Movie Review: Bhoot Police, Neither Bhoot nor comedy !

The film’s look, colors, decor, noise are all great, it’s just that its soul is ‘missing’. Very weak at the script level, ‘Bhoot Police’, is a film that disappoints you in every sequence.

Balancing is the main craft that cinema portrays, but Pawan Kripalani’s Bhoot Police is not able to find that balance between horror and comedy. It neither gives ingenuity of horror nor laughter of comedy. Written by five writers the story of the film ‘Bhoot Police’ is not new but probably incomplete.

Sons of a famous Tantrik-Baba of his time, Chironji, and Vibhuti are earning a living with the help of their inheritance in Pilibhit’s numbered vehicle. The story begins on the corner with Baba & Sons making money through the mischief and reaches where they have a face-to-face encounter with a spirit. Both the brothers are out to capture ghosts. The twist is just that one takes this job seriously and the other jokingly. The film tries to play the strings of nepotism as well as that of Go Kichkandi Go.

The two brothers look like Uncle Nephew’s duo but these are two heroes in the story. Following the tradition of Mumbaiya film, two actors are bound to have two actresses. Yami Gautam and Jacqueline Fernandez have been cast in for this. Both of them have inherited a tea plantation. Here too one has a heartfelt attachment to heritage and the other has to settle down in London. The story starts coming into pace only after coming to the tea garden. However, after early chaos, timepass sequences, and interpolation anecdotes set to increase the length of the film, the story only keeps the audience hooked for only the last half an hour.

Very weak at the script level, ‘Bhoot Police’, is a film that disappoints you in every sequence. On acting even the seniormost actor, Saif Ali Khan seems out of blue. It looks like he has given up efforts to do something better as an actor. His facial expressions look similar in case of shock, sensuality, and joke. Arjun Kapoor does not seem to be doing any special charisma in the film. However, his role implied him to be a little patient and serious. But, his dialogues seem artificial and are not convincing.

However, there is nothing special for Yami Gautam to do in the film. She has done better characters than this in her earlier films. Jacqueline Fernandez has even a lesser share in the story than Yami’s contribution. Nobody expected her to be good in Hindi, so the writer has to tell that her heart is in London. The scene formulated to create the character of Javed Jaffrey is the most extended as well as the fragile scene in the film. Rajpal Yadav also lagged to make an impact in this scene. The same is the case with Girish Kulkarni. The only shining star is a little appearance by Jamie Lever. She has put on much of the wonderful timing of her father’s (Johnny Lever) skills.

In Accordance to the films of Bhoot-Pret, the producer of the film Ramesh Taurani has spent a good amount of money on it and it’s visible too. Jayakrishna Gummadi with his cinematography and lighting combinations gives the film a nice and eye-catcher wrapping. He was victorious in bringing the shades of Rajasthan on the screen and developing the mysterious atmosphere of Himachal Pradesh.

What has helped the film the most in this is its sound design and background music. Anirban Sengupta and Clinton Cerejo deserve applause for this. But yes, being a film of Tips Music Company, the audience was expecting a couple of haunting songs in it but here we get disappointed again. The film’s look, colors, decor, noise are all great, it’s just that its soul is ‘missing’.

The movie is streaming on Disney + Hotstar.

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