Bhoothnath Review

Much has been said about Bhoothnath right from the pairing of Amitabh and Shahrukh after a long time and the potential that the debutant director Vivek Sharma carries.

After films such as `Bhagbhan' , `Babul' , comes yet another film from the reputed B.R. Films but this time around unlike their previous ventures you neither get to see a typical family drama nor the presence of Ravi Chopra spearheading the direction of the film. This time the offering is absolutely new and fresh with debutant Vivek Sharma exploring the relationship between a young boy and a spirit in a very innovative, humorous manner.

The story revolves around a 7 year old naughty boy -Banku(Aman Siddiqui) whose family(Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla) comes to live in a mansion in Goa. The mansion-Nath Villa is considered haunted after the demise of Kailash Nath (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife.

No one dares to stay at Nath Villa and soon the spirit wants to get rid of his new rival-Banku. All attempts to scare Banku fail and the two now develop a new bond. The so called ghost is renamed as Bhootnath and Banku soon becomes Bhootnath's `Angel'.

Thinks take a turn when Kailash Nath's son (Priyanshu Chatterjee) returns from the U.S. to sell Nath Villa.

Firstly, if there is any misconception that Bhootnath is a horror flick, keep all your perceptions aside and digest the fact that this flick is actually a cute film for the complete family. It's meant for all audiences and just because it explores the relationship between a kid and a ghost ,doesn't mean that it's a `Kiddie' movie or so.

Director Vivek Sharma excels with his very first film. Unlike most directors, he doesn't get carried away by the star presence of either Amitabh or Shahrukh and does no gigs such as an item number or so to enhance the stars but rather sticks to the very basics of a simple script and its simple storytelling.

Bhootnath isn't the most unique or rarest of scripts but it is the simplicity in story telling that really keeps you entertained and brings out the kid in you. Vivek makes you laugh and even gets the audience moist eyed with couple of sequences.

Be it the sequence where Banku hurts himself by falling off the staircase or be it Banku's rift with Bhootnath, the movie has a certain emotional connect with the audience.

The characters in the film have been so well sketched out and are indeed relevant to the storytelling process. Be it the peon or the principal(Satish Shah) who eats all the tiffin boxes at school or even Anthony(Rajpal Yadav) the beggar; each of them make you laugh and are unique in some way or the other.

On the technical front, the movie is supreme in terms of its special effects. These effects raise the bar of the film. Watch out for the movement of dry leaves, Banku's hand stretching out to help a friend in a pit, Amitabh's expressions to scare the kid etc. It's simply brilliant for a Hindi film.

The cinematography by Vishnu Rao is simple and sleek which make possible the addition of such brilliant visual effects.

The music by Vishal-Shekar isn't great and the movie pace get hampered by a bunch of tracks forced in. But in any case the visual's of `Mere Buddy' further enhanced by the bloopers when the credit rolls makes this track grow on you.

On the acting front, the movie truly belongs to Aman Siddiqui and Amitabh Bachchan. Aman impresses tremendously with his naughty expressions, cute laughter and dialogue delivery. You may even have tears trickle towards the climax where you see Aman cry out loud looking at the stars, searching for Bhootnath.

Rating: 0 / 5.0