The wounds of 'Department' has been well forgotten and within six months of the film's release, Ram Gopal Varma is now back with 'Bhoot Returns' where he makes a comeback to the horror genre.
However instead of shouting from the rooftops around the film being one of the most original ever to have come out of Bollywood, Ramu is happy to acknowledge that the Manisha Koirala starrer is more about telling the story than the story itself.
"It's a typical family with Manisha, Chakravarthy, Madhu Shalini and (child actor) Alayana Sharma, though with supernatural element coming into play as well. The onus is on me that how do I manipulate my audience.
Of course one of the major factors is 3D. Also, sound and music play a major role in creating a horror feel and what Sandeep Chowta has done is really terrific", says Ramu. One wonders whether it would all boil down to formula then. "But then the trick of a camera following a person from behind has never failed, has it? You use this technique a million times and still it would work. I will give you example of my own 'Bhoot'.
It wasn't even an original story. Something like this has been told in all countries and languages. In fact the actual story was just in the last 20 minutes. Otherwise it was all technique", he confesses.
While the film did succeed in giving the heebie-jeebies, Ramu knows what went behind making it work. "It was just because the characters were a little different from what we have normally seen in a horror movie.
Otherwise you tell me, what was so different about Urmila stepping out and getting a glass of water? Still it worked because you could relate to the feeling of someone moving around in an empty house. 'Bhoot Returns' follows a similar narrative", he promises. Well, here is looking forward to the promise being kept when the film releases all over this Friday.