Sudeep with Ram Gopal Varma again in 'Phoonk II'

Chennai, Oct 18 (IANS) Actor Sudeep, who worked with director-producer Ram Gopal Varma in two of his films, will start shooting for the sequel of successful horror flick "Phoonk" in Mumbai later this month.

Sudeep played key roles in Varma's "Phoonk" and "Rann" and had said he would be happy to work in a sequel to "Phoonk" which got him recognition as an actor. "Rann" is yet to be released, but Varma has already planned a sequel to "Phoonk" which he said would be more realistic and resemble Korean and Japanese thrillers.

The actor is in Malaysia to shoot for some sequences of his forthcoming directorial venture "Just Maath Maathnalli", produced by Shankare Gowda. With the completion of this schedule, the shooting portions of the film will be complete. Later this month, he will start shooting for "Phoonk II" in Mumbai.

On shooting with actor Amitabh Bachchan for "Rann", Sudeep said: "Working in 'Rann' that too with a legendary actor like Amitabh Bachchan was something that I had not even dreamt, but that did happen. And I had many sequences in the film with the Big B about whom I have so much of reverence. It was a great learning experience for me. Technically I did learn a lot from RGV's (Varma) angles, but with Amit Ji I was able to understand how you could be effective even when you have no dialogues. Amit Ji would express only through his eyes."

Varma is following the trend in Asian film industries, mainly the Japanese and Korean film industries, where making sequels to successful supernatural thrillers and achieving success out of them has become a fashion.

The sequel "Phoonk II" will start where the original "Phoonk" had ended. However, the sequel will be directed by his associate Milind.

"He worked with me in 'Phoonk' and he wrote the script for this sequel. So I entrusted him the job of directing it too," Varma said.

Sudeep Sanjeev Pictures