Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Is Too Chaotic For Its Own Good

I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE: I might have watched the most gratuitous Hindi film of the year. I say this after having seen my annual share of bad outings, vapid stories and tedious performances. I say this after having served my time. And informed by those choices and exposure, I am certain that none can hold a candle to the film I am referring to — whose lack of commitment, and tendency to milk everything from mythology to stardom have set new and low standards. I will say it aloud: Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again has wrecked me.

This piece, however, is not about Shetty’s newest misadventure and yet it cannot help but be about it. By the time I stepped out of Singham Again, everything looked better in comparison. The cars on the road, albeit honking, were still behaving better than in Shetty’s films. The cops were standing at the signal and not touching each other’s feet like they did in the cop drama cosplaying as Ramayana. And then with a mind full of Singham memories, I sat to watch Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, and halfway through I was convinced it was the best film I watched all year. I was laughing by throwing my head in the air and holding my stomach. I was laughing like I had not laughed before. All was good in the world again.

But after I came back home and tried recollecting the plot, the twists, the turns and the jokes, most turned out to have faded. The handful that remained offended my Bengali sensibilities. And if I really think hard then Vidya Balan and Madhuri Dixit appeared a little lost with the meandering writing in the last act. Here’s the thing: it took me a good couple of years to regain objectivity. It took me a while to recalibrate my expectations from a mainstream Hindi film and not elevate the next story that made some sense to the pinnacle of praise. But forgive me, I am but a human being.

Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, the third film in the franchise, unfolds as a close reiteration of the second installment (Aakash Kaushik has written both) with little new to offer. The cornerstone of the premise is the same and so is the layout. Ruhan (Kartik Aaryan still pulling off an Akshay Kumar), the fake ghostbuster is still deceiving people in the name of ghosts and earning money and fame. Except, he is in Kolkata and summoned by a royal family to drive away the ghost of the resident-Bengali witch of the franchise, Manjulika. What follows from here is not too drastic a departure from what we had seen earlier: Hindi-speaking actors speak in flippant Bengali, chairs float in the air, and hell is raised until the identity of the ghost forms the most pressing question.

In that sense, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is formulaic and strictly middling, not too different from what we had seen of it. But in the post-Stree world the horror comedy genre has come to assume social responsibility. Bazmee’s film dips its feet in the same water but is worse for it.

The film opens with a brief flashback from 1824 in Raktaghat where a woman was burnt to death. Two hundred years later, Ruhan goes back to the same haveli, because people believe he is a reincarnation of Devendranath, the half-brother of Manjulika, and according to tradition only members of the royal family can drive her ghost away. In between, there are murmurs of Manjulika having another sister — Anjulika — as Vidya Balan as Mallika and Madhuri Dixit as Mandira make an entrance. So far, so Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (they also share a badly lit dance-off).

The issue with Bazmee’s treatment of the genre is that each feels too much. The horror is in excess and always aware that it ought to be diffused by humour. That is why every time a witch turns her head, the usual trio of Bade Pandit (Sanjay Mishra), his wife (Ashwini Kalsekar) and Chhota Pandit (Rajpal Yadav) are used to deflect that. It always happens like this and it mostly falls upon them. There is again the problem of the repeated red herrings. Each scary scenario ends up being a nightmare or a ploy to spook Ruhan. There are also too many things that keep happening. A Jawan spoof is designed, women get possessed, men get possessed, and two women claim to be Manjulika.

Not that it is particularly bad except the pattern starts showing. But it is in the third act where the messaging takes complete precedence over logic and Bazmee’s film trudges under the burden. The final twist is revealed to be inclusive on paper but translates as half committal on screen which, if the execution is any proof, exists more as a tick in the book than a subject worth exploring.

A great philosopher once said, "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”. Bazmee, another great philosopher (in my eyes), has proved an equally altering principle with his films: life is what happens only when there is chaos. Most of his memorable films, Welcome (2007) and Singh Is Kinng (2008), thrive in a distinct brand of nonsense that makes sense in the moment. This is also why some parts of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 work till they don’t. But it took me hours to realise that I was laughing at the film and not with the film. And for this, I reserve the blame for Singham, again.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of OTTplay. The author is solely responsible for any claims arising out of the content of this column.