With Phoonk, you are back to doing what you do best, scaring the living daylights of the audience. Does it give you some extra pleasure in doing that?
(Laughs) Yaa...I must admit that it does give me an extra kick to get the audience seated in a theatre, close all the doors and scare them.

Phoonk is a supernatural thriller...could you tell us a little bit more on the film and why the title Phoonk?
See the title comes from the term 'Jhad Phoonk' which is some kind of a ritual done to counter-effect black magic.

Phoonk is about black magic. Black magic, as some people believe, is associated with some kind of evil force and involves such practices which people do to try and control or destroy or kill their enemies.

In the film, I am not trying to make any statement on whether it exists or not. All I am saying is that, it's about every individual's belief and if an individual believes that he is being subject to black magic what kind of trauma does he go through.

Not much is known about the cast; could you tell us who all form part of the cast?
Sudeep, the protagonist, is a star in Kannada films though that is not the reason I took him. He fitted the role perfectly. He is not a well-known name here in Bollywood but is an excellent actor.

Then there is Amruta Khanvilkar who is playing his wife. However, the main central protagonist of the film is this little girl Ahsaas Channa. She is truly remarkable.

If you ask me, I would say that Ahsaas is the best actor I have worked with ever, because for an 8 year old girl to understand the complexity of the character she is playing and react in such a way is simply unbelievable.

Why didn't you take any known names?
My primary reason for that was I felt that everyone sitting and watching the film in the theatre should feel that this family is my family or my neighbour's family. I didn't want actors about who people have certain pre-conceived notions or who come with some kind of excess baggage. They should be relatable and identifiable.

How did the idea of Phoonk, weaving a story around black magic come to your mind?
When I was watching India TV one day, I saw a program revolving around supernatural forces and black magic etc. In fact, even in the next few days while surfing through that very channel they had some or the other story on this topic.

When I happened to tell this to a group of 5 - 6 people, that in the year 2008 what are these TV channels discussing about black magic, 4 out of them said that they also believe in black magic which came as a shock to me. That's what I think sparked the initial interest.

The number of people who believe in such things in spite of their education and social class really fascinated me.

There is a shot in Phoonk which bears a striking similarity to The Exorcist. Is the film inspired by The Exorcist in terms of the premise?
See the difference between The Exorcist and Phoonk is that The Exorcist is about demonic possession and Phoonk as I told you is about black magic. But the concern of the loved ones towards somebody who has been affected by such evil forces may bear certain resemblance to The Exorcist

A lot of times while shooting for such films, some eerie incidents do take place on the sets. Did anything like that take place during the making of Phoonk?
I think eerie incidents happen during the making of all films, it's only when you are making horror films do they get highlighted (laughs).

How is the contest being worked on and are you indeed offering a prize money of 5 lakhs?
Yes, of course...we are offering the prize money of 5 lakhs to anyone watching the film Phoonk alone in a theatre. I guess the five finalists of the contest have already been short listed.

After Darna Mana Hai a lot of people thought twice before eating an apple, this time do you think people will be scared each time they look at a lemon?
Yes...I think the lemon and the crow will be the scariest things this time around

When it comes to horror films, the Ramsay brothers are the most popular name in Bollywood. Have you seen any of their films?
Of course... In fact one of my all time favorite Bollywood horror films is Ramsay Brothers' Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche. I saw it when I was in school.

After watching the film, I didn't feel like taking a shortcut to my home from school just because there was a graveyard in between. I took a 2 km longer route to avoid the graveyard. So they have been pretty instrumental in getting me to make horror films

You have made quite a few films belonging to the horror genre- Raat, Bhoot, Darna Mana Hai, Darna Zaroori Hai, Darling, and Phoonk. Which one do you think is the scariest of the lot?
See they all come under different sub-categories. Darling was more of a comic horror kind of a flick, Darna Mana Hai is a bizarre story and isn't intentionally scary. I think Phoonk is by far the scariest of the lot as it's much deeper. It's not just on a surface level.

Do you believe in supernatural forces and have you experienced any such presence?
I have not experienced any such thing which is why I came up with the tag line "It is superstition till it happens to you". So it has not happened to me so far (laughs).

Which was the first horror film that you watched and when?
I can't remember the first horror film but the film that really shook me up is The Exorcist.

Hollywood director M Night Shyamalan said that most of his movies' inspiration was from stories which his grandmom used to tell him as a child. Did you have someone narrating you such ghost stories?
It's not just the stories but experiences which people share and also some incidents when I have scared people as a child, have all helped me somewhere while making spooky flicks.

If you had to pick 3 films that gave you sleepless nights, which would they be?
The Exorcist, Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche and Candy Man.

On a closing note, each person defines fear in his own way, how would you define fear?
Fear is a feeling when you are threatened by physical or emotional violence and it gets magnified especially if it comes from an unknown or a non-understandable source.