Varma returns to scare audiences with `Phoonk 2`

New Delhi: Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is all set to scare the audiences yet again -- with "Phoonk 2", a sequel to his earlier film "Phoonk - The Black Magic Story". Releasing Friday, the film captures the fear of a family caught hostage to a spirit seeking revenge. Written and directed by debutant Milind Gadagkar, the movie is hitting the screens with about 900 prints worldwide including the digital format.

"Phoonk 2" is a Verma presentation and is co-produced by Prashant Burra and P. Chandra Shekar at a budget of Rs 4 crore (Rs.40 million). Actors Sudeep, Amruta Khanvilkar and child actor Ahsaas Channa reprise their roles in the movie. "`Phoonk 2` is not a horror film. It is a scary movie. Horror by definition involves blood, gore and violence and movies like these are made without those to scare audiences where other elements like background music and expressions come to play," Varma told IANS. "Phoonk 2" begins with Madhu`s (the black magic practicing woman from the first movie) ghost returning from the grave to seek revenge on Rajiv`s (protagonist) family by torturing his wife Aarti and children, Raksha and Rohan. On bagging a new construction project, Rajiv moves with his family to a new place. His children Raksha and Rohan start exploring the new place and the surroundings. The real terror begins when both the kids find a doll in the woods and then it progresses to a series of highly traumatising experiences for the whole family. Manja, the only man whom Rajiv turned to for help in the previous movie to escape from Madhu`s spell, meets a gruesome death at the hands of her ghost. Terrorized by the demonic force, will Rajiv give in to the ghost or will he betray his family and give up? Will the family survive as the gruesome murders are committed? The choice that Rajiv has to make in the final moments of the film forms a very unsettling and a highly disturbing climax. "Phoonk 2" has no songs and boasts of a scary background music that will give goose bumps aplenty. IANS