Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa sees Kartik Aaryan return as Rooh Baba, the raffish shaman who both can and cannot see dead people. In the previous film from 2022, Rooh Baba battled identical twins named Anjulika and Manjulika. In the latest movie, Rooh Baba tussles with another Manjulika, who could be either Vidya Balan and Madhuri Dixit.

A padlocked door that should be left alone is nevertheless opened yet again, spilling out mild scares and truck-broad comedy. Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra and Ashwini Kalsekar are around once more as characters keen on exposing Rooh Baba as a conman. Pritam’s composition Ami Je Tomar, which has survived from the first Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) as stubbornly as the notion that all ill-tempered female spirits are named Manjulika.

Kartik Aaryan in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (2024). Courtesy T-Series/Cine1 Studios.

Imagination is largely in short supply in the threequel, which has been written by Prakash Kaushik. Except for a twist about Manjulika's identity that works well, the film has little that we haven't seen before in the previous movie.

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One of the big changes is Rooh Baba’s object of desire. Although Kiara Advani worked just fine in BB2, trending star Triptii Dimri is the one who captures Rooh Baba’s heart this time. Meera (Dimri) hires Rooh Baba to free a haunted mansion from a run-down palace. There are some laughs to be had over the former royals who are supposedly reduced to poverty (but won't sell a luxurious carpet in their possession).

Triptii Dimri is treated shabbily as the movie's chief oomph supplier. The promised contest between two Manjulikas to be crowned Scream Queen is over before it begins.

Balan and Dixit work hard towards the title too, rolling their eyeballs, exercising their throat muscles, and straining to make an impact. However, in The Battle of Rooh Baba and the Two Manjulikas, Kartik Aaryan is the clear winner, even though the spoils are scanty.