Phoonk - What the ‘Phoonk’?
Ramgopal Varma returns with ACE picture company- Praveen Nischol and Azam Khan-‘One more thought productions’ for a horror flick this time. It’s been a while since Ramu has done a horror flick unless the viewers of ‘Contract’ would love to believe otherwise.
Ramgopal Varma who excelled with ‘Bhoot’ and made people quiver , this time around dares the viewers to watch this movie alone. ‘Phoonk’ fuses in the black magic elements to bring forth some amount of fear. Well , does this flick live up to all those tall claims?
Synopsis….
Rajeev(Sudeep) , a successful Construction Engineer with a loving wife, and two children aged 10 and 8, is an atheist to the core. He scowls at God and even more at people who believe in the dark forces till one day when an evil was let loose in his happy home threatening to destroy his family and shake up the very foundations of his convictions and belief system.
To begin with , Ramgopal Varma seriously needs to look beyond scaring the audiences with gimmicks that have been overdone time and time again with his flicks such as ‘Bhoot’, ‘ Vastu Shatra’ etc. The slow movements of the camera is just not enough to scare today’s masses who in and out are exposed to films such as ‘Exorcism of Emily Rose’, ‘1048’, ‘JU-ON’, etc.
The screenplay of the film is a big setback and lacks a clear vision. Though the basic plot line may just be ok , Ramgopal Varma could have developed and executed things much better. It’s high time he does away with the focus on some lame dolls in the house and the overuse of the household maid; an attempt to scare that falls flat.
With not much movement in the storytelling, the overdone shots of the gates of the ‘Ambe Villa’ and the constant repetition of the SUV driving in and out , gets annoying.
The moment you think the film is going to get better and scarier, it just disappoints. The maid is not even close to what Seema Biswas did in ‘Bhoot’. The grandma just gets annoying with her constant head nodding and her hand stretching sequence was hilarious rather than frightening.
Lilette Dubey comes in from nowhere and gives her scientific view and justification for the proceedings. Zakir Hussain a very talented actor is quite wasted here as his body language and attire make him look really weird. There is no proper justification to his character and he is underused.
Ashwini Kalsekar starts off real well with her scary expressions and the focus into her eyes etc but eventually her laughter makes you giggle. Her character as the witch is pretty ok but the climax of the film was seriously poor on the special effects and thus was a major setback.
Kannada film’s renowned actor Sudeep does ok and the film doesn’t offer him much scope to prove his bit at bollywood. Amruta Khanvilkar is apt as the mother.
Ehsaas Channa is the best performer of the film (keeping aside the crow). One of the best things is that Ehsaas finally plays her character as a girl . She has matured as an actor and tries real hard to scare with the exorcism sequences.
On the whole, ‘Phoonk’ stands way behind Ramgopal Varma’s ‘Raat’ and ‘Bhoot’. It’s high time the director should seek a revival. He needs to win the confidence of the masses and bring back the three letter ‘RGV’ brand essence.
Go ahead Ramu and bring back some ‘Rangeela’ sort of film, you need a break from the dark side. Let the light seep in!
Rating : *
Ramgopal Varma returns with ACE picture company- Praveen Nischol and Azam Khan-‘One more thought productions’ for a horror flick this time. It’s been a while since Ramu has done a horror flick unless the viewers of ‘Contract’ would love to believe otherwise.
Ramgopal Varma who excelled with ‘Bhoot’ and made people quiver , this time around dares the viewers to watch this movie alone. ‘Phoonk’ fuses in the black magic elements to bring forth some amount of fear. Well , does this flick live up to all those tall claims?
Synopsis….
Rajeev(Sudeep) , a successful Construction Engineer with a loving wife, and two children aged 10 and 8, is an atheist to the core. He scowls at God and even more at people who believe in the dark forces till one day when an evil was let loose in his happy home threatening to destroy his family and shake up the very foundations of his convictions and belief system.
To begin with , Ramgopal Varma seriously needs to look beyond scaring the audiences with gimmicks that have been overdone time and time again with his flicks such as ‘Bhoot’, ‘ Vastu Shatra’ etc. The slow movements of the camera is just not enough to scare today’s masses who in and out are exposed to films such as ‘Exorcism of Emily Rose’, ‘1048’, ‘JU-ON’, etc.
The screenplay of the film is a big setback and lacks a clear vision. Though the basic plot line may just be ok , Ramgopal Varma could have developed and executed things much better. It’s high time he does away with the focus on some lame dolls in the house and the overuse of the household maid; an attempt to scare that falls flat.
With not much movement in the storytelling, the overdone shots of the gates of the ‘Ambe Villa’ and the constant repetition of the SUV driving in and out , gets annoying.
The moment you think the film is going to get better and scarier, it just disappoints. The maid is not even close to what Seema Biswas did in ‘Bhoot’. The grandma just gets annoying with her constant head nodding and her hand stretching sequence was hilarious rather than frightening.
Lilette Dubey comes in from nowhere and gives her scientific view and justification for the proceedings. Zakir Hussain a very talented actor is quite wasted here as his body language and attire make him look really weird. There is no proper justification to his character and he is underused.
Ashwini Kalsekar starts off real well with her scary expressions and the focus into her eyes etc but eventually her laughter makes you giggle. Her character as the witch is pretty ok but the climax of the film was seriously poor on the special effects and thus was a major setback.
Kannada film’s renowned actor Sudeep does ok and the film doesn’t offer him much scope to prove his bit at bollywood. Amruta Khanvilkar is apt as the mother.
Ehsaas Channa is the best performer of the film (keeping aside the crow). One of the best things is that Ehsaas finally plays her character as a girl . She has matured as an actor and tries real hard to scare with the exorcism sequences.
On the whole, ‘Phoonk’ stands way behind Ramgopal Varma’s ‘Raat’ and ‘Bhoot’. It’s high time the director should seek a revival. He needs to win the confidence of the masses and bring back the three letter ‘RGV’ brand essence.
Go ahead Ramu and bring back some ‘Rangeela’ sort of film, you need a break from the dark side. Let the light seep in!
Rating : *
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