Phoonk

Phoonk
	Promotional poster
Directed by	Ram Gopal Varma
Produced by	Pravin Nischol; Azam Khan; Parvez Damania
Written by	Milind Gadagkar
Starring	Sudeep; Amruta Khanvilkar; Ahsaas Channa; Ashwini Kalsekar; Zakir Hussain
Music by	Bapi-Tutul
Cinematography	Savita Singh
Edited by	Amit Parmar; Nipun Gupta
Release date	22 August 2008; ; ; ; ;
Running time	110 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Phoonk (English:Puff) is a 2008 Indian horror film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by Praveen Nischol starring Sudeep. The film based on superstition and black magic. It was declared a blockbuster at the box office by several media outlets. Verma derived the idea for the film from a Hindi news channel which telecasts stories on Black magic. A prize of ?5 lakh (US$7,500) was announced for those who will watch the film alone in a theatre. The storyline of Phoonk is thematically similar to Telugu thriller novel Tulasi Dalam by Yandamuri Veerendranath. It was remade in Telugu as Raksha. The film was dubbed in Tamil as Bommayi. The film was followed by a sequel, Phoonk 2, in 2010.

Plot

Phoonk is based upon the concept of black magic. Civil engineer and atheist Rajiv (Sudeep) lives in Mumbai with his wife Aarti (Amruta Khanvilkar) two kids, Raksha (Ahsaas Channa) and Rohan (Shrey Bawa), Rajiv's mother and the housemaid Laxmi(Anu Ansari). Rajiv's most trusted colleagues are Anshuman (Kenny Desai) and Madhu (Ashwini Kalsekar), whom everyone, including Rajiv's friend Vinay and Raksha feel are not normal. During a party at his house, when he comes to know that the husband and wife duo have cheated him on a valuable contract for an IT firm in Delhi, Rajiv fires both of them after insulting them both. Humiliated and angry at this, the two of them decide to take revenge on Rajiv. Madhu notes that Rajiv is very fond of Raksha.

Soon a series of strange events start to take place in and around Rajiv's house. Mandar (Bharat Kaul), who is appointed to take the place of Madhu and Anshuman is killed at the construction site mysteriously. Raksha starts to talk and behave weirdly, much to the shock of everyone. Doctors are called for, but the strange behavior continues, with Raksha flying in the air, talking in a manly voice, acting in pain. The superstitious and religious grandmother repeatedly says that someone is using Black Magic on Raksha, but Rajiv and the doctors refuse to believe any of it.

Now at the end of his wits, Rajiv begins to look to God. He also agrees to his construction laborers' demand of making a small shrine at the construction site, which he was previously adamantly turning down. Vinay suggests asking for the help of Manja,(Zakir Hussain), a magician familiar with this sort of stuff.

Manja analyzes the whole situation, sees Raksha, visits Rajiv's house, and tells the latter that someone is trying to take revenge on him, at which Vinay exclaims that it is none other than Madhu and Anshuman. Manja also tells them that Rajiv's driver has been helping the duo by providing them with necessary materials like Raksha's hair, soil from her foot and her toys to perform black magic.

Losing no more time, Rajiv, Vinay, Manja rush to Madhu's house, where she and Anshuman are found to be doing black magic rituals on a doll, supposedly an effigy of Raksha to trouble her. Rajiv orders Madhu to stop, but Madhu attacks him with a trishul. Vinay takes on Anshuman. The effect of Black magic forces seep on the entire place, pushing everyone away. As Madhu is going to attack Rajiv who is being pushed towards the wall, Manja uses his powers to separate the running ceiling fan, which lands on Madhu's head, decapitating her. All the negative forces stop, a spider comes out of one of the skulls on the floor and bites the driver who dies.

Everyone rushes to the hospital to find that Raksha has completely recovered. Rajiv and Vinay see that everyone thinks it is the doctors who have cured Raksha, and they smile at each other.

Cast

Sudeep as Rajiv
Amruta Khanvilkar as Aarti
Ahsaas Channa as Raksha
Kenny Desai as Anshuman
Ashwini Kalsekar as Madhu
Ganesh Yadav as Vinay Sonti
Anu Ansari as Laxmi
Shankar Sachdev as Shyam
K K Raina as Dr. Pandey
Lilette Dubey as Dr. Seema Walke
Zakir Hussain as Murtaza Kapasi
Bharat Kaul as Mandar
Geetanjali as Teacher
Kishore Kadam as Devappa
Jyoti Subhash as Amma
Shrey Bawa as Rohan
Dhiraj Regmi as Mani

Reviews and reception

Ram Gopal Varma's Phoonk turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office. The movie opened up after an effective publicity campaign. It was a very low-budget film, which combined with its success at the box office, turned a good profit for its investors. It was very popular, especially among the youth, for the creator's Rs 5 Lakh challenge.

Critically, the movie received mixed reviews. Taran Adarsh gave it 4 out of 5 and said, "PHOONK is a fascinating cinematic experience on a subject that’s rarely tackled by the dream merchants in Bollywood: Black magic." AOL India reviewer Noyon Jyoti Parasara gave a negative review of the film saying, "Overall Phoonk scores low on the scare-o-meter."

Sequel

A sequel, Phoonk 2, released on 16 April 2010, to mixed reviews and a lacklustre commercial reception, thus unable to repeat the success of the prequel.