A horror show nearly turned into a real-life nightmare for actor Poonam Dasgupta. While shooting a crucial climax for The Zee Horror Show, the actor unknowingly wore hard contact lenses for more than three hours, well beyond the recommended limit.
By the time the team realised what had happened, the lenses had become stuck to her eyes. Her eyes were red and watering; she was in pain, and the makeup artist could not remove them.
What followed was 15-20 minutes of panic on a late-night set, with the crew struggling to figure out how to get the lenses off.
Filmmaker Deepak Ramsay, who directed the show, recently recalled the incident on a podcast with Bollywood Crypt.
The Horror Was In The Eyes
Speaking about the incident, Ramsay recalled that Poonam used specially made hard contact lenses. Unlike the soft lenses commonly available today, these were rigid lenses designed by an eye doctor and came with a tiny hole in the centre through which the actors could see.
He said, "There was an interesting incident that happened. So those days we were using contact lenses which were not the soft ones like you get today. So they were specially made by an eye doctor, and they were hard lenses, and they had a very small, tiny hole in the centre of the lens for the artist to see.
He added, "But as I said, they were hard lenses, and they had to be put on the eyes, but there was a restriction that it should not be worn for more than 60 minutes or about an hour and a half max."
The problem arose when the team was shooting what Ramsay described as a very important sequence: the climax.
Three Hours With The Lenses On
The shoot continued, and the team lost track of time. Dasgupta, one of Ramsay's favourite heroines, continued performing without realising just how long she had been wearing the lenses.
"Now we were shooting a very important sequence, and we lost track of time and one of the heroines, one of the most favourite heroines, Poonam Dasgupta, she had been wearing the lenses, and she didn't realise it in her performance, and the sequence was the climax that we were shooting and later on we realised that she'd actually been wearing the lenses for more than three hours, and we told her to take it off and take a breather and whatever."
The lenses had been worn for more than three hours, significantly longer than the recommended duration.
What happened next turned the set into a scene of genuine panic.
The Lenses Got Stuck
At the time of the pack-up, the crew discovered that removing the lenses was not going to be as simple as they had expected.
"And at the time of backup there was a little bit of chaos in panning because the makeup man couldn't remove the lenses; they were just stuck in her eyes, and she panicked."
Dasgupta was in pain. Her eyes were watering and had turned red, while the crew scrambled to figure out what to do.
"It was paining, her eyes were watering, her eyes were red, and there was chaos on the set, and it was late at night, so very difficult to get the doctor to come at that point, and you know the whole 15-20 minute situation got really out of hand, and there was more panic than anything else."
With a doctor difficult to reach at that hour, the situation could have become considerably more serious. Instead, Ramsay stepped in.
Deepak Ramsay Came To The Rescue
Ramsay recalled that the immediate priority was to calm Dasgupta and the people around her.
"So we made everybody calm, and I came to the rescue, believe it or not, and we told Poonam to relax, breathe, and we gently tried to get the lenses off, and with the grace of God it came off, and she was very relaxed after that."
Who Was Poonam Dasgupta?
Poonam Dasgupta was among the actresses associated with the Ramsay Brothers' horror productions. Her association with the filmmakers placed her within one of the most recognisable horror traditions in Indian popular entertainment.
The Ramsay Brothers, the filmmaking family that became synonymous with Indian horror, built a distinctive universe around ghosts, supernatural creatures, haunted houses and atmospheric scares.
The Ramsay Brothers have made more than 30 horror films in India. Among them are Darwaza, Saboot, Guest House, Purana Mandir, Veerana, Purani Haveli, Bandh Darwaza and the TV series Zee Horror Show. Their first film, Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche, proved to be a success and made a name for them in the Indian horror film industry. Deepak Ramsay is best known for his work in The Fridge (2025), Aatma (2006) and Koi Mere Dil Mein Hai (2005). Their work became particularly influential in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, when elaborate visual effects and prosthetics were far less sophisticated than they are today.
Dasgupta's work with the Ramsays also brought her into the world of The Zee Horror Show, the weekly horror anthology that became one of the most recognisable horror programmes on Indian television.
When Horror Came Home Every Week
The Zee Horror Show was a weekly Indian horror anthology series presented by the Ramsay Brothers. It premiered on Zee TV in 1993 and continued until 2001.
The series became a staple of Indian television horror, with standalone stories revolving around supernatural forces, ghosts and other frightening phenomena. Its popularity also became the subject of controversy.
In July 1997, a petitioner before the Punjab and Haryana High Court argued that horror programmes promoted superstition and were having an adverse effect on young viewers. The petition sought restrictions on the telecast of such programmes, including a demand that they be aired only after midnight.
Women and children formed a significant portion of the show's audience. Following concerns raised by its sponsor, Colgate, the programme's title was changed to Anhonee, with the words "The Zee Horror Show" written underneath. By September 1997, the title had been shortened to simply Anhonee.
