At a suburban studio in Mumbai, Ram Gopal Varma is directing a music video featuring Usha Uthup.

"It is for my film Bhoot. The video supports an album that will feature music inspired by my film," he says.

"Filmmakers are falling into the trap of putting a love story in all their films to accommodate songs. That's why our films are cliched. My logic for putting out a separate album of music connected with Bhoot is simple. Why should I drag audiences to Switzerland in the middle of a tight thriller? [Earlier] I fell into the trap repeatedly due to financial greed. The audio companies offered me good money for music soundtracks. Also, I was lured into putting songs into Jungle, Company and Road because of the publicity the songs gave me on the television channels. By giving music clippings I saved a lot of money on publicity."

Apparently, there will be no more songs for Varma. "They don't help get my films an opening. Company and Road got an opening because of the action and dialogue trailers, not the songs. Audiences might have enjoyed the songs, and seen them hundreds of times at home. Why should they go to theatres? What is the point of spending Rs 20 million on a song picturisation, then condensing it into a two-minute clip for television? In Bhoot, my intention is to scare audiences, not divert their attention with songs."

He plans to market the soundtrack "as is the norm in Hollywood. My brief to my three composers, Salim-Suleiman, Anand Raaj Anand and Amar Mohile was to compose what Bhoot means to them. Each along with three lyricists gave me a song. Two of these are now being made into music videos for television with Usha Uthup and Sunidhi Chauhan. When viewers see the pop artiste they will know these songs are not in the film. By shooting with actors from Bhoot I did not want audiences to get the wrong idea. Along with these songs the music company will use the background music and instrumental pieces from Bhoot. This will mutually benefit me and the music company."

According to Varma, Road faltered at the box-office because of the songs. "The intention of the thriller was diluted because we were thinking about how to put in the songs. Instead of songs working for the film, we ended up making the film for the songs. Now that the audio market has crashed, why should I waste money shooting song sequences in my film and end up crying when the music does not sell?"

He hopes his experiment will start a new trend in Hindi films. "Look at Madonna's video for Die Another Day. Audiences knew it wasn't part of the film. Yet they were lured into seeing the film. I will follow this procedure for all my films including Ek and Ek Haseena Thi. Unless it is a music-oriented film like Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon, I will not opt for a film score. These film-inspired albums are beneficial not only to me but also music companies."