In a ploy reminiscent of the great American cult director William Castle, producer of such classics as 13 Frightened Girls and Dr Sardonicus, Ram Gopal Verma has offered $10,000 to anyone who is prepared to watch Phoonk 2 in a cinema alone. The fan will be wired to a heart monitor and there will be camera surveillance to ensure he (or she) actually watches the film. “When a person says that he doesn’t gets scared, it is like you are challenging the film to scare you,” RGV says, “So in the wake of this, we had put a contest in Phoonk that if a person can sit alone in the theatre and watch the film without getting scared and completes it, he will be rewarded a certain amount of money as prize. Now after a certain selection process, a particular guy was chosen and within 30 minutes he ran out of the theatre and obviously did not get the prize money.”
Phoonk 2 stars Sudeep, Amruta Khanvikar and Ahsaas Channa and is about the spirit of a dead woman that comes back to life to terrorise the people who taunted her in life.
Meanwhile, RGV – wearing his more sensible hat – has confirmed that Priyamani will star opposite Suriya in his next epic Rakta Charitra, which is likely to be split now into two parts. The film, which also features Vivek Oberoi, is about the life of factional leader Paritala Ravindra, who was gunned down in broad daylight by political rivals linked to criminal gangs in 2005.
