by Sujay Iyer
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (GA)

Mangalore, Aug 25: A horror flick after a long interval excites everybody and I was no exception. There was a lot of pre-hype publicity, going as far as it being called the scariest film ever made. Frankly speaking, the movie isn’t half as scary or good as its earlier predecessor, ‘Bhoot’; and is amateurish horror.

‘Phoonk’ reminds me a lot of ‘Bhoot’, the main plot is pretty much the same, the only difference is that the latter was based on ghosts and the former is based on black magic. Perhaps, this is the reason why I wasn’t impressed by ‘Phoonk’; Rather than giving us a fresh and interesting storyline, Ram Gopal Varma resorts to camera tricks, a resonant background score and unappealing horror, trying very hard to startle us.

The first half of the movie is spent on establishing the protagonists of the film and is a little sketchy and not what you would expect from a horror film. A lot of screen time is wasted showing us the interior designing of the house. I reckon Varma thought this would build up intensity and curiosity; instead, it annoyed the life out of me. The basic problem of the first half is that it has a lot of empty horror, like dream sequences, scenes which aren’t scary but made to be thanks to the sound and the cinematography and every time, I thought something interesting was to occur, it dissolved completely.

The second half is definitely more compelling,. It actually has scenes that are scary and the story moves forward with pace and thrill. It is here where one can make out that ‘Phoonk’ is a trademark RGV film, from the uneven camera angle to resounding sound, from black-dressed magician to fast cinematography. The second half keeps you hooked until the end even with a weak, predictable script showing Varma’s class as a director. The climax is the sour point of the film and is hugely disappointing.

All the actors do a fine job, especially Sudeep who plays the atheist, arrogant father who transforms into a God fearing man. Ahsaas as the little girl tries to recreate the magic of ‘The Exorcist’ but doesn’t quite get it right, simply because the director fails in the execution of some scenes which could have made the film momentous. Her acting is brilliant but the direction fails to make it legendry. The others including Ashwini Kalsekar, Zakir Hussain and Ganesh Yadav are in good form and put in a fine effort. The movie explores the fine-line between science and superstition very well and comes out as more of a thriller rather than a horror flick.

Like I said before, ‘Phoonk’ is a lot like ‘Bhoot’ and would have perhaps worked if it would have been released before ‘Bhoot’. Cinematically, it isn’t horror at its best, but then again when has Bollywood ever given us good scary films? ‘Phoonk’ isn’t a B-grade horror flick nor is it a good frightening film. It’s for people who are die-hard horror fans or for people looking for a change.

Rating: 2.5/5