There was a time when a man called Ram Gopal Varma made films that everyone loved. Whether it was as-gritty-as-it-gets Satya, Company and the Sarkar films or the as-creepy-as-it-gets Raat and Bhoot. But then somewhere along the way, something agyaat happened to the man. He started making one bad film after another, capping it off with the indulgent Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, a film that has consistently topped every “worst films ever” list since. But if there is any film that can give serious competition to RGV Ki Aag in this category, then it has to be the director’s latest release Agyaat.

Meaning ‘the unknown’, Agyaat does indeed live up to its name. For the plot of the film remains unknown to you long after you have left the theatre. Compared by the filmmaker to The Blair Witch Project (blasphemous!) and films like Aliens and Friday the 13th, there is hardly a scene or moment in Agyaat that makes you holler — or whimper — with horror. The only reaction it arouses is disinterest. For over 100 minutes, you are forced to watch a camping trip in Sri Lanka’s Sigiriya forest turn awry for a film crew as they scream ‘iss jungle se mujhe bachao’, trying to escape an unknown force that is out to get them. As each one of them — director, producer, cameraman, leading man — falls prey, it is left to assistant director Sujal (debutante Nitin Reddy) and leading lady Asha (Priyanka Kothari) to escape the strange, murderous entity.

Agyaat unsuccessfully rehashes elements that Ram Gopal Varma had so effectively used in Raat, Bhoot and to a certain extent even in Phoonk. There is the loud — often grating — background score (Amar Mohile), strange men that stare wide-eyed and speak with a drawl but fail to spook and jerky camera movements that do very little to heighten the suspense or drama. One gets tired of seeing the group running helter-skelter through the forest, screaming and breaking down alternately, mouthing the same line — “Yeh kya hai? Yeh humein kyon maarna chahta hai?” — through the film. And if that wasn’t enough to stomach, there is the acting of Priyanka Kothari, who still hasn’t mastered more than two expressions; and Nitin Reddy who makes no impression whatsoever. If Razzies were awarded in India, one should definitely be reserved for model-turned-actor Gautam Rode. It leaves you relieved when he is bumped off.

Agyaat’s only redeeming feature is its cinematography (Surjodeep Ghosh) who brings the picturesque Sigiriya forest to life on screen. But was there a need to focus on Priyanka Kothari’s abs and thighs for a good two minutes in a 100-minute film? And with songs like Baby I wanna wanna kiss you day and night, the less said about Bapi-Tutul’s music, the better.

Agyaat features puddles of boiling blood strewn through the forest. Did RGV know beforehand that he would have the audience’s blood boiling after having to sit through Agyaat? And yes, the film ends with the promise of a sequel. Game, anyone?