‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ Review: A Slapdash Sequel Suggests It’s Time To Lay This Hindi Horror-Comedy Franchise To Rest

The kindest factor that may be mentioned about Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is that it’s unpredictable. There’s little in it to organize you for a climactic twist which is, in equal measure, audacious and ridiculous. Whereas well-intentioned, it’s staged so clumsily that it fails to evoke the required empathy. However I’ll say — I didn’t see it coming.

In any other case, we’re again in acquainted territory. The Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise began with the traditional 1993 Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu, which was remade in Hindi in 2007. Each variations delivered a skillful cocktail of snickers and scares with out true paranormal exercise. In every, the true perpetrator inflicting the main woman to show into Manjulika, the unhinged spirit of a royal dancer, was ultimately recognized as dissociative id dysfunction.

However when director Anees Bazmee took over the reins with the 2022 reboot, the horror grew to become actual. Black magic, spirits, soar scares, ominous backgrounds and, after all, Shreya Ghoshal’s magical rendition of the music “Ami Je Tomar” have been all a part of the combination, in addition to a cheerful lowbrow humor. My favourite bit was Rajpal Yadav’s Chhote Pandit and Sanjay Mishra’s Bade Pandit mistaking Manjulika for the latter’s spouse, Panditayeen, and asking her to make daal (lentils), solely to get slapped exhausting by the ghost.

Within the third installment, Bazmee retains the tropes of the primary two Hindi movies: a sprawling palatial mansion during which one room has been locked for years as a result of it’s believed {that a} specter resides there; a royal household hiding secrets and techniques; the mysterious dancing Manjulika. The favored title monitor returns, together with “Ami Je Tomar.” And, after all, there are the atmospherics — lengthy empty corridors, darkened skies, spooky sounds and sufficient CG crows to populate a sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. 

As soon as once more, Kartik Aaryan performs Ruhaan (a.okay.a. Rooh Baba), a fraudulent ghostbuster who makes cash by exploiting folks’s worry of the supernatural. He’s summoned to a citadel someplace in West Bengal the place, oddly, the locals appear to acknowledge him. And there begins a story that features punar janam (reincarnation); a poor raja determined to promote his palace; a number of characters talking in horrible Bengali accents; sibling rivalry; and the outsized shadow of Manjulika, not pining for her murdered lover.   

Among the many image’s highlights is the return of Vidya Balan, whose terrific efficiency as Avni, an archaeologist who believes that she is Manjulika, was key to the success of the 2007 film. Her dance, with raveled hair, frantic eyes and crimson vermillion unfold throughout her brow, was actually chilling. This time she performs Mallika, a restoration skilled who could or might not be Manjulika, and her efficiency is pitched to match the general hamminess of the movie.

In actual fact, Bazmee has not one however two trump playing cards right here. Madhuri Dixit additionally enters the franchise as Mandira, a possible purchaser for the mansion who’s clearly hiding one thing. At one level, Balan and Dixit have a face-off during which they’re able to strangle one another. At one other, they’ve a dance-off within the palace. The conflict of two of Hindi cinema’s best actors needs to be riveting.

However the screenplay, written by Aakash Kaushik, is so disjointed that it’s tough for characters to make an impression. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 doesn’t observe any inside logic, taking part in as a slapdash assortment of jokes, scares, exposition, songs and set items strung collectively within the hope that it’ll add as much as a coherent and compelling narrative. Mandira and Mallika commerce barbs or giggle collectively maniacally, seemingly at random, or it’s all revealed to be a dream. Dixit is billed as a particular look, which maybe explains why the half is so underwritten that I began specializing in her expansive assortment of saris and the scale of her jewellery — Mandira loves dressing up.

I additionally puzzled what the late Saroj Khan may need executed with a possibility just like the dance duel. Whereas Dixit and Balan are excellent within the Chinni Prakash-choreographed sequence, there’s little about it as memorable because the dance-off between Dixit and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Devdas.

Largely, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 lurches alongside. Two romantic songs are bunged in, maybe to present Triptii Dimri one thing to do; in any other case, she is generally tasked with trying beautiful. Vijay Raaz and Rajesh Sharma, each actors with stable comedian chops, are relegated to the ornate background — although I did smile when Raaz, because the poor raja, says he’s prepared to tackle the ghost within the palace however not dwell one other day in poverty.  

Aaryan is entrance and heart, and he does all of it: being charming and humorous, romancing and dancing, defeating the spooks. I like that the actor is prepared to poke holes within the development of hyper-masculine Bollywood heroes. Ruhaan scares simply and, similar to within the second movie, when issues get too daunting, he tries to run away. However the copious vitality he invests is sabotaged by the flat writing. The jokes simply aren’t humorous sufficient — although there’s one killer line about Shehzada, which was one in all Aaryan’s main flops — and the scares aren’t terrifying sufficient.

Maybe it’s time to present Manjulika a relaxation. In spite of everything, there’s solely to this point you possibly can take a vengeful ghost and two terrific songs.