Ram Gopal Varma hears voices! Now on a bid to dispel horror myths in Bollywood.

Subhash K Jha

Ram Gopal Varma is consumed by his next directorial venture.

Post Company, he is now making the hi-tech horror film Bhoot.

"You don't like the title?" Varma smiles away my scepticism. "That is because so far, such titles have been associated with B and C grade horror movies. I want to dispel several myths in my film.

"For too long, horror and ghost stories in our films have been synonymous with creaky gates, eerie havelis, smoky slopes and screechy sound effects.

"Then, of course, there's the apparition in white singing Kahin deep jale kahin dil in Lataji's [iconic playback singer Lata Mangeshkar] voice.

"In my film, the horror and the terror are situated in the heart of the city, in a normal family within the normal rhythms of day-to-day life. That is what makes the terror even more palpable."

Bhoot, which starts shooting in August, pairs Varma's regular leading lady Urmila Matondkar with Abhishek Bachchan. The keen-eyed director sees tremendous potential in the junior Bachchan, saying, "He just needs to be presented properly."

For the moment, his prize find, Vivek Oberoi [who won raves as Chandu Nagra in Company], stars in Saathiya, the Hindi remake of filmmaker Mani Ratnam's Tamil hit Alai Payuthey, which starred R Madhavan and Shalini. (Incidentally, Ratnam, Varma admits, loved Company, and called Varma to congratulate him.)

"You must watch his [Oberoi's] chemistry with Antara Mali in my next production Road. And I maintain that Antara is a brilliant actress," states Varma.

Varma is also busy supervising the production details of Road, featuring Oberoi and Mali as two travellers in a desert who encounter an unexpected hitchhiker played by Manoj Bajpai.

The film is directed by Rajat Mukherjee (Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya), but bears Varma's seal of innovative energy.

Yesteryear superstar Rekha has also been approached for a pivotal role in this film. This will be the first time that Varma would be working with both Abhishek and Rekha who also loved Company, he says.

Later this week, Varma will fly off to Australia to supervise the final lap of the Road shooting. "Then the show hits the road again," quips Varma.