‘Bhoothnath Returns’ should have been titled as ‘General Election Returns’. After all, elections, choosing the right candidate and exercising a voter’s franchise is what this movie turns out to be.
The plot picks up from where the prequel Bhoothnath (2008) left it. Bhoothnath(Amitabh Bachchan) has attained liberation from the mortal world but inside the Bhooth-World, he faces an identity crisis. Fellow ghosts mock at him and, going further, ridicule him for bringing disrepute to the ghost-community for failing to perform what Ghosts are best known for: scaring people.
With a long waiting queue for a re-birth and anticipating troublesome times in the Bhooth-World, Bhoothnath decides to go back to the Earth and redeem his lost dignity. He is out to scare more than handful children.
After a few hilarious but unsuccessful attempts at scaring children, Bhoothnath befriends a poor, early teenager Akhrot (Parth Bhalerao), who is able to see him and promises to help him accomplish what he has set out for. In return, Bhoothnath agrees to help him in alleviating his ongoing financial worries.
Soon after this promising opening, the plot digresses and goes on to take on the larger, national agenda of the fight against corruption. The battle culminates into an election contest. Bhoothnath takes on Bhau (Boman Irani), an unscrupulous builder-cum-politician in a society that is increasingly grappling with the cancerous proliferation of corruption.
The movie treads on a familiar path – publicity campaign, candidates’ interviews, goons bullying the poor, money and liquor distribution, bashing some and attempting to kill a few — and this concludes with a pressing dictation: the importance of Voter-ID Card, the perpetual problem of low voter turn-out in the elections and how the two relate to the existing rot in the society. The panacea to this plague, as per Bhoothnath, is when each and every citizen exercises his voting right, and if needs be press NOTA (none of the above), but nonetheless makes sure that he/she cast their vote. (By the way, the director conveniently forgets to show NOTA of the Electronic Voting Machine.)
Disheartening is not the fact that ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ sets-out to be a potential entertainer beginning with the premise of scaring children but ends up becoming an Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Advertisement (well-meaning it may be) video for the voters. What disappoints is that it is neither a horror nor a suspense thriller. It’s not children-centric either. With children around, one expects that there will be a few fine touching moments. The movie never touches convincingly on any of those aspects.
A few scenes are innovative in their presentation but then they never seem to induce a sense of urgency or alarm in you. A surprise element is missing and a drifting script adds to the undoing.
Performance wise, there is little depth in the character of Bhoothnath. His character never seems to develop and fails to strike a chord with the audience. That leaves little variety for Amitabh Bachchan. Boman Irani’s expressions are repetitions of his earlier flicks and the darker side of his character never scares you. In ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, his humor was sinister – He would tickle you and at the same time you would dread him for his impending ruthlessness. In this one, that level remains distant.
The find of the movie is Parth Bhalerao. He portrays a lively, jovial Akhrot (as he explains: a walnut, hard from outside but soft inside) with a credible innocence complimented with a tender tinge of vulnerability. You feel for him. When he takes a trip on Bhoothnath, you take his side and when he confesses his well-kept secrets, your heart goes out to him. That’s the level of connect and genuineness the young Parth brings into the character of young Akhrot.
A movie requires to have at least one technical aspect to be outstanding to give you return for your money. ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ doesn’t succeed anywhere: be it the camerawork, or a concerted script, or a tight control on the direction or the songs, the background score and even the dialogues. Nothing goes well for it.
At one juncture Akhrot tells Bhoothnath that Bhau is delivering an impressive speech, and that Bhoothnath must give a fitting response to Bhau. He feels that Bhau may establish a strong connect with his audience as he fears, “Dialogue Hit tou Picture Hit.”
On another occasion, there is an emphasis on the importance of ‘Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment’ in life but as it turns out to be, the concept enunciated in these dialogues were by and large not applied to the movie as such.
So, notwithstanding its potential to eventually become the official advertisement of ECI, here’s my final recommendation: Go for it at your own risk. It is fun, but a clichéd one nonetheless.
I go with a rating of 2 out of 5.
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