Before we begin, let me clarify that the movie is an out and out psychological thriller with few comic scenes to give impact to situations.
If you have not seen its original or remade versions in any languages, you should not miss this movie. It is a must watch.
Our mind is so powerful and it has the ability to produce the virtual effect of any situation and when our dreams or believes get stronger it often get the power to influence physical matter. When we say we have to have big dreams, less we realize that dreaming is having. If you can dream about something, you can have it. If you can imagine yourself you can be your image. When everybody preaches the power of positive thinking, what is the power of Ghostly thinking? Did that make one ghost or does it allow one’s mind a house of ghost???
The story begins in a village where people are still living with the old believes and rituals. Newly wed Sidharth (Shiney Ahuja) & Avni (Vidya Balan) comes back home and they insisted to stay in the ancestral mansion where the entire is family is against it. The palace has a story to say and it is believed to be home for 2 ghosts. The modern day youngsters generally don’t believe all these and Avni believe that it is a trick to keep hiding valuables. She was further fascinated to see that her favorite poet Sharad (Vineeth) is staying nearby and he is now going to be married to one of her cousins, Nandini (Tareena Patel). Despite Badrinarayan’s (Manoj Joshi) strong warning Avni made the key to a closed door which is locked by a great thanthri. Expectedly an array of bad incidents happened once the door is opened. Badrinarayan’s adopted daughter Radha (Amisha) become the centre of confusion and Sidharth called his psychiatric friend Dr. Aditya (Akshay Kumar) from US to clear off the situation. Upon arrival Dr. Aditya encountered with many questions which is over his education and experience. He tried to unfold this mystery and see how he do that and experience the strange ways he followed to come to a happy conclusion.
There are not many movies one will recommend for its story and this movie will be one which I would like to recommend entirely for its theme and treatment of the subject. One of the best stories born in Indian soil, the story by Madhu Muttom is the master and all credits to him. The story keep one’s interest throughout and astonishes one with its purely brilliance and an excellent climax. Simply superb! Neeraj Vohra & Manisha Korde did a fantastic job in replanting the story. The director who is known for his skill in presenting comedy entirely shelved it and start thinking of frames and making a serious cinema. From the beginning itself you can see the difference and the opening shot from Banaras to the credits, the difference is shown from the beginning. Direction is superb in most of the time. However, the comic scenes are less than in its original, where I doubt the editor’s scissor override the director’s wish. Casting still remains the hurdle for the director. The film surely could be much better, but Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a good experiment from Priaydarsan.
Performance…hmmm…..Akshay Kumar is fine. He is the usual funny guy. Evenwhen he play the top psychiatric doctor, he can be prank as he is in other films. Shiney excelled and I think he outplayed all the actors done this role earlier. Vidya Balan….did an above average job throughout, however she was not upto the character requirement in the climax dance scene where she had to do an exceptional dance number(which have won national award for Sobhana. Jyothika won clapping from audience with a lakalakalaka.) I will blame Priyadarsan for this more than Vidya because we cannot expect one who don’t learn dance to do such a classical number, which was highlight of the original movie. Vidya did a fine job when we compare to other bollywood films for sure. Vineeth shown his mastery in dancing with a memorable performance and that made him special in the film. Amisha did her small role well. Paresh Rawal was good, but his role was short. Rajpal Yadav, Rasika Joshi, Asrani all had their bit to do and all of them did their part well. Infact audience expected a bit more from them. Overall performance was good, not excellent for sure.
The music of the film is already a super hit and it is good on screen too. Music composer Pritam did a fine job with this film. Only 4 songs were featured in the film(excepting Bhool Bhulaiyaa), though there were many in the album. Bhool Bhulaiya, Labon Ko & Mere Dholna are the songs I liked which has shown in the film. Special mention for Sayeed Quadri’s lyrics for the song Labon Ko is required. I liked the ’Sajda’ music in the album but it was missing. The music is both good for listening and already earned good money for T series. I only wished they mixed the Bhool Bhulaiya song in between the episode than showing it in the last. There had a perfect sequence to add and even they start giving the hope by playing a bit in the background.
Cinematography is top class. The camera shown a class of its own and captured the beauty of nature and horror in a palace brilliantly. There were a lot of dark scenes and those scenes would have reduced in length by applying some lights. Otherwise Thiru’s camera focused where the director wanted him to. Choreography is Excellent!
When we consider the plus and minus, the main plus is the plot, its suspense, the ghost element, the unfolding of incidents and solving the problem…all were very good and the film is worth for this alone. No doubt. The film is technically superior. Sound effects, Art Direction, Cinematography all top class. We cannot ask for more.
When it come to minuses, the film advertised as a comic thriller lack the scenes to make it as a comic thriller and ended up as a psycho-thriller which is not bad any way, especially since there is thrill involved. Casting should have been better and in another words performance of the leading cast should have been better.
A very good psycho-thriller which have a good story, good suspense, a ghost element, phsychology, psychiatry, good cinematography, good music, ok performance…the movie is a good watch for those who have not see its earlier versions. Go for it!