Zee Studios and Kyra Kumar Creations’ Bhootam Bhayyam (Marathi; UA) is the story of seven unemployed friends who find an ancient coin and use it to make fast money. An old man, Bhaskar Purushottam (Ninad Limaye), warns them that what they are doing is not right and it could have terrible repercussions, but they are so greedy for money that they don’t heed his advice to stop making money from the coin. One day, one of the seven friends, Gaja (Karan Sonawane), goes missing. That’s when Bhaskar Purushottam comes again and tells the remaining six friends the story behind the coin. He tells them that the coin belonged to a queen and it had the power to convert anything to gold. But some centuries ago, the coin was stolen by a young man. The coin could regain its power only if the blood of the thief stealing the coin were to touch the coin. Since the queen was bound by her vow to protect the thief, the coin had lost its power to convert ordinary things into gold. Gaja had found that coin of centuries ago.
Anyway, in the present times, Jathai (Chhaya Kadam) wanted to kill Gaja when she saw the coin, because she was aware that the coin’s powers would come back if Gaja’s (who was now the thief) blood was to touch the coin. Gaja had once escaped from Jathai but he is once again captured by Jathai. How Gaja is saved from Jathai’s captivity and how the greed of Gaja and his six friends is put an end to form the crux of the drama.
Ramchandra Gaonkar’s story is fairly good. His screenplay is quite interesting but in parts only. There are some dull moments which pull the drama down and dilute the impact of the proceedings on the viewers. Ramchandra Gaonkar’s dialogues are quite nice.
Karan Sonawane is good in the role of Gaja. Manmeet Pem does well as Prikshit alias Exam. Pushkaraj Chirputkar performs ably in the role of Balkrushna alias Kaka. Neel Salekar is alright as Narhari alias Reel. Shubham Jadhav is okay as Tanhaji alias Pampi. Saurabh Ghadge is so-so in the role of Ravindra Modak. Siddhant Sarfare is average as Tanmay. Chhaya Kadam leaves a fine mark as Jathai; her get-up is striking. Priyadarshan Jadhav lends fair support as Maya. Pratap Phad is passable as Monty. Sobita Kudtarkar (as Sarojini), Kishore Choughule (as police inspector Sachin Jadhav), Suhita Thatte (as Gaja’s mother), Abhay Khadapkar (as Babu Kaka), Ninad Limaye (as old man Bhaskar Purushottam), Rohan Surve (as Dinkar) and the others do as desired.
Ramchandra Gaonkar’s direction is quite nice. Music (Shreenath Mhatre, Samir Saptiskar and Shreyas Sagvekar) is alright. Lyrics (Prajakt Deshmukh and Abhishek Khankar) are okay. Pavan Shetty and Bob Sirr’s choreography is eye-pleasing. Shreenath Mhatre’s background music is impactful. Pushkar Zoting’s camerawork is decent. Iqbal Suleman Sheikh’s action and stunt scenes are average. Sandeep Sharad Ravade’s production designing is proper. Pranav Gandhe’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Bhootam Bhayyam is a fair fare.
Released on 24-7-’26 at Plaza (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity: good. Opening: so-so.
