Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, and Madhuri Dixit deliver the goods. But the film needed much better writing.
There’s the potential for a solid silly-horror movie in the opening stretch of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, directed… sorry, assembled together by Anees Bazmee. Rooh Baba, the fake exorcist played by Kartik Aaryan, lands up in the outhouse of a palace, where the royal family now lives. Why? Because the palace is occupied by the ghost of Manjulika. This is the name of the character played by Tabu in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and by Vidya Balan in the first film. So the royal family lives in poverty, and a scene with a tube of toothpaste made me giggle. It’s a stupid sight gag that hits the spot when you are in the mood for a stupid sight gag. The film has a few of these, like the one where Kartik Aaryan (who’s quite good) pretends to be possessed by the spirit of a housewife. That is all we ask for, really, in this sort of movie.
But the bulk of this third instalment needed far better writing. After a brisk beginning, the first half faces the interval curse. There needs to be a high moment at that point, and so we get a lot of filler material till we reach that point. If you are going to keep all the fireworks for the second half, why not at least have some nice flirting between Kartik and Triptii Dimri? (She is wasted in a nothing role.) Why not write better gags for the trio played by Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar, and Rajpal Yadav? (But I must say that the latter gets a killer joke based on an image from Jawan.) Why not let the palace restoration expert, played by Vidya Balan, be more of a mystery figure? Or at the very least, why not chip off 15 minutes and get to the interval point faster?
But post-interval, things pick up a little. Vidya Balan and Madhuri Dixit face off as only divas can – and you wish they had more scenes together. And despite some loose stretches, the second half builds to a terrific twist that I didn’t see coming. It ties neatly into the veiled figure we see dancing at the film’s beginning. And it’s also a surprisingly empathetic stretch for this kind of film, and full marks to Kartik for embracing this idea without concerns about his image. All of which makes you feel how much better this twist would have been had it come at the end of a well-written movie. Stree 2 managed to mix horror and comedy and also stay true to the spirit of the first part. Despite a solid closing stretch, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is all over the place.
