Review: ‘Bhooth Bangla’ is haunted by the curse of banality

The grandfather of the London-based siblings Arjun (Akshay Kumar) and Meera (Mithila Palkar) has died. Meera stands to gain a mansion in India that neither she nor Arjun knew about. Good timing – Meera is looking for a venue for her upcoming nuptials.

Arjun lands up at the ancestral house with wedding planner Jagdish (Paresh Rawal) in tow. The rough-mannered Jagdish and his nephew Balli (Rajpal Yadav) aren’t the kind of people a non-resident Indian like Arjun might hire, but it’s too early to wonder about obvious loopholes in a movie full of them.

The estate’s manager Shambhu (Asrani) blathers on about an ancient curse. The bat-like demon Vadhasur has been snatching away newly married women to his lair in the forest. Soon enough, bat-shaped shadows are seen on the walls, but only at night. Rather than flooding the place with lights – the story takes place eons after the discovery of electricity – Arjun elects to fight mystery with hysteria.

Priyadarshan’s Bhooth Bangla is out on cinemas. The Hindi movie, based on a story by Aakash Kaushik and a screenplay by Priyadarshan, Rohan Shankar and Abilash Nair, is haunted by previous, and better, scare-laced comedies about accursed cavernous houses.

The one room to which entry is barred by a magical lock, revenge for acts done in the past, the flashback that involves a character played by Tabu – Bhooth Bangla rehashes ideas from Dracula, Manichithrathazu – which Pridayadarshan remade as Bhool Bhuliayaa in 2007 – and the Bhool Bhuliayaa sequels starring Kartik Aaryan.

In between yelling his head off, Arjun romances Priya (Wamiqa Gabbi) and visits a priest whose counsel gives the movie a semblance of direction. For the easily distracted who have begun to grumble about the visible age gap between Arjun and Meera, Priya as well as Arjun’s father played by Jisshu Sengupta – who appears visibly younger than his “son” despite white hair – worry not. The movie has an explanation.

Perhaps more effort could have been expended on clearly explaining why the bat-shaped creature is stalking Arjun and Meera. Instead, Bhooth Bangla is a victim of laziness coupled with banality.

The movie is a collection of jumpy, not always connected scenes. The camera is seemingly placed on the floor at times, producing strange angles and perspectives. It’s as though the crew forgot that the scenes were being filmed. Given the slapdash nature of Priyadarshan’s direction, the cast’s commitment to the material is nothing short of remarkable.

Rajpal Yadav’s Balli gets slapped and belittled a lot, making you feel for the things Yadav has to do for a living. Jagdish’s posterior is frequently set on fire – a reminder of the movie’s bottom-warming, 174-minute duration?

Akshay Kumar is consistently manic, being an old hand at this sort of material. He’s given most of the better lines and the genuinely funny moments. But Bhooth Bangla is too derivative to be its own thing. Akshay Kumar can’t play hero and exorcist at the same time.