“Agyaat” Inspired By Hollywood Thrillers

[jayanthi mandhalapu]

Ram Gopal Varma's upcoming flick "Agyaat" is all set to release on Friday. It will be the filmmaker's first film to release this year.

The movie is inspired by Hollywood thrillers like "Predator", "Anaconda" and "Alien".

"Agyaat" is a thriller and not a horror flick like Ram Gopal Varma's last flick "Phoonk-The Black Magic Story".

"People perceive that `Agyaat` is a horror film. I would like to make a point here that it`s not a scary film. It`s an adventure thriller," Ram Gopal Varma told.

The film is shot mostly in the "Sigiriya" jungles of Sri Lanka and the "Athirapally" forests in Kerala.

"Agyaat", is not only inspired by Hollywood thrillers, but also by real life, strange incidents that Ram Gopal Varma`s unit members experienced while shooting his 2000 movie "Jungle" in the "Bandipur reserved forest" in Karnataka.

"Agyaat" is produced by Ram Gopal Varma and Ronnie Screwvala,

"Agyaat" tells the story of a film unit on a shoot in a dense forest where the crew members start getting killed one by one under mysterious circumstances by an invisible creature.

"Hollywood has made thousands of such films about people stuck somewhere and getting killed under unknown reasons. I thought what if this time people don`t see what is killing them... the idea was to compel them to use their own imagination as a weapon, which is more lethal," the filmmaker said.

"Agyaat" stars Telugu actor Nitin Reddy and Priyanka Kothari in the lead.

The actors had a quite an experience shooting for the film as Priyanka Kothari had to share room with eight lizards for a month.

"I had to live with eight creepy lizards who used to roam around in my room. I can say that I`m braver now. Earlier, I used to be petrified if I used to see even one lizard in my room... but I had so many in close proximity in the same room in the jungle," the actress said.

"A lot of things happened with me during the shooting - like my ankle injury, elbow injury, then so many scratches, insect bites, et al. It`s a part and parcel of a film like this," Priyanka Kothari said.

"Agyaat" has had its share of controversies too.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) asked Ram Gopal Varma to re-edit a music track "Jai Shri Shambhu" from the film as it may encourage substance abuse. The track shows leading lady Priyanka Kothari, puffing a `chillum` (pipe) while she sings "Dum Maro, yeh hai Sahara".

Ram Gopal Varma has cut the scene for the small-screen audiences.

The music is a tad bit disappointing, but Ram Gopal Varma`s flair for good camera angles and impressive background scores might help "Agyaat" live up to the spine-chilling expectations of the audiences.