Karan Johar thanks Ram Gopal Varma for the title BHOOT

New Delhi: After flagging off Student Of The Year (a high-school franchise) and …Ki Dulhania (a romantic-comedy franchise with Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt), Karan Johar will now back a horror franchise. The first film in the eerie series is titled BHOOT — Part One: The Haunted Ship, directed by debutant Bhanu Pratap Singh.

Karan was keen on the title BHOOT, which he felt was apt for the genre. Film buffs would recall that Ram Gopal Varma had made two films under the same title in the early 2000s. Karan reached out to RGV, requesting for the title for his new franchise. And, he instantly honoured his request.

Thanking his gesture, Karan says, “I made an unreasonable request to Ramu, asking him for his franchise title BHOOT and he graciously and magnanimously agreed to give it to us without even blinking an eyelid. All of us at Dharma are blown away by his generosity and are eternally grateful to him. We aspire to make sure the title is in the right hands of horror.”

BHOOT — Part One: The Haunted Ship marks director Shashank Khaitan’s debut as a producer. It’s also Vicky Kaushal’s second outing with the banner. The film, shot at some lesser-explored locations in Gujarat, has also been backed by Karan’s mother Hiroo Johar and Apoorva Mehta (CEO, Dharma Productions). The makers plan to release the film on November 15, 2019.