The geography is the first thing that attracted me to Bhoot: The Haunted Ship, says Vicky Kaushal

Vicky Kaushal is currently busy with the promotions for Bhoot: The Haunted Ship. This is his first horror film and naturally the actor is quite excited about it.

Kaushal is known to try something different with each film. He has played a psychologically troubled and drug-addled police inspector in Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), a loyal friend, Kamlesh Kapsi, in Sanju (2018) and a special forces officer, Major Vihan Shergill, in Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019).

Now he is starring in a horror film. At a recent media interaction, Kaushal revealed what made him sign up for the project. He said it was the geography where most of the action takes place that attracted him to the script.

“I signed the film just after I had finished [shooting for] Raazi (2018)," the actor said. We had not started shooting for Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019). When I read the script, the first thing that fascinated me about the film was the geography where most of the action takes place.”

Kaushal said the film gave him the same vibes as Stanley Kubrick's cult classic The Shining (1980). “When I heard the narration I realized it's Kubrick’s The Shining," he said. "Just as The Shining had a unique concept of a huge deserted hotel with so many rooms and floors, Bhoot: The Haunted Ship has the same huge canvas. There is a dilapidated ship. It’s not your typical mid-sized ship. It’s a huge ship with 10 floors, 300 rooms, an engine room, staff rooms, stairs, elevators.

"There is everything on that ship. Naturally, we had so much variety in the geography itself to try and do something different each time. One could fall, one could get trapped. the options were aplenty.

"Once you are stuck on such a huge ship, there is very little you can do to save yourself. No matter how much you scream and yell, your voice won't get out. And if there is some paranormal presence, the stakes become incredibly higher. The conflict was too rich and potent for me to let go of this opportunity.”

Bhoot: The Haunted Ship has been directed by Bhanu Pratap Singh and is the first film of a series planned by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. This is also the first horror film to be produced under the Dharma banner.

Bhoot: The Haunted Ship is scheduled to be released on 21 February.