'It doesn't get scarier than Phoonk'

After making films like Raat, Bhoot, Darna Mana Hai and Vaastu Shastra, producer/director Ram Gopal Varma is back to scare his audience with Phoonk.

Though the filmmaker prefers to keep Phoonk's basic plot under wraps, the story explores people's belief in black magic.

"The tendency of people to relate ill-happenings with black magic is quite rampant, which is why I wanted to take up this subject," Varma says.

This time round, Ram Gopal Varma has also thrown a challenge to reward Rs 5 lakh to anyone who is willing to watch his latest thriller alone in a theatre.

Now that might be a smart marketing gimmick, but how different will Phoonk be from his earlier films in the horror genre?

"Bhoot was about demanding a position and Phoonk is about black magic. So the kind of fear it has is not the variety that makes you jump out of your seats. But more than that, it is the fear that seeps in. It will make you question your own faith,” he says.

And perhaps inspired by horror classics like The Exorcist, RGV's Phoonk revolves around a child possessed by evil spirits.

"There was one scene where I had to touch the roof and I was scared if I fall what would happen. But Ramuji encouraged me. I was praying to God when he asked me which god I was praying to. When I said Hanumanji, he told me why pray to him when Ram and Gopal are there with him," actor Ehsaas Channa says.

We hope that prayer works for Ramu's film as well.