There is an apt dialogue in this movie when Kartik Aaryan tells the ghost, “You are full of clichés!” That’s exactly the problem with this movie. It’s full of clichés — the same old tricks to create the scary moments, a big bunch of fools trying hard to make the audience laugh and the same style of film-making that doesn’t have anything extraordinary to offer.
‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ was a class act; ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ doesn’t come close to the original. Sadly, it has got no connection to the first part, be it the story or the characters. The only thing similar is the name of the CHUDAIL that is Manjulika.
Tabu is good, as she always is, but her performance can’t be compared to the magic that Vidya Balan had created. The same way, even though Kartik Aaryan is pleasant to watch, he is far from the charm of Akshay Kumar. Kiara Advani does what most of the heroines do in Hindi films. The rest of the cast try hard, but none of them is impressive enough.
The music is a big let-down. They sing songs that only they can remember. However, the male version of the original ‘Mere Dholna…’ sounds good. It is nicely sung by Arijeet Singh, and appropriately performed on screen by Kartik. The other aspects of the movie — cinematography, background score, costumes, makeup — are just okay-types. VFX is good to some extent. Removal of Tabu’s fine lines are fairly noticeable. The direction is typically Bazmeed; the magic touch of Priyadarshan is greatly missed. A few dialogues — such as ‘iss se achha to ye hota ke main Bigg Boss me chala jata, kam se kam waha be-ijjat hone ke paise to milte’ and ‘Donald Trump ke tweet aur Chudail ke Pair humesha ulte hote hai’ — here and there tickle your bone, other than that the writing is flat. Actually, it is the writing department that disappoints the most. Some of you might find the twist in the tale in the climax a great one, but let me clarify that that particular one is not innovative. It has been used in the same manner in the Bipasha Basu starrer (forgatable) horror flick ‘Alone’ which was released in 2015. That one was the remake of a Thai film of the same name released in 2007. And that Thai movie itself was based on a TV series named ‘Tales from the Crypt’.
This horror-comedy falls short of the original in every department. The essence of the original has been unpardonably murdered in this part. It had the freshness of the psychologival element, this one has that regular seen - there - been - there type spooky stuff, and that too is badly executed. No matter how much this not-so sequel will earn at the box office, this one is for sure not a memorable installment. You won’t miss anything if you give it a miss. Instead, watch the original, once again. 2.5 stars out of 5.
