91Èȱ¬

Three years ago Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma experimented by combining six separate stories in his horror film Darna Mana Hai (Being Scared Is Forbidden). This year he returns with sequel Darna Zaroori Hai, another set of spooky yarns but with six different directors at the helm. Interestingly, unlike his previous effort, Darna Zaroori Hai is more of an entertaining mix of comedy and chills, similar to Hollywood's Scary Movie spoofs. There are stacks of famous faces and laughs but expect few spine-tingling moments.

A little old lady attempts to scare a group of school kids who stumble upon her house whilst exploring in the woods. A hallucinating professor (Amitabh Bachchan), a terrorised film director (Anil Kapoor) and a creepy insurance salesman (Rajpal Yadav) are just some of the characters featured in her tall tales. Randeep Hooda's performance as a possessed traveller, and an hilarious opening sequence about an overweight slob (Manoj Pahwa) who takes a late night stroll through a graveyard, impress and petrify the most. The rest of the stories are a let down.

"LACK OF SUPERNATURAL THRILLS"

With a certificate rating of 12A there's no chance of any guts and gore terrifying you out of your wits (the cleverly cut trailer does a better job). But that's no excuse for the lack of supernatural thrills and mystery in the majority of episodes and an end that's easy to guess. Weak writing lets Varma and co down, but that said, while Darna Zaroori Hai fails as a horror flick, it passes as a piece of eerie amusement.