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Tips Industries Ltd. and 12th Street Entertainment’s Bhoot Police (UA) is a horror comedy. Vibhooti (Saif Ali Khan) and Chiraunji (Arjun Kapoor) are brothers who hail from a family of tantriks. The two of them also practise as tantriks. While elder brother Vibhooti doesn’t believe in ghosts and spirits, he uses his profession to fool gullible people because of their superstitious beliefs, and thereby makes money. On the other hand, partner-brother Chiraunji is of the firm belief that there are ghosts and spirits. If he had his way, he would want to practise exorcism in the right way as he is not in favour of making money by cheating people.
Maya (Yami Gautam) hires their services. While Vibhooti sees it as an opportunity to fool one more client, Chiraunji takes a liking for her and is keen to genuinely help her as he invariably desires to help all clients. Maya and her sister, Kanika (Jacqueline Fernandez), run a large tea estate which seems to be a frightening place for the estate workers. That’s because a kichkandi (spirit of a woman, which is latched to an uncremated part of her dead body, usually a bone) resides in the tea estate. Do the two brothers succeed in driving away the kichkandi? Whose spirit is it? Is there a spirit at all?
Pavan Kirpalani has penned a kiddish story which is so half-baked that it just doesn’t make sense. The screenplay, written by Pavan Kirpalani, Pooja Ladha Surti and Sumit Batheja, is so poor that the audience gets the feeling, within minutes of the start of the film, that it is a shoddy screenplay born out of a half-hearted attempt. Although the film is designed as a horror comedy, it would not be incorrect to say that it neither frightens the viewers nor tickles their funny bone. The ‘scary’ scenes fail to send chills down the spines of the audiences. Likewise, the ‘comedy’ falls completely flat on its face. The banter between Vibhooti and Chiraunji is so irritating that it gets on people’s nerves after a point of time. Frankly, one gets the feeling, quite early on, that the writers themselves were not sure about the existence of ghosts. Or, probably, the beliefs of the three writers were not in synch with one another. Whatever the reasons, the result is that the screenplay is pathetic. Dialogues, written by Sumit Batheja and Pooja Ladha Surti, are ordinary.
Saif Ali Khan does an average job and is unable to rise above the insipid script. Arjun Kapoor is ordinary. Jacqueline Fernandez looks pretty but her performance too is nothing to shout about. Yami Gautam’s acting is so-so. Jaaved Jaafery has been wasted in a brief role as police inspector Chhedilal. Rajpal Yadav is irritating as Google Baba. Amit Mistry is at least earnest in the role of estate manager Hari. Jamie Lever has her funny moments as Lata. Rupesh Tillu (as Binod), Girish Kulkarni (as Santu), Ravi Solanki (as the kichkandi), Youngykar Dolma (as Titli), Kalsang Dolma (as Titli’s mother), Yashaswini Dayama (as Guddi), J.P. Chopra (as Guddi’s father), Archana Kelkar (as Guddi’s mother), Faezeh Jalali (as Manju), Saurabh Sachdeva (as Ullat Baba) and the others lend routine support.
Pavan Kirpalani’s direction is hardly any better than the script. His narrative style fails to involve the audience which, therefore, passively watches the drama unfold. There is only one song (composed by Sachin-Jigar; lyrics by Kumaar) in the film, which comes at the end, and it is good. Choreography of the song (by Remo D’Souza) is quite appealing. Clinton Cerejo’s background music is functional. Jayakrishna Gummadi’s camerawork is fair. Action scenes (Javed Karim) are routine. Production designing (by Anita Rajgopalan and Donald Reagan Stanley) is okay. Pooja Ladha Surti’s editing is loose.
On the whole, Bhoot Police is a poor fare in all respects and will not find favour with the audience.
Released on 10-9-’21 on Disney+ Hotstar.
