing filmography with a characteristic narratorial tone. It aims to interweave horror themes with social and psychological issues. This has been a distinctive identifying quality of the indie filmmaker’s projects so far, including his horror short Hunger, which premiered at the Festival del Cinema di Cefalu in Italy in 2023.
Terror Tales welcomes a stellar cast of popular actors from West Bengal, India, including Manasi Sinha and Maidaan star Aryann Bhowmik. Kalyan Goswami, Anirbaan Guha, and Subinoy Ganguly will also play pivotal roles in the movie.
How did Junayed Alavi and Ken Ochiai join forces for this project?
“I’ve known Ken for years. We met on a podcast episode of my own live show during lockdown,” the Terror Tales director exclusively told HindustanTimes.com.
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“At that time, I was making several short films. He was aware of my work. Since then, we have been planning to work together. A few weeks back, I pitched him the idea of Terror Tales,” he added.
Alavi claimed that Ochiai immediately responded enthusiastically to the pitch, showering the vision with love and expressing his heartfelt desire to produce it.
As for where the film is being shot, “We are shooting the film in various locations of West Bengal, India. Ken always wanted to produce an Indian film and I was eager too. We have already shot several parts and my experience was amazing. As a producer, Ken has given me the ultimate creative liberty,” Alavi told us.
Junayed Alavi is also preparing for the theatrical premiere of his debut feature film, Sapiens. Expected to be released around Christmas 2024 or Summer 2025, according to the director’s previous revelations, this film will be available in Bengali, Hindi and English. Marvel‘s Moon Knight producer Peter Cameron is co-producing this film, which stars Ms Marvel actor Asfandyar Khan as the apocalyptic storyline’s narrator.
