I have rarely seen a theater running an Indian film go house-full in New York. As the doors to the theater opened, it was like a pandemonium and people (Indians/Pakistanis/ Bangladeshis) started rushing to grab the best seats in the theater (unlike India, one can choose to sit anywhere in the theaters). One minute I was standing outside the theater the next minute I was already inside the theater. Even before the movie began, I was already feeling the effects of “Bhool Bhulaiya”. As the lights dimmed, the background music began – no – not from the movie but kids crying and howling. After a while, they did keep their mouthshut (thankgoodness)!
The credits began to roll showcasing the famous “Ajanta” paintings in the background. The first shot takes us to the picturesque ghats of Banaras, and then jump cuts into a beautiful palace in Jaipur. The entry into the palace is well shot. At this time, I am wondering about the location of the film – whether it is Jaipur or Benaras?? As far as I know, they are quite far apart. But, the director doesn’t want us to worry about all that. We are supposed to assume that the story is based in a small town in India and apparently all small towns are similar irrespective of location and superstitions prevail regardless.
The movie weaves around the storyof a newly married couple (Avni and Siddharth) settled in US, who are visiting India after many years. Siddharth is a descendent from a Maharajah clan and decides to reside with his wife in his ancestral haveli in the village. He is fore-warned by the elders of his family, to reconsider his decision as the haveli is haunted. But Siddharth and his wife pay no heed and brush their words off as age old superstitious mentality. Not only do they move in to the so-called haunted haveli, but certain doors that were locked by the priests over 65 years ago, are soon opened. The rest of the movie takes the audience through the consequences of this action, finally revealing the mystery toward the climax.
The players:
Siddharth (Shiney Ahuja) – A subdued and lovable husband who can never say “no” to his wife. From time to time he has been shown working on his computer, typing with one finger (not too common these days, especially for someone grown up in US who is well-versed in computers). In addition to the song and dance romantic numbers with his wife, he hangs out with his relatives sometimes. The scene toward the climax, when reality bites him hard, Shiney shines. As an actor Shiney did not have much to do in this film.
Aditya (Akshay Kumar): A psychiatric from US (who happens to be Siddharth’s friend) makes an entry dressed in the grabs of a holy man – Why?? Coz he’s just arrived from a trip to Kumbhamela and likes to dress up in weird costumes when he is away from work. Me thinks – this scene was written to force some laughs out of the audience at this juncture. His entry scene is done in a typical Priyadarshan- Neeraj Vohra format. Aditya comes to the rescue of the family falling apart due to consecutive mysterious happenings occurring in the palace. I must add here that Akshay’s entry was cheered by the audience with claps and whistles in the theater. From his entry (toward the interval) up until the end of the film, he is practically seen in every scene of the film. Some of the scenes are hilarious. Performance wise, though, I would say he’s just average. He’s shown wearing glasses for the most part, to give him the look of a serious psychiatrist, but he manages to get a few laughs. The scene where he reveals the mystery is a let down. A more competent actor could have handled it in a much better manner. This scene was not well written either, and it appeared that everything is explained in a most childish way throwing in some flash back scenes here and there.
Avni (Vidya Balan): Siddharth’s pretty wife who is a bit too curious about her husband’s ancestral home. She is responsible for opening the pandora’s box (in this case unbolting a certain door). She’s got the best role in the movie with plenty of room for performance. She is fine in the first half playing a friendly Indian Bahu, however the second half is where she gets a chance to showcase her talents. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with her performance here.
For an actor, the intensity of acting is revealed in the eyes, and somehow this was lacking. Even in the final dance sequence, which required a coordination of expressions and body movement, she was some what disappointing. Over all, her acting graph in the film remained more like a straight line, when in reality it should have been reaching new heights in some of the scenes. Some scenes that were supposed to be eerie/ shock the audience, did not surprise me at all. In fact a section of the audience was laughing during those scenes.
Radha (Amisha Patel*) – As Badrinarayan’s adopted daughter has a small role. Her performance is too loud and irritating. She is o.k. in the scenes where she has no dialogues.
Badrinaryan Chaturvedi (Manoj Joshi): As Siddharth’s conservative, superstitious uncle fits his role to the “T” and gives a restrained performance.
Batuk (Paresh Rawal); Chote Pandit (Rajpal Yadav); Rasika Joshi (Janaki) and Murari (Asrani) –are there mainly to add comic relief in the otherwise serious story line. They have a few scenes but their characters don’t have a major contribution in the script.
Visual Effects by Avik Banerjee – Decent, but could have been better. Most frames have been captured well, though the lighting in some of the scenes was not completely satisfactory. After having watched “Ekalvaya” where the visual effects of the dark alleys and palace were absolutely stunning, Bhool Bhulaiya does leave us asking for more.
Editors N. Gopalakrishnan and Arun Kumar could have been more generous with their scissors, a few scenes seemed to drag.
Music by Pritam is average, though it is already considered a hit. The background score is decent, but not up to the mark taking into account that it is a thriller.
Priyan has given us some serious Hindi films in the past such as “Gardish” and “Viraasat”. In “Bhool Bhulaiya” he comes up with a psychological thriller. Considering it is a combination of Neeraj Vohra (screenplay)-Priyadarshan-Akshay Kumar-Paresh Rawal, the audience might expect a comedy, which it certainly isn’t. Bhool Bhulaiya has the some comic scenes thrown into a largely mystery/thriller film. The film tends to drag in the first half (I was a bit bored actually, though there were some hilarious scenes), but does pick up in portions the second half.
It is a remake of the Malayalam film “Manichitrathazhu” for which Shobhna had won the National Award. The theme was so popular that it was remade in Tamil, Telugu (Chandramukhi) and Kannada (Aptamitra). My guess (since I haven’t seen any the original) is that Bhool Bhulaiya perhaps does not live up to expectations when compared to the original Malayalam film, especially considering the cast performances, but over all, it’s an decent flick and a one-time watch with a message at the end.