Science or Superstition?

The great debate between science and superstition continues, but RGV’s ‘Phoonk’ tilts in favour of superstition, civilised society may frown at superstition and blind belief but as a subject, it works big time because somewhere deep within all of us, we’ve heard of the power of the unknown. Whether you’re superstitious or not, you may have heard tales / experiences concerning black magic / voodoo. And you’re all eyes and ears the moment someone comes up with an alibi. For ‘Phoonk’ — the subject of black magic — is its biggest star and that alone is ensuring houseful boards outside cinemas.

Crocin ki goli pe bharosa karna aur kaale jaadu mein vishwaas karne mein kya antar hai ???....!!! This line is actually a dialogue from the movie and let me tell you it is one of the high points in the movie as it pops up the big question of whether things like black magic actually exist or are they just whims and fancies of a creative / destructive mind. In retrospect this movie has made a strong attempt that it’s not just a belief and something like this actually exists. You can believe in these or not, it doesnt matter. But you have to consider this when you or your loved ones are seemingly being threatened by demonic force. RGV has always rejected any responsibility for influencing audiences through his cinema, so I guess; RGV has already absolved himself in print several times!

Children can be superbly scary because that's precisely what we least expect them to be. In films like ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Omen’ and more recently, ‘The Orphanage’, little kids have successfully made us scream. Ahsaas Channa, as a child possessed by an evil spirit is really moving. She has very clearly exhausted herself in exhibiting what her character went through, and has performed really well. My heart went out as much to her character as to the child artiste herself.

As always, RGV has managed to extract the best out of Sudeep, Amruta Khanvilkar, Ahsaas Channa, Kenny Desai, Ashwini Kalsekar, Zakir Hussain and Ganesh Yadav. On the technical end an interesting camera technique is employed to reveal different aspects of the same tableau. The film is excellent for the first time DOP Savita Singh, who has played with the camera angles throughout the film making it a fascinating cinematic experience on a subject that’s rarely tackled. Every sequence RGV manages to very effectively toy with the audience's expectations of when a scare will appear. That’s the stamp of a genius that RGV is, hits and flops notwithstanding.

For me personally, RGV’s ‘Raat’ is still the best in this genre.