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T-Series Films and Cine1 Studios’ Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (UA) is a horror comedy. Second in the Bhool Bhulaiyaa series, it is the story of Reet (Kiara Advani), her large family and her boyfriend, Ruhan (Kartik Aaryan). Ruhan and Reet meet under strange circumstances. Reet, who hails from Rajasthan, is on her way back home for her own marriage fixed by the family. The bus in which Reet and Ruhan are travelling meets with an accident, and Reet is assumed to be dead. Since Reet is aware that her cousin, Trisha (Mehek Manwani), loves the boy with whom her marriage has been finalised, she decides to ‘stay dead’ and somehow ensure that her fiancé, Sagar (Sparsh Walia), gets married to Trisha. Ruhan helps Reet in her mission as he has fallen in love with her. In fulfilling ‘ghost’ Reet’s mission, the family is forced to live in the old haveli in which Reet had spent her childhood even though locked in one room of the haveli is the ghost of Manjulika (Tabu), the evil sister of Anjulika, sister-in-law of Reet.
Is the spirit of Manjulika for real? What does the spirit want? Are Reet and Ruhan able to accomplish their mission? Does the family get to know that Reet is alive? What happens to the love story of Ruhan and Reet?
Aakash Kaushik has written a nice story and absorbing screenplay, which take the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise forward. There are so many twists and turns in the drama that the audience does not get a moment to think. The first half is full of light moments, and the viewers often break into laughter, even loud guffaws. The second half, especially after Manjulika’s spirit is assumed to have set itself free, has less of Ruhan and more of Anjulika, Manjulika, Bada Pandit (Sanjay Mishra), his wife (Ashwini Kalsekar), and Chhota Pandit (Rajpal Yadav). Although one does miss Ruhan in this part, the entertainment quotient is so big that the audience doesn’t mind Ruhan’s absence for short intervals. In other words, although Ruhan becomes an endearing character right from the word ‘go’, the writer has ensured the viewers their quota of entertainment and fun even in portions without him. The interest level of the audience dips a bit when Anjulika narrates the back story about her and Manjulika’s childhood, her marriage with Reet’s brother, Kunwar (Amar Upadhyay), etc. But, as mentioned above, there are so many characters and so much drama that the viewers’ involvement in the drama revives soon over again. The ending does look a bit abrupt but the title song, which comes in the end rolling titles, makes up for it. Dialogues, penned by Farhad Samji and Aakash Kaushik (with additional dialogues by Sparsh Khetarpal and Tasha Bhambra), are the best part of the script and evoke a lot of laughter. What’s more, they are spoken by the characters with such poker faces that it adds to the fun element for the paying public.
Kartik Aaryan is endearing and does an excellent job as Ruhan. His dialogue delivery is so smooth and uninhibited that he instantly becomes a darling of the viewers. He looks the character because the naughtiness on his face adds to the character’s persona. Kiara Advani looks very pretty and glamorous. Her performance is appealing too. Tabu acts with aplomb as both, Anjulika and Manjulika. The revelation of her suspense towards the end comes as a wonderful shock to the audience. Sanjay Mishra, the hard-of-hearing Bada Pandit, leaves a fantastic mark. As his wife, Ashwini Kalsekar is also superb. Rajpal Yadav makes his over-the-top character of Chhota Pandit so believable that it is indeed very creditable. Rajesh Sharma lends remarkable support as Reet’s paternal uncle. His phugdi episodes with Reet’s ‘spirit’ are thoroughly entertaining. Milind Gunaji is good in the role of Thakur-sa. Amar Upadhyay lends decent support as Kunwar, a role which does not have too many dialogues. Kali Prasad Mukherjee stands his own as the father of Anjulika and Manjulika. Govind Namdeo makes his presence felt as the tantrik. Master Samarth Chauhan is outstanding as Reet’s little cousin, Potlu. Sparsh Walia (as Sagar), Mehek Manwani (as Trisha), Sajida Khan (as Reet’s paternal aunt), Leela Patel (as Reet’s grandmother), baby Sanaya (as young Anjulika), baby Samaira (as young Manjulika) and the others provide fantastic support.
Director Anees Bazmee is in top form. He has the viewers’ attention right from the first frame and even in portions when the drama dips, he does not let his grip on their minds loosen for too long. He has made a wholesome entertainer for males and females of all classes and age groups. Music (Pritam and Tanishk Bagchi) is good but could’ve been better. Of course, the title track (from the first Bhool Bhulaiyaa) is a super-hit number. Of the other songs, the romantic track (‘Hum nashe mein’) is melodious. ‘Ami je tomar’ is also well-tuned. However, how one wishes, all the songs were hits/super-hits because the songs disturb the flow of the narration, and hit/super-hit diversions would’ve been more welcome than non-hits under such circumstances. Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics go well with the mood of the film. Choreography of the title song (by Bosco-Caesar) is excellent. The picturisation of the romantic song (by Vijay A. Ganguly) is very eye-pleasing. Choreography of the other songs (by China Prakash & Rekha Prakash, and Adil Shaikh) is eye-filling. Sandeep Shirodkar’s background music is lovely and serves to heighten the impact of both, comedy and horror scenes. Manu Anand’s cinematography is of a high order. Manohar Verma’s action and stunts are enjoyable. Rajat Poddar’s production designing, and Ajay Verekar’s art direction are wonderful. Production vales are grand. Bunty Nagi’s editing is very sharp.
On the whole, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is a very enjoyable entertainer and will prove to be a richly rewarding experience for all concerned.
Released on 20-5-’22 at Inox (daily 12 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: excellent. Opening: superb in good multiplexes of the national chains, fair in other cinemas. …….Also released all over. Opening was wonderful in multiplexes of national chains but fair otherwise.