Last Updated:
Wamiqa Gabbi and Tabu get shortchanged and suffer due to lazily written roles. While Wamiqa has a decorative presence, Tabu remains criminally underutilised in Bhooth Bangla.
Akshay Kumar and Priyadarshan are collaborating on Bhooth Bangla 16 years after Khatta Meetha.
Bhooth BanglaU/A
2.5/5
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Asrani, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi, Mithila Palkar and Jisshu U SenguptaDirector: PriyadarshanMusic: Pritam
Bhooth Bangla Movie Review: Back in 2007, Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar joined hands to helm the first horror-comedy of our times, Bhool Bhulaiyaa. It made for a unique genre-blend. It was ambitious in scope and yet never lost sight of its emotional and rooted core. The film set the stage and ushered in a plethora of other horror-comedies that Hindi filmmakers continue to place their bets on.
So, years later, when Priyadarshan and Akshay decided to reunite, a horror-comedy like Bhooth Bangla perhaps felt like the safest bet. They, after all, are the flag-bearers of this genre. But it’s this ambition that becomes their biggest block. If Bhool Bhulaiyaa dared to raise questions around mental illness under the garb of comedy, Bhooth Bangla merely reinforces blind beliefs and mumbo jumbo by making Akshay lock horns with himself.
It does end up crashing under the weight of its own lofty aspirations. Originality isn’t its strongest suit either. Priyadarshan borrows moments and tropes from his previous films – call it inspiration or a carefully disguised tip of the hat. When Akshay repeatedly thrashes Rajpal Yadav, our in-house whipping boy, for secretly looking at women and for his incompetence, you’ll immediately be reminded of Khatta Meetha.
A metal pot falling over Paresh Rawal’s head in Bhooth Bangla is perhaps an ode to Chup Chup Ke. It fits right into the film’s ‘Priyadarshan brand of comedy’ quotient. But what comes across as a complete lack of ingenious display is the phantom in Bhooth Bangla. Named Vadhusur, he has a Batman-like silhouette but also looks like Akshay’s Pakshi Rajan from 2.0 and sometimes even a goblin.
Bhooth Bangla starts off at a railway station in Mangalpur. As they wait for their train to arrive, a group of boys gather around an old man who narrate to them the story of this mystical village where weddings never happen. Each time a wedding is supposed to take place, the bride disappears. As you sit down with this information, you’re introduced to the Acharyas residing in London.
Arjun helps his younger sister Meera marry a tree on the insistence of her in-laws before their son ties the knot with her. Yes, from Mangalpur to London, regressive superstitious beliefs is a way of life for everyone. But Arjun and Meera’s lives change when they learn that their grandfather has left his palace in Mangalpur as Meera’s share of inheritance.
Arjun decides to travel to this small village and meets the manager of the palace, Shantaram. When Shantaram learns that this palace is where Meera will soon get married in, he warns Arjun of the presence of a spirit there. But he turns a deaf ear and invites wedding planner Jaggu and his nephew Balli. Vadhusur, however, has other plans. At night, he scares people off with his shadow and possesses Balli.
What it leads to is utter chaos infused with some jump scares, a teleportation (for the audience) to a different era, a love story that doesn’t render anything substantial to the plot, a cameo that goes in vain and a long-drawn AI-heavy fight sequence with Vadhusur. So, at 2 hours 45 minutes, Bhooth Bangla rarely picks up pace and suffers due to an uneven and bumpy screenplay.
But yes, there are some moments that will stay back with you. There are some jokes that truly do land. Rohan Shankar’s one-liners and exchanges born out of confusion will crack you up. Case in point: the back and forth between Akshay’s Arjun and Asrani’s Shantaram when he sends the latter off to the lodge to pick up his bags.
The exchanges between Akshay, Rajpal and Paresh Rawal are so wildly absurd that they instantly take you back to the effortless comic rhythm of their earlier collaborations. But does this nostalgia enough to drive a modern-day comedy? Well, times have changed but the makers of Bhooth Bangla may not agree. This film thrives on unabashed slapstick and physical comedy – people falling, tripping, getting hit, mishearing and even losing their pants.
But an unoriginal, excruciatingly predictable and threadbare plot doesn’t really let this film rise. Its loud tonality and dialogue-heavy monologue-esque narrative may not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you don’t appreciate the description of a person as ‘lombdi jaisi shakal aur bachhde jaisa dil’, this isn’t for you. Oh, the magic of Neeraj Vora, who beautifully adapted, localised and contextualised Priyadarshan’s humour for the Hindi-speaking audience, can never be replicated!
The jump scares do work occasionally. Sticking to the current timeline would’ve probably helped the story remain a contained telling of horror and comedy. But the time travel in the second half is far too elaborate and distracting. The triangle between Akshay, Tabu and Jisshu U Sengupta is a rather weak arc – not enough compelling and not nearly aesthetic. It tries to resurrect old-school comedy but ends up feeling loud, exaggerated and backdated.
Akshay as Arjun is in his comfort zone here. Amid the chaos, he stands tall, bringing a lived-in ease to the madness. He elevates even the most laboured gags with his razor-sharp comic timing. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and his physical comedy is effortless and that largely lends the film a spark it tries to sustain.
If there’s genuine laughter to be found, much of the credit goes to him, Rajpal and Paresh. They’re a riot. And add to that, Asrani. He plays to the gallery, going all in on the theatrics. He hams with conviction, delivering an act that’s broad and loud, and while Bhooth Bangla may not be flawless, it definitely is a fantastic goodbye to Asrani, who holds it the fort together.
But it’s the women in the film, who get ghosted. Wamiqa Gabbi, who plays a double role, is reduced to a decorative presence. She gets shortchanged and so does Tabu as Yashodha. She remains under-utilised, criminally so. Mithila Palkar may appear to be the fulcrum here but she doesn’t get to do much as Bhooth Bangla is all about its men and their saviour complex.
Not all jokes and situations may land and evoke laughter, but there’s one aspect of casting that turns unintentionally comic. At 49, Jisshu plays a father-figure to Akshay, 58. There’s something inherently awkward about watching a visibly older Akshay calling him ‘papa’. This is a gag the film doesn’t intend but one that keeps repeating.
Bhooth Bangla doesn’t reinvent the horror-comedy wheel and often feels too noisy and garish for its own good. It has all the tropes a horror flick can boast of – strange shadows, creeping footsteps, terrifying howls, rustling leaves, creaking doors, you name it. And then there’s a palace which is a ghost’s favourite place to live. But thankfully, this time, we’ve a male ghost as opposed to a dancing female spirit.
In flashes, Bhooth Bangla taps into a certain nostalgic absurdity, particularly in its more playful, slapstick stretches. It also has a Bhool Bhulaiyaa hangover. There’s an Aami Je Tomar-esque song capturing classical love. The interval block of Bhooth Bangla will remind you of a brand of comedy Bollywood once thrived on, but if you overstay, you’ll realise that much like yourself, the film is also struggling to not zone off.
Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google.
April 17, 2026, 10:01 IST
