I have an obsession to scare people: Ram Gopal Varma

Mumbai, April 13 (IANS) Director-producer Ram Gopal Varma confesses he always had an obsession to scare people since his childhood and would stand behind doors and say "bhooo" to someone entering a room. After horror film "Phoonk2", releasing Friday, Varma plans a 3D scary film to make the audiences "experience" fear.

Varma also says he loves to catch the audience off guard through his narrative.

"I always had this obsession to scare people. When I was a kid, I used to stand behind the door and say 'bhoooo' to someone entering the room and now I am making (horror) films," Varma told IANS in an interview.

He is keen to make a 3D horror film as that would give the audience the illusion of being part of the film and experience the horror along with the cast.

"Technically, it would work. While watching a horror film sitting in a theatre you are seeing it happen to someone else on the screen. But a 3D film is a medium which makes you feel you are there with them, on location may be. The illusion it creates is because of the third dimension. Because of that I think the technique has terrific application in a horror film, if rightly done," Varma said.

For "Phoonk 2", a sequel to "Phoonk", Varma has bet upon debutant director Milind Gadagkar, who conceived the idea of the film.

"When I was busy in 'Rakta Charitra', Milind came up with this idea, and it excited me a lot. Milind has been with me for some time and I believe he is an able director, so I went ahead with it," said Varma.

Asked if he has given any value inputs for the film, Varma said, "No, I didn't give any input. Creatively it is completely his (Milind's) brainchild."

Talking about the technical aspects of making horror films, he says for this genre "the camera, background score and sound effects have a huge contribution in the film. For drama or comedy, it can pretty much work on performances, and writing, but horror films have many manipulative techniques where you are manipulating the audience's emotion. The movement of the camera constantly plays around with the audience's psychology. When I took interest in films, I wanted to show off. So I thought the best thing to do is a horror film."

In the first quarter of 2010, Bollywood has streamed out a number of back-to-back horror films, "Click", "Rok" and "Shaapit". The makers of these films claim to have "abandoned superficial scares and worked for far more insidious and intellectual level" fear.

How would "Phoonk 2" stand apart from the other films?

"The more you connect with the audience... if a person seeing the film can feel that it can happen to him or he finds some similarity with something he has heard of, the connectivity factor works best in horror films," said Varma.

He explains that for a horror film to work, "a story is needed to create that moment of fear. I think predominantly it is the emotion that is created in a given time".

"You can make 1,000 films on a haunted house. If you are able to create that moment... remember in 'Bhoot' there were not more than six scary scenes. People are not bothered what's happening in between. They were waiting for the next scare. I think horror films work on that count," he added.

Varma has completed 70 percent shooting of "Rakta Charitra" which is a biopic on a character in south India.

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Phoonk 2