Phobia is a 2016 Indian psychological thriller film, directed by Pavan Kirpalani and produced by Viki Rajani.

The film stars Radhika Apte in the leading role as Mehak, an artist suffering from severe agoraphobia.

The lyrics for the song 'Roke na ruke' were written by Jay Shankar Prasad and sung by Sakina Khan and Sidharth Basrur.

Apart from her performance, the film's other production elements and picturisation, background score and special effect works were also praised by the critics and audience.

An unfortunate traumatic event - being molested by a taxi driver – causes her to develop extreme agoraphobia, a condition in which the individual is paranoid about being in public places and dislikes socializing with large groups of unknown people.

Mehak's sister Anusha (Nivedita Bhattacharya), initially supportive, becomes exhausted with her eccentric behavior, especially when it starts impacting her own 5-year-old son.

Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra), a close friend, takes Mehak to an empty apartment, on the assumption that living alone for a while might benefit her.

Her other neighbour Manu (Ankur Vikal) is working on anger management issues and is part of a community laughter club.

Jiah had earlier lived in Mehak's new apartment and suddenly disappeared without a trace; without paying rent and without claiming her advance deposit back leaving behind most of her belongings.

Mehak comes across Jiah's diary chronicling her tempestuous and abusive relationship with Manu due to his temper issues.

When Shaan confesses that he has always loved her and tries to kiss her, she spurns him and berates him furiously, accusing him of exploiting her weakened state of mind.

In the climactic scene, her vision once again coincides with reality, as we see a painting she created earlier, showing hands reaching out to her, mirroring the situation in which she is injured and goes out in the open for help, overcoming her condition.

[8] Pre-production work on Phobia began in the last quarter of 2015 when Viki Rajani announced his plans of making a new project with debutant Pawan Kripalani.

On casting Apte, Rajani commented, “Radhika has proved her acting prowess time and again with her previous films.

"[17] Siddhaye Patel was the continuity supervisor The marketing campaign was carried out by the lead actress Apte for the promotion of the film.

The soundtrack, which released on 18 May 2016, featured music composed by Daniel B George with lyrics penned by Jay Shankar Prasad.

"[23] The film had a special screening on 25 May 2016 attended by Apte and her friends in the industry including Kalki Koechlin, Prateik Babbar, Sayani Gupta and Rajkumar Rao among others.

[4] Sweta Kaushal of The Hindustan Times gave 4 out of 5 stars and concluded saying, "Despite the element of horror, director Pawan Kriplani manages to keep the supernatural, religious drama at bay and opts for a psychological mayhem that makes for an impressive viewing experience.

[5] Suhani Singh of India Today in her 3.5-star review, explained that Phobia doesn't just scare the audience but also outsmart them.

[34] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV also gave 3 out of 5 stars and said that Phobia is a canny flick that places known genre conventions in fresh light, the kind that bestows new life on them.

A reviewer in Bollywood Hungama calling her performance "worthy of a National Film Award", stated: "Apte is so effortless and so much in control of the extremely difficult character that as a viewer you'd find it stunning.

"[35] The background score and major technical aspects of the film including; the cinematography, the editing, the locations and the costumes, was also well appreciated by the critics.

Also lauding the editing, which he called "Sharp", and technical aspects of the film he said, "Cinematography by Jayakrishna Gummadi earns brownie points as his camerawork brings substance to the story.

Since it is a solo psychological thriller, so the crew of the film did not invest much on the movie promotions, even though many critics appreciated the directing and performance of Apte.

On this, the director Kriplani replied, "As an audience it was a fun movie and I really enjoyed but I understand why people compare Phobia with Kaun because both are psychological thriller and both have a girl trapped in the house.

"[46] As a result of the good response coming from the Bollywood celebrities, critics and audiences, the makers are reportedly planning a sequel of the film.