The maker of ’Raat’ and ’Bhoot’, Ram Gopal Verma is back with another scary flick ’Phoonk 2’ but the director says that we still have a long way to go in exploring the genre when compared to Hollywood.
Bollywood has been churning out horror flicks off late like Vikram Bhatt’s ’Shaapit’ and Sneha Ullal, Shreyas Talpade starrer ’Click’ but the films have not been able to attract the audiences to the theater.
And in comparison, Hollywood’s small-budgeted ’Paranormal Activity’ had a become rage evoking a great response from all over the world.
But Verma chooses to be optimistic.
"The attempt is there. One should understand that for every ’Paranormal Activity’, Hollywood has made hundred flop films. So we need to make hundred bad ones to finally make one super spooky film. Its a process.
And moreover, we are always 15 years behind Hollywood in everything so I think it’ll take some time but as I said attempt is there," Verma said.
But one wonders that how can a filmmaker, who has successfully scared the audiences before not have a perfect formula.
"Some films click and some don’t but one needs to keep on exploring. You see scare can be of two kinds. One, which scares you due to complete helpless situation you catch yourself into and the other which just plain scares your senses. ’Bhoot’ fell into second category and that is why it clicked," Verma said.
Apart from ’Bhoot’, Verma has also given hits like ’Darna Mana Hai’ and its sequel ’Darna Zaroori Hai’ but his ’Phoonk’ could not give a chill in the spine.
But Verma defended and said, "Quite a few people said that it’s not a scary film and there is a reason to that.
’Phoonk’ was not a straight in your face kind of scary film because it was about superstition and it would not effect you until you have been in that situation." So what should be expected from the sequel, ’Phoonk 2’?
"Phoonk 2’s intention is plain and simple as to just scare the audience’s pants off," Verma said.
The 48-year-old filmmaker also comes back with his challenge of Rs 5 lakh to the one who can watch the film without being spooked but this time it is a little more tough.
"During Phoonk we did something like this but the guy could not see the film and he ran off but people thought the challenge was rigged. This time we decided to make it more challenging and transparent. We intend to fit an ECG machine to the contestant and monitor his heartbeat and if it goes higher even once that means he has been scared and the person loses. This will all be shown to the media live," he said.
And Verma claims to have won the challenge as a Mumbai-based contestant Hitesh Sharma could not keep his heartbeat stable after 45 minutes of watching the film.
The sequel takes the story of Rajiv and his family to the next level as the spirit of the evil woman, killed in the first film, comes back from the dead and murders the Tantrik, the family’s only saviour. What follows is the brutalities by the ghost on the vulnerable family.
The Milind Gadagka directed film is set to hit the theaters on April 16.
