Phoonk-2 Review

What is it all about? 

With all respect to Bollywood's scareamia Ram Gopal Varma, after watching `Phoonk 2' you come across a feeling that first timer Milind Gadagkar was not the right choice to pilot this one.

That doesn't mean that Milind is a bad helmer but you need certain qualities to be shocky and when taking over the responsibility to helm a sequel presented by an infamous   devotee of scares in Bollywood, it's essential to be both creepy and stylish at the same time. 

The Story..of course  

`Phoonk' ends with the killing of Madhu (Ashwini Kalsekar), the woman who casts a black magic spell on Rajiv's (Sudeep) daughter Raksha (Ahsaas Channa). `Phoonk 2' begins with Madhu's ghost returning from the grave to seek revenge on the family. 

Rajiv moves with his family to a new place. Raksha and her brother Rohan begin exploring the new place and the surroundings - the lonely beach and then the woods behind the house. The terror begins with Raksha and Rohan finding a doll in the woods and then it progresses to a series of highly traumatizing experiences for the whole family. 

Manja (Zakhir Hussain), the only man whom Rajiv could turn to, meets a gruesome death at the hands of Madhu's ghost. Madhu seeks revenge on Rajiv by torturing his loved ones - his wife Aarti (Amruta Khanvilkar) and their children, Raksha and Rohan - in unimaginably cruel ways. 

What to look out for?

In the last fifteen minutes Milind makes a desperate attempt to register the film in the horror zone and succeeds to some extant. The `zoom in-zoom out' camera work by Charles Meher who again like in many RGV makes his camera travel like a free butterfly and Rahul Pandirkar background along with the sound by Jayesh Dhakkan and Jayant Vajpayee trying to tease the audience in anticipation of something scary on cards.

Milind does get his technicalities right as mentioned earlier and the actors manage to attract attention. Sudeep is effective, Amruta Khanvilkar is noteworthy, Ahsaas Channa is decent and Ashwini Kalsekar looks scary. 

What not? 

Continuing from where the prequel ended, `Phoonk2' moves at a leisurely pace where the real spine chilling moments coming after the first half (the killing of the tantrik manjha is bloody scary). But that's a long wait for any horror enthusiast or any cinegoer for that matter.

`Phoonk 2' suffers due to the lack of focus in being creepy and stylish as it needs to be which plagues the entire film.

The helmer who is also the writer handicaps himself by keeping himself aloof from any choices that his script can offer.

Making the sequel to `Phoonk' feel like unnecessary and forgettable. 

Conclusion: With suitable camera work and sound effects laden, the sequel to `Phoonk' suffers from an eerie-deficient script and a surprising lack of genuine chills. Go if you really must.  

Rating: **