Since Jason Blum’s company, Blumhouse Productions, first made a name for itself in the horror landscape with 2007’s Paranormal Activity, it has been instrumental in dawning a new age for the genre. With films like Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Blumhouse has championed diverse voices to contribute to this renaissance. Among the latest voices is Indian actress, singer and producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
She is an executive producer on one of Amazon Prime’s four Welcome To The Blumhouse films, this one titled Evil Eye While promoting the new movie now available on the streaming platform, Priyanka Chopra Jonas talked about the importance of the thriller with these words:
My quest in life, as a producer, is to influx Hollywood with brown people, because we don't see enough of us. And to be able to do an all South Asian cast in a movie with Amazon and Blumhouse -- who are both powerhouses -- was a dream come true for me. want to demand leading parts for people who are like me. I want to have girls that look like me... start to be on the poster of a movie. It's my greatest joy and honor to be able to create opportunities where I didn't have them.
After an exceptionally successful career in India, Priyanka Chopra Jonas has started to become a prominent name in Hollywood as well with her work in Baywatch, Quantico and Isn’t It Romantic. As Chopra Jonas told ET, she takes a proactive approach to making sure Indian representation is not a rare occurrence on film by using her privilege within the industry.
Evil Eye is about Pallavi, a young Indian-American woman living in New Orleans, played by GLOW’s Sunita Mani, and her correspondence with her mother living in India (Hunger Games’ Sarita Choudhury). When Pallavi falls in love, her superstitious mother becomes convinced her daughter's new lover is the reincarnation of the man who attempted to kill her 30 years prior.
The new Blumhouse movie is packed with Indian voices behind the camera as well. Newcomer Madhuri Shekar wrote the script and it is directed by Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani. A predominantly Indian cast and filmmakers being at the center of a horror movie from major studios such as Blumhouse and Amazon is just about unheard of. Props to Priyanka Chopra Jones backing films such as Evil Eye in between her other work.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas does not have a role in Evil Eye, but the multi-talent will have a role in the upcoming The Matrix 4, also starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jada Pinkett Smith. The film is being directed by Lana Wachowski and has been filming this year ahead of its December 2021 release.
Nocturne joined Evil Eye with a Tuesday release as part of Amazon’s Welcome To The Blumhouse film series, which also includes The Lie starring Joey King and Black Box. Check out CinemaBlend’s review of Evil Eye and Nocturne (which was awarded an impressive 4 stars) before you watch the new spine-chilling titles.
