The ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ franchise has a special place in cinema lovers hearts. While the first one, set the benchmark of expectations quite high, the second installment sure did manage to resurrect the film industry’s box office status post Covid. And this time, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3‘ has ignited the expectation of creating magic on the big screen and the box office again.
‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ sticks to the OG outline of one Manjulika, who was deceitfully killed, and whose spirit waits to avenge her death. All of this amid some comic, spooky moments. The movie starts with a backstory of how Manjulika was killed, which left me with goosebumps and immediately put me in a thought, “The horror moments are possibly higher in this one and is probably going to make me jump!” The movie proceeds quite smoothly with the introduction scenes of Kartik Aaryan which screamed ‘hero vibes only’, Triptii Dimri, who has great potential to play a ghost in the future probably in the same franchise (prediction based only on the entry scene) and finally the Rakhtghat mahal where the hauntings begin.
The first half of the movie has limited horror moments and funny/punny punchlines however the second half redeems itself majorly. Some scenes seem redundant that could’ve been done away with, which would’ve helped the film be more crisp. Other movie references like that of Kartik Aaryan’s ‘Shehzaada’ and Vijay Raaz’s ‘Run’ are clap worthy. Rajpal Yadav, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sanjay Mishra, Vijay Raaz are such wonderful talents that were given such bad dialogues, which was quite disappointing.
Kartik Aaryan as ‘Rooh Baba’ walks the performance graph in a high-low manner. In a particular scene, where ‘Rooh Baba’ fakes the Raja’s dead wife’s spirit possessing him, showcases the switch between his character and one of the spirit’s so well, it’s commendable. The climax scene has Kartik slayingggg… nope not revealing any spoilers… helps resurrect the film phenomenally.
Vidya Balan takes us back in time to the ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ days where she was the OG Manjulika. The actress lights up the screen and manages to stand out even in a frame filled with the cast. Madhuri Dixit-Nene as ‘Mandira’ effortlessly switches her expressions moving in and out of the possession moments. The dance-off is the main highlight of the movie but somehow the friction and drama tone down the magnanimity in the performance. Triptii Dimri’s character, ‘Meera’ has a lead up that seems to get lost as the film proceeds, leaving me with one too many questions, will part ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 4’ answer them, only time will tell.
All in all, Anees Bazmee delivers an entertaining movie this Diwali with ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’, and is worth a watch especially for that climax and ending scene.
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2