In
one
of
his
multitudinous
interviews
to
promote
this
intended
shiver
giver
Ram
Gopal
Varma
said
the
scariest
film
he
had
seen
in
recent
times
was
Karan
Johar's
Kabhie
Alvida
Na
Kehna.
Now
that's
a
scary
thought.
Because
Johar's
film
didn't
belong
to
the
horror
genre.
Phoonk
2
does.
And
it
is
definitely
NOT
the
scariest
film
we've
seen.
Varma's
terror
theme
has
clearly
run
its
course.
What
we
see
here
is
the
remnants
of
another
Friday.
And
definitely
not
Friday
The
13th.
Perched
somewhere
between
crowing
(ahem
ahem)
about
the
supernatural
and
crying
over
the
nerve-wracking
disruption
of
domestic
harmony
by
a
ghost
which
just
won't
go
away
Phoonk
2
is
like
that
promised
rollercoaster
ride
which
gets
aborted
in
the
first
lap
because
of
a
short
circuit.
It's
not
really
Varma
or
his
director
Milind
Gadkar's
fault.
It's
the
nature
of
the
material.
Ram
Gopal
Varma's
love
for
horror
has
never
extended
beyond
the
there's-something-under-the-bed
kind
of
unwarranted
foreboding
that
we
all
feel
in
a
new
environment.
In
a
majority
of
his
horror
films
a
family
moves
into
a
new
haunted
home
and
experiences
the
eerie.
Ironically
Varma's
best
effort
in
the
horror
genre
was
Kaun
where
the
victim
of
terror
(Urmila
Matondkar)
was
stalked
by
unseen
forces
in
her
own
familiar
home.
The
terror,
it
turned
out
was
not
under
the
bed,
but
in
the
mentally
disturbed
girl's
head.
There
wasn't
much
terror
let
alone
horror
in
Phoonk.
Under
the
bed,
or
in
the
head.
In
Phoonk
2
the
characters'
screeching
plea
to
have
us
believe
they
are
under
immediate
peril
is
sadly
not
communicated
to
the
viewers.
We
remain
tragically
detached
from
the
trauma
of
Kannada
star
Sudeep's
family.
Haven't
we
seen
it
all?
By
now
the
trademark
Varma
camera
movements,
here
manoeuvred
with
emphatic
energy
by
cinematographer
Charles
Meher,
and
the
intricate
cluttered
but
effective
sound
design
(Jayesh
Dhakkan,
Jayant
Vajpayee)
do
nothing
to
suck
us
into
the
plot.
The
technique
remains
unfastened
to
the
characters.
Their
desperate
attempts
to
get
away
from
the
supernatural
remain
desperately
detached
from
the
audience.
At
the
end
of
the
2-hours
into
the
zone
of
error-terror
we
are
left
wondering
why
Varma
threw
open
a
contest
inviting
any
viewer
to
undergo
an
ECG
to
check
his
heartbeats.
It
is
this
film
that
needs
a
respiratory
system.
Varma's
last
horror
outing
Agyaat
with
its
spooky
ominous
wide-open
jungles
was
far
more
gripping.
In
Phoonk
2
you
wonder
what
the
fuss
is
about.
These
people
have
nothing
to
fear
except
fear
itself.
And
yes,
Ramu
was
right.
The
crow
does
come
up
with
the
best
performance.
And
that's
nothing
to
crow
about.
Story first published: Friday, April 16, 2010, 16:33 [IST]