Vishal Sinha, cinematographer: Ram had the idea of somebody who was possessed by the past tenant of the property they had just moved into. That past of that property now invades their lives – that was the essential point.
Ram Gopal Varma, director: I wanted to look for a location somewhere in a hill station, Dalhousie or somewhere up north.
Vishal Sinha: Sameer and I actually travelled all over Himachal, Shimla, Nainital for a month, and came back with fabulous homes and houses. As soon as we came back, I saw the pictures and asked, ‘Sir, doesn’t this look like a Ramsay film? That typical bhoot bangla vibe?’ He asked what I had in mind. When I was in the 10th grade, I used to study at a friend’s house. His lift went up and down at night, and we were petrified of it as kids. He had a watchman that slept with his eyes open. There was also a girl who had fallen from the 7th floor, and there was a story that she used to use the lift at night. So I told him all this, and that month-and-a-half of reconnaissance went out of the window that morning.
Ram Gopal Varma: I thought if that is the case, why not make the film in Lokhandwala? An apartment bubbling with people is the last place you’d expect a ghost. We have a tendency to think of a horror film happening in a graveyard or a haunted house on a hill station, but if it happens in a place where no one will really expect a ghost, then that’s scary.
Bhoot worked, first and foremost, because of its location. It’s a bustling city where there are so many people around and that is the last place you’d expect anything like a horror film to happen. It’s relatable, because many people don’t go to far-off places. There’s this idea of, ‘It could happen to me, it could happen in a neighbour’s house, it could happen in the building across the street, it can happen in my own building.’ That’s the biggest reason it worked.
Vishal Sinha: The morning after I told Ram the story, we were looking for a flat to do this in. It was going to be an urban legend sort of film.
Sameer Sharma: By then, we already had a version of the script that was set in the hills and so the whole thing had to change. There’s a pacing and chaos to the city which changes things. The fears could become a lot more real – this is not some bungalow in the hills that’s being haunted, this could be your apartment. The doorbell became an important character in the film.