A still from the spook flick Aaghori Atma

Guwahati, Jan. 13: Assam?s film industry is looking to a ?ghost? to exorcise the spectre of flops that has been haunting it for quite some time now.

Aaghori Atma, the first Assamese horror film and its protagonist ghost, are expected to end the horrifying string of failures that the industry has been reeling under despite the occasional hit ? if pundits are to be believed.

Directed by box-office guru Munna Ahmed, the film was recently previewed by a panel of film personalities and critics at a special screening. And the buzz is that a hit is on the horizon.

The film will hit the silver screen next Friday as the first release of the year.

Made on a shoestring budget of Rs 40 lakh, the director has spent Rs 8 lakh to incorporate special effects to create the edge-of-the-seat horror impact.

All the special effects for the film were done at Mumbai-based studio FX4 U, which had also under its belt the sound effects for Ramgopal Verma?s Bhoot.

Apart from an intelligent treatment of an unusual storyline by the director, the scary and spooky special effects incorporated in the film puts it on a par with any other Bollywood film of the same genre, claimed critic Arun Lochan Das.

Das said the eerie aura created by the director would definitely succeed in attracting audiences to cinema halls.

Declining to reveal the storyline of the film in order to keep the suspense element intact, Ahmed promised that audiences would have a feast.

The film casts an array of veterans and newcomers, including Nipon Goswami, Jatin Das, Bhaskar Bora and Mayuri Bharali.

Asked about the unusual subject ? unusual for an Assamese film, that is ? Ahmed said audiences were tired of watching the same old stories. He added that the film has been made to introduce a different subject and attract cinegoers to the halls.

?I hope this film will encourage others to try out new subjects as the hackneyed formulaic ones have failed to do the industry any good,? he said.

?I have left no stone unturned to get good special effects, an integral part of my film. I have gone for the best of technology at the studio, though it took away a good amount of my film?s budget,? said Ahmed, who has the highest number of hits under his belt in recent times.

?I am hopeful that Ahmed?s sincerity as a filmmaker will once again bring magic to the silver screen,? said veteran film and theatre personality Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee. ?The film traces a completely unknown genre in Assamese films.?