T-Series Films and Cine1 Studios’ Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (UA) is a horror drama comedy. The story starts 200 years ago when a king had publicly killed his daughter, Manjulika, ostensibly for bringing disrepute to the family. However, Manjulika’s ghost was on a revenge spree thereafter and had, therefore, been locked up in the king’s haveli. Now, 200 years later, Ruhan alias Rooh Baba (Kartik Aaryan), who claims that he can talk to ghosts, is approached by the current owners of the haveli to free Manjulika’s ghost so that they can sell the haveli. Rooh Baba comes to the town and is informed by Rajpurohit (Manish Wadhwa) that Manjulika’s ghost should be set free on a particular date only, as otherwise calamity would befall the family. Rooh Baba realises that he resembles Devindernath (Kartik Aaryan), the illegitimate son of the haveli owner who was also the ruler of the village 200 years ago. It has been the belief that one of the members of the haveli would be reborn and free it of Manjulika’s ghost.
Mallika (Vidya Balan) is an archaeologist who has come to study the haveli. Mandira (Madhuri Dixit) is a prospective buyer of the haveli. Meanwhile, Rooh Baba has tried to free the haveli of Manjulika’s ghost before the appointed date. This agitates Rajpurohit who now sets out to see what can be done to avert the calamity. He learns that 200 years ago, the king had three (rather than two) children. Anjulika was the other child, besides Manjulika and Devindernath.
Does Rooh Baba succeed in freeing the haveli of Manjulika’s ghost? If yes, how? If not, what happens? There is a suspense angle which is not being revealed here and because of keeping it under wraps, a good part of the story post-interval is not being mentioned here.
Aakash Kaushik has written a story and screenplay, both of which rest on a weak foundation. The drama is convoluted, stretched a lot and also weird at places. For one, it is not satisfactorily clear why the king metes out such harsh punishment to all his three children — Devindernath, Manjulika and Anjulika. Since this is the starting point of the entire drama, the rest of the drama rests on a weak foundation. Secondly, the point of the villagers recognising Rooh Baba because of his resemblance to Devindernath seems weird because Devindernath had lived 200 years ago and so nobody alive today could’ve seen him. The argument that Devindernath’s portrait still hangs on a wall of the haveli does not hold good because the haveli is locked since 200 years and hence no villager could’ve seen the portrait since 200 years and, of course, no villager could be living for 200 years. Besides, if the villagers can recognise Rooh Baba, why can’t they recognise Mallika and Mandira as look-alikes of the other members of the erstwhile king’s family?
The suspense angle will not go too well with the audience because of several reasons: it is a bit too weird, its after-effects, 200 years ago, were quite strange, etc. The climax is well-written but not very fulfilling. Some comic scenes are definitely entertaining. Having said that, it must be added that the comedy element is the weakest part of the drama. On the other hand, the horror element affords a lot of thrills. Aakash Kaushik’s dialogues are very good but at places only.
Kartik Aaryan does a fine job but he does not have any memorable scenes which can be discussed or cherished for years together. His dances, of course, are simply outstanding. Tripti Dimri is average in the role of Meera. She hardly has scope to perform. Madhuri Dixit (in a special appearance) delivers a wonderful performance as Mandira. Vidya Balan is fantastic as Mallika. It is a delight to watch Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan act. Sanjay Mishra, Rajpal Yadav and Ashwini Kalsekar get very limited scope — and that’s a big minus point. Of course, their performances are lovely. Vijay Raaz is natural and entertaining but he gets very limited scenes to enact. Manish Wadhwa (as Rajpurohit), Saurabh Dubey (as the earlier Rajpurohit), Rajesh Sharma, Kanchan Mullick, Arun Kushwah, Shataf Figar (as Vicky Khanna, a prospective buyer of the haveli), Denzil Smith (as the king), Himakshi (as the bua), Agrim Mittal (as Modak), Rose Sardana (as the cousin), Anahita (as young Manjulika) and the others provide decent support.
Anees Bazmee’s direction is fair, limited as it is by the weak and convoluted script. Of the songs (music by Pritam, Tanishk Bagchi, Sachet-Parampara, Amaal Malik, Aditya Rikhari, Lijo George and DJ Chetas), the two old songs — the title track and Ami je tomar — are the best. All the new songs are fair but none of them is a hit or a chartbuster. Lyrics (Sameer, Rashmi Virag, Aditya Rikhari, Dhruv Yogi and Som) are okay. Choreography (by Chinni Prakash, Ganesh Acharya, Bosco-Caesar and Vijay Ganguly) is superb. The dances are a treat for the eyes. Sandeep Shirodkar’s background music is pretty impactful. Manu Anand deserves distinction marks for his extraordinary cinematography. Manohar Verma’s action and stunt scenes are thrilling. Rajat Poddar’s production designing, and Ajay Verekar’s art direction are of a high standard. Sanjay Sankla’s editing is proper.
On the whole, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is too ordinary and a bit too convoluted to be appreciated much by the audience. In its favour are brand ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’, two (old) songs, the star cast and a very good release period because of the Diwali festival. It will do fair business.
Released on 1-11-’24 at Inox (daily 10 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: excellent. Opening: good (adversely affected at places because of the Diwali festivities in Hindu households). …….Also released all over. Opening ranged from the fair to excellent (adversely affected at places due to Diwali).
