On a moonless night in Mumbai, the crew of Zee Horror Show was rehearsing the climactic sequence when something off‑screen began to fray.
Poonam Dasgupta, the show's leading lady, was fitted with rigid contact lenses—hard, doctor‑made, with a tiny central aperture for a clear view. They were supposed to be removed after an hour and a half, a rule the team had long abandoned.
The director, Deepak Ramsay, and the set crew lost track of time. By the moment the crew realized the lenses had been on for over three hours, they were stuck, swollen and bleeding, and the makeup artist was at a loss.
Ramsay stepped in, calming the situation. "We had to breathe," he said, guiding Poonam’s hand to gently pry the lenses out. The relief was palpable, but the damage was already done.
The incident sent shockwaves through the horror community, and it’s a stark reminder that even on a low‑budget set, safety protocols can’t be left to chance. One makeup artist told me they’d never seen a lens stay on that long.
Now, as Poonam recovers, fans are eager to see her back in the spotlight, perhaps in a new Ramsay‑directed venture that will prove that the horror genre can still surprise and scare.