POPCORN REVIEWSS

Written by Priyadarshan, Rohan Shankar, Aakash Kaushik and Abhilash Nair, Bhooth Bangla has a simple premise that would initially remind you of the OG Jaani Dushman (1979) – a haunted town, a palpable folklore, the disappearance of the newly-wed brides, a haunted mansion, an age-old temple, a mystery running deep inside the veins of the villagers, and some typical trademark chaotic moments that you would associate from a Priyadarshan film. But I couldn’t help but think that the entire proceedings remained a derivative of plenty of other Priyadarshan films that were integral to my childhood. Ahh well, damn the nostalgia!

When you are first introduced to Arjun (Akshay Kumar) and his family comprising of his sister Meera (Mithila Palkar), and his  ‘vedic’ father Dr Vasudev (Jisshu Sengupta), the occasion remains Meera’s wedding. The turn of events bring Arjun to Mangalpur – a sleepy town drowned in a sea of fear featuring a ‘Bhooth Bangla’ that is known to house a haunted secret – while accompanying a terrifying folklore about a rakshas Vasudhar who would hunt his preys at night and in the vicinity of the dark. Instead of dwelling deeper into the folklore, the focus inexplicably remains on the comedy which is loud and outdated, something that refused to twitch my facial muscle even once. And one reason for that remains its over-dependence on nostalgia with its loud ‘signature’ comedic tone that never lands.

Be it Arjun’s loud exchanges with Shantaram (late Asrani) that brought crickets as reactions, or even his exchanges with the wedding planner Jagdish (Paresh Rawal) – a much awaited Raju-Baabu Bhaiya reunion that never really had felt superficial previously. The exchanges may take you back in time with references from Hera Pheri or even rhythmic ones of Garam Masala (2005), but a realistic comparison would tell you on how the proceedings here are designed as a nostalgia-bait to milk the popularity of the scenes. The same goes for the inference of Sundar (Rajpal Yadav) – a character that is deliberately written to bring in the flavour of Chup Chup Ke (2006) with a ‘lotaa’ gag that just doesn’t have the same impact. Each gag made me relive the Paresh Rawal meme – ‘Main Sun Chuka Hun Yaar’, that much more. Also, the bouts of adult comedy thrown in the mix made for an even weirder integration given how the filmmaker had implied that his target audience is kids too. For instance how do you justify these scenes – a character being injured by a jet spraying hose of water in his a*s, or another character giving a kinky impression of smacking the backside of a woman.

The proceedings unfold at a snail’s pace in the first hour, almost focusing on individual gags to drive the narrative as opposed to taking the story ahead with the folklore. Thrown in the mix is also a half-hearted love story featuring Priya (Wamiqa Gabbi) whose subplot involves searching for her missing sister – something that is conveniently sidelined and evaporated in the wake of some mindless romantic exchanges with Arjun. It made me think on what the purpose of the film was – even as I inexplicably began to miss Kartik Aaryan in the film. Clearly, my mind had given up, but we weren’t even halfway done already.

There is definitely a streak of improvement at the start of the second hour, when the focus shifts towards the actual folklore horror in the film – even as the stakes in the drama are raised with an early death in a sequence that remained the sole bright point in the otherwise ‘dark’ film. The issue remained with the writing that did not look to fully utilize its eccentric characters beyond the gags, neither did it fully want to commit to the argument presented between the existence of the supernatural versus the reality. Remember how Bhool Bhulaiyaa (a remake of the brilliant Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993)), questioned the psyche of the protagonist in order to drive home this argument? It felt so intellectually stimulating and satisfying to draw a comparison that was backed by Science while also respecting some ancient beliefs and customs. If this balance is wobbly, the impact will never be there – something that we see in its flashback sequence.

The flashback sequence just doesn’t exude of the bite of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, simply because it all but felt manufactured and ultra-convenient. The element of mystery did not hold because you did get a glimpse of it in the interval block that was integrated for its shock value, while having to compromise on its mystery that would unfold later on. In fact, the backstory is completely stripped off any emotions or even twists and turns that one would ideally expect – in order to elevate the impact of the drama leading into a significant payoff. But all I got in return was my mind sinking further in darkness.

The final act has got to be one of the most atrocious acts of the year, almost leaning its heritage on the film Stree 2 (2023), while absolutely unfolding like a video game on the easiest available mode. Where were the twists and turns? Where was the magic of the folklore with respect to some specific objects referenced in the film? How did the protagonist become a superhero suddenly after goofing around for most of the film? And not to mention the kind of convenience that was served in the platter here. Oh and last one – why were the stakes in the final act just so low? I was speechless and in a paralyzed state stepping out of the film while trying to seek for its answers for a film labelled as a horror comedy. Probably the word ‘Facepalm’ was missing before each of the two genres mentioned.