Bhoothnath Returns

Bhoothnath Returns is more of a clarion call for Indians to cast their votes than an unabashed entertainer, Deepa Gauri writes

One preachy ghost

RIGHT IN TIME for the on-going Indian Lok Sabha elections comes Bhoothnath, in his second outing to try and scare children and thus secure a place of honour in netherworld.

The uncertainty of whether to pander to children or to become a ‘social message’ vehicle makes Bhoothnath Returns a rather preachy affair.

And the sermons, calling for the Indian voters to wake up, get an identity card and cast their votes, become tedious, clunky and sometimes outright boring for a ‘horror comedy’ that should otherwise have had you engrossed.

There are a few sharp one-liners, the powerful presence of Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani with his lively spontaneity, and funny moments that could make you chuckle.

The smooth sailing of the first half, which opens in netherworld and transports to Dharavi, is dampened seriously by a lumbering second that gets into an overt ‘voter awareness’ mode. We even have Ranbir Kapoor drop in to remind you of the need to get your voter card.

Platitudes and simplistic solutions, the much-abused bane of mainstream Bollywood, continue in Bhoothnath Returns. Earnest reminders of India’s political failures, the anguish of marginalised communities that are evicted to make way for high rises, the notion all politicians are the same – you see them all. The only difference is that it takes a ghost on an adventure trip to India to remind us of all that again.

Bachchan’s Bhoothnath hardly challenges the actor in him. But what is admirable about him is how he steps back to give his co-performers the room to shine. The young Akhrot (performed with maturity and effortless ease by Parth Bhalerao) thus gets the finest lines, playing an honest slum-dweller and the only one on Earth who can see Bhoothnath.

Off the two go to evict ghosts from buildings under construction, now home to people who died during its making and have been denied insurance claim. How the two coerce the corrupt and lazy bureaucrats to move files is funny at first and predictably lame soon.

Their success streak continues until they come across a building that has countless ghosts – all who had sacrificed their lives for a greedy developer, a local goon turned politician (Boman Irani). In strange twists, Bhoothnath contests in elections against him, and there goes the movie downhill.

Noble intentions don’t make great movies; platitude doesn’t make for compelling art; and overt simplification of the ‘great Indian woes’ don’t make for ‘feel good’ movies. The trick, as we have seen in several mainstream movies including Amitabh’s own Main Azaad Hoon, is to make audiences root shamelessly for the underdog.

Here, the playing field – despite the attempt to overcome it – is tilted in Bhoothnath’s favour from the start. You know that in no way is he going to fail. And you know the only one to suffer will be the boy.

With friendly appearances from Shah Rukh Khan to Anurag Kashyap, there is a lot of camaraderie in the making of the film. But sadly none of that translates into what could have made Bhoothnath Returns a far better and engaging film.

But then, if it inspires any Indian to cast his vote – even as a protest against the system – maybe the purpose of the film, according to its makers, is accomplished.

After all, half the Bollywood brigade is already out there pleading and begging for votes, and promising, as always, to make India the next heaven on earth.

Director: Nitesh Tiwari

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Parth Bhalerao, Boman Irani