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By Joginder Tuteja, December 18, 2008 - 17:54 IST
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Ahsaas Channa, Sudeep, Amruta Khanvilkar, Ashwini Kalsekar, Zakir Hussain
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Producer: Azam Khan, Parvez Damania
Music: Bapi-Tutul
THE FILM
Who are the contributing characters in this thriller? A child (Ahsaas), a crow, a couple of lemons, quite a lot of decorative artifacts, some wonderful background score and last but not the least director Ram Gopal Varma who brings each of these characters to create just the right ambience for Phoonk. He along with his DOP Savita Singh ensure that for those 100 odd minutes that audience spends on Phoonk, they are kept engaged.
Phoonk does pick up the topic of science v/s superstition but in the end it is superstition which is shown to be a clear winner. On that front, Phoonk hardly opens up a debate since science is clearly shown making a way for superstitious elements (jhaad-phoonk, tantra-mantra) to be the deciding factor for keeping the evil forces away from the child.
Where Phoonk scores a win is managing to keep the narrative tout enough for the audience to be thoroughly involved in the proceedings. Whether it is an extended opening sequence where a viewer is taken through the household of Sudeep, his wife Amruta, their child Ahsaas and rest of the family or a couple of sequences at the factory site where a stone resembling Ganesha is found till Sudeep's firing of his friends cum colleagues (Ashwini Kalsekar, Keeny Desai), the story telling only keeps it's graph moving up.
However, the moment black magic angle comes to the fore, some scary elements start surfacing as well. Ahsaas being possessed, Ashwini's evil plans at force, medical science failing to get an answer, surfacing of Zakir Hussain as a 'tantrik', the loud finale - Phoonk keeps up the high pace even as Ram Gopal Varma continues his fetish for close ups of each and every artist in his film. What doesn't work though is the number 'Is Tarah Se' which appears in the second half of the film. Used as a background piece, it is quite depressing and though it goes with the mood of the film, a song-less movement of scenes could have been a better alternative.
Amongst the senior actors, while Ashwini is quite good as a crazy woman, it is Sudeep who leaves a strong account of himself in an intense role. If given the right roles to match his towering personality, he could well be an asset to Bollywood.
However, when it comes to THE actor, Phoonk is clearly an Ahsaas Channa's film all the way. As a star of the show, she has a chameleon like quality to her as she switches from being normal to possessed and then normal again. In her first 'girl' act ever (she has mainly appeared as a boy in all her films), she ensures that a decade down the line, there would be a debutant female lead knocking the doors of Bollywood quite strongly.
PACKAGING
The film comes in a basic plastic case.
DURATION
The film comes in a single DVD pack with the duration being 110 minutes.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The DVD comes with a bonus feature which includes cast and crew of Phoonk sharing their experiences of working in the film. It is always interesting to hear Ram Gopal Varma talking about his films and Phoonk is no different. While he shares his inspiration behind Phoonk being a Telugu novel, Amruta fondly mentions about how Ahsaas was an inspiration for so many other senior actors. This segment also makes it a point that writer Milind Gadagkar talks about how black magic element was introduced into the film.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- The DVD does not come with 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation. In layman terms, it's in a regular format (with thick top and bottom stripes) which is associated with VCD format.
- Subtitles in English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo 2.0
PRICE
Rs. 199/=
CONCLUSION
Let's set one thing right - Phoonk is not a horror flick. Yes, it does have quite a few elements that manage to jolt you but neither the visuals nor the music are aimed at creating a 'spine chilling' effect. Does that make Phoonk any less entertaining? Naaah, not at all. Because Phoonk succeeds in its all important endeavor, and that is too to entertain the audience. Entertain it does, though not as a horror or a spooky film but as a thriller
 
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