Indian actress Radhika Apte has been all over the place as of late.
From her head-turning performances in films like Parched to her critically acclaimed and award winning role in international omnibus Madly (directed in part by Anurag Kashyap), she is easily one of the leading lights of Indian cinema poised to break through. Among her upcoming projects is writer/director Pawan Kirpalani's new thriller, Phobia, in which the fearless actress plays an agorophobic woman who is besieged in her apartment.
Kirpalani is best known for directing one of India's first found footage horror films, 2011's Ragini MMS. He also directed the 2014 film Darr @ the Mall, another horror picture that is currently available at least on US Netflix. This marks his first thriller, though the images and terror in the trailer are pretty palpable. The plot does seem to crib a bit from Polanski's Repulsion, but I have a good feeling about this being a worthwhile effort. Apte is a stellar actress and the kind of performer who elevates her material to levels it sometimes doesn't even deserve. In this case, I feel like she's going ot deliver a stunner, fingers crossed!
Check out the trailer for Phobia below, scheduled for release in India on May 27. I have no idea about international release plans.