Phoonk

My primary motivation to watch Phoonk came from a leading weekly magazine where the director Ramgopal Verma was quoted as saying he will give Rs. 5lakh to anybody who can watch the movie alone in a cinema hall. If my memory serves me correctly, the same type of award was promised to the lone watcher of the Hollywood horror movie Exorcist during its release. So it was with an exciting frame of mind that I bought the tickets for Phoonk!

Well after the movie the movie ended, I felt that Mr. Verma is going to lose several lakhs if his offer is really true. I was not only dissapointed but I just can't justify the classification of it in the 'horror' category.

Mr. Verma's signature sepia tones and close-up shots, this time could not bring back the suspense that we felt in 'Bhoot'. The story is loosely woven and the entire 2nd half is wasted on how an atheist is gradually converted to a believer in the Almighty and the sueprnaturals.

The story revolves around the little Raksha (Ehsaas Channa), the daughter of Rajiv (Sudeep), a construction engineer and a non-believer in God and religion and various rituals. But his philosophy is tested when Raksha suddenly started showing unnatural behaviours that is interpreted as the effect of Black Magic by Rajiv's aged mother (Jyoti Subhash) and explained as a psychological abnormality by Dr. Seema (Lillete Dubey). But Rajiv's concern grows as Raksha doesn't show any sign of improvement after being subjected to medical attention and gradually he gets converted into a believer. The story then turns to a good vs evil battle in which the followers of God wins over Satanic forces. The story is simple but the plot lacked the suspense that was characteristic of Ramgopal Verma.

Zakeer Hussain, the little Ehsaas Channa and Ganesh Yadav are the ones whose acting may be regarded as the only gifts the movie has produced.