Shiver in your pants, its fright time. The supernatural strikes. Albeit, not in some desolate ruins, not in an abandoned temple or in a forest, not in a faraway old mansion. In Bhoot, the undead pays you visits right where you are, in your apartment, in your neighborhood, and also in broad daylight.
Do you sense a Bhoot?
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You have just shifted in a newly rented apartment on the 12th floor of a residential complex. And you couldn’t be less bothered by the fact that a lady committed suicide by jumping off its balcony.
So who is that apparition in the mirror? What lurks in the overhead lofts? Why is your maidservant so eerie? At night do you really want to walk from your bed till the kitchen to drink water?
Who are these mysterious folks next door? Can you rely on the security guard? And why is your wife slowly going loony? Is she possessed? Who can help? The police? A psychiatrist? Or a psychic?
Do you see a Bhoot?
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The premise isn’t new. It has been done in horror serials like Aahat on Sony TV. And not really scary either, just chilling, yet Bhoot is all what a regular Hindi horror movie (those abominable sordid sagas of the Ramsay Brothers) hasn’t been.
No creaking doors. Hooting owls, cloudy moons, frisky bats all done away with. Screaming chudails summarily dissmissed, and no wet heroines (of the ‘I am cheaper than Kimi Katkar’ variety) being chased by ugly, bleeding faced ogres and rescued by ape-like heroes.
The short length of this movie (110 minutes, short by Hindi movie standards) is refreshing. No time wasted in excruciating boredom, Bhoot is to the point and precise, but could have done away with those tiresomely repetitive shots of the lift, the parking lot, and the hero going to and fro his workplace.
But get thrust into the thick of things within the first ten minutes itself and what follows are tension filled minutes to make you shudder and laugh out nervously with each Boo that comes with rat-a-tat frequency.
Bhoot has the content to grip you and does not need to rely on item numbers like every other weakling Hindi movie. Bhoot is thankfully songless.
Sound by Dwarak Warrier and Salim Sulaiman’s background music add to the chills, however the excessive relying on the irritating doorbell to scare is a bit lame. Superb action by Allan Amin ditto Vishal Sinha’s cinematography and Shimit Amin’s editing.
Who is the Bhoot?
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Bhoot has a lovingly hand-picked first rate cast.
Its blissful to see a Nana Patekar who doesn’t slap his head and talk cynically. This actor who was getting a bit too repetitive comes up with a fine act as Inspectoir Liyaqat Qureshi, making a seetee-maar entry and giving terse, tough-talking dialogues all the time.
Ajay Devgan (in a dapper haircut and goatee) gives a realistic portrayal of a helpless husband at his wits’ end on how to ease his wife’s sufferings. Stammering, twitching, award hoarding, self confessed acting gods could learn realistic acting from Mr. Devgan.
Will the timeless Rekha ever cease looking hot (even as a psychic medium)? With minimal dialogues, minimal emoting and barely 10 minutes of total screen time she leaves her indelible stamp commanding attention merely with studied glances, silences and a killer voice.
Seema Biswas as the spaced out, often funny house-maid is superb. Note her fittingly correct body language.
Victor Bannerjee as the psychiatrist makes you wonder why doesn’t this man work in Hindi movies more often. While Tanuja with her stern angry look lends able support, Fardeen boring Khan lends unable support and dilutes Bhoot as soon as he enters.
You have no choice, Urmila Matondkar is the focal point of Bhoot. One does expect her to go hopelessly overboard, nevertheless she is first rate as she ever is under RGV’s direction. When possessed she shocks, astounds, repels, and evokes sympathy all at one go. She’ll be romping back home with all those magazine awards this year.
Jump off your seats as you watch:-
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# The first appearance of the ghost
# The sequence in the Imax Adlabs Multiplex
# Devgan’s daydream
# The murder at the interval
# The possessed Urmila
# many more such moments pepper the movie
How is Bhoot?
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Don’t see Bhoot if Urmila figures prominently in your worst actresses list. But her most cutting critics would have to admit that this time she excels and then excels again.
After all the frenzy the ghost whips up, the climax somewhat jars and one can’t deny the influences of Sixth Sense and Exorcist. But don’t expect some twists in the tale a la Sixth Sense, Bhoot is pretty straightforward.
The innovative and pleasurably adventurous Ram Gopal Varma’s earlier forays into horror/suspense like Raat and Kaun haven’t exactly been great. However this is a markedly different and much better.
Even if you know the end, even if it seems a bit overdone at times go ahead and get your dose of spine-chills. Worth a dekko.
Now we can expect a flux of movies with the horror theme what with the typical ‘me-too’ attitude in Bollywood.