“India’s scariest movie ever” sounds like a remake of Predator. The flick, called Agyaat (The Unknown), features a group of people trapped in the jungle with an invisible alien killer who’s picking them off one by one. Ram Gopal Varma, director of breakout horror hit Phoonk, says the real star of Agyaat, filming next year, will be the first-of-their-kind special effects. But the other way Agyaat will differentiate itself from Predator is with its freaky ensemble cast.
Agyaat, filming in the Sigirya jungles of Sri Lanka, features a film crew lost in the jungle. Ramu explains:
It’s about a film crew that loses its way in the jungles. And something out there starts killing them one by one. Why a film crew? Because it’s like a walking office.
There’s a narcissistic star, a subservient spotboy, cameraman, a frustrated action director, an assistant director who has a crush on the heroine, a selfobsessed actor, a producer who thinks the director is making a mess and a director who thinks he’s the Steven Spielberg of India …
All of them have their own mindscape in the given hierarchy. But the moment they’s caught in terror situation their inherent humanism comes to the surface.
I love that he’s so proud of his film’s collection of one-dimensional stereotypes lost in the jungle. That will set it apart from typical alien monster films for sure! But there are surprises — like the macho action star turns out to be a “sissy.” It’ll be like a reality TV show, he promises.
The good news is, he’s strongly influenced by some classic science fiction films:
In The Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers I remember one line. ‘Why do we always expect alien creatures to invade a space ship. Why can’t it be a biological invasion?’ I want to explore this terror of the unknown.”
Ramu is supremely kicked by his new project. “The challenging part in Agyaat is to create an evil force that’s not visible, definable or even comprehensible.Some strange phenomenon in the jungle.
I read an interview with Ridley Scott where talking on Aliens he said, ‘There’s no need to understand what’s happening during a time of terror. Because if you explain it you reduce the thrill of it.’ Hence Agyaat, the unknown.”
Agyaat will have some of the best special effects seen in Indian cinema. “It will be a projection of a destructive force from which the victims cam’t hide or run. They simply succumb to it.”
[Titbits]
