Review: Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, written by Aakash Kaushik and Farhad Samji is said to be a ‘stand-alone film’ but you can’t help but compare it to its first part. While there's nothing common in this sequel and the first part -except Manjulika, the background score (which plays almost throughout the film), and the song Ami Je Tomar, you still find yourself comparing.
The plot follows the story of a wanderlust traveller, Ruhaan Randhawa (Kartik Aryan), who claims to be a fraud psychic with a ‘sixth sense’, that helps him talks to ghosts and spirits. (No, this is nothing compared to the Bruce Willis starrer). He runs into Reet Thakur (Kiara Advani) at a pitstop in Manali and they go to a dance festival together. The bus they were about to board dives into a gorge and crashes, and everybody at Reet’s house thinks shes’s dead. Ruhaan and Reet take advantage of this and visit Reet's hometown in Rajasthan, where they uncover an old secret – the secret of Manjulika, that results in panic.
Reet Thakur (Kiara Advani) meets Ruhaan Randhawa (Kartik Aryan) at a pit sop in Manali and then fakes her death in this bizarre horror comedy.
Aryan has tried hard to nail Akshay Kumar’s grin and demeanour, but he just can’t impersonate him. Interestingly, Saif Ali Khan and Arjun Kapoor played a similar role – of fraud babas talking to spirits in the 2021 starrer Bhoot Police.
However, in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, the horror starts only in the second half, wherein Tabu steals the show. The veteran actress acts as the backbone of this bizarre horror comedy. The first half wastes its time indulging in song sequences, (wherein with completely no logic, bikini clad women dance in the Manali snow), introducing us to the Thakur household (which is more complicated than the Kardarshian family tree!), and their quirks. By the end, I wasn’t sure about who was possessed, who was sane, who was pretending and who was happy or sad.
Bazmi, as always, tries his best to tickle the audience. Not all of it is in vain though. A handful of laughs come from the only character inherited from the original - Rajpal Yadav’s Chotte Pandit. Sanjay Mishra, who can mumble his way out of trouble at will, also acts as the saving comedic grace of this film. The rest try hard – writers Kaushik and Samji bring in topical references like Donald Trump - but the punchline just doesn’t seem to land.
The very pretty Kiara Advani, who has faked her death from her family has little to do except hide. She stands behind the windows, lurches from the top of the staircase or watches from a balcony, clearly in plain view of everyone who cares to look up. Her talent shines only in the scene when she becomes Manjulika – probably the only strong scene that she has in the entire film.
By the end, my fond memories of Bhool Bhulaiyaa were all but vanquished. However, if you really want to watch the film – watch it only for Tabu, who is magnificent in every frame that she steps into.
