Mumbai, Apr 18 (IANS): Director Ram Gopal Varma says he will cast Hitesh Sharma, who accepted the challenge to watch "Phoonk 2" alone in a theatre but couldn't win it, in the third instalment of the spooky thriller as a gift.

"I basically want to thank him (Hitesh) on behalf of the whole unit of 'Phoonk 2' and I am going to give a gift personally later. He is going to work with me in 'Phoonk 3'. That's my commitment in front of the media," said Varma.

Before the release of "Phoonk 2", Varma had said that anyone who could watch the film without getting scared would win Rs.500,000, but none of the contestants could sit with a steady heart through the horror flick.

Among the five short-listed from different parts of India, Hitesh from Mumbai got the opportunity to finally take the hot seat. He was shown the film alone and his heart beat was monitored with an ECG machine, but he didn't win the challenge.

Directed by debutant Milind Gadagkar, "Phoonk 2" released Friday.