Movie Review: Bhool Bhulaiya

Before I begin my review on Bhool Bhulaiya, let me ask one thing. What genius decided that using half naked, booty shaking girls would be a good idea for a video of a title song that includes the words “hare ram hare ram, hare krishna hare ram”? I can’t understand what idiot would think it was in good taste.

Ok, getting that out of the way, BB could have been a great movie. It was touted as a comedy/thriller. I understand the thriller part, but the comedy part must have gotten lost somewhere in the mix. I didn’t see anything laughworthy. And if I did, I had already seen it in all the trailors.

Our main character is Akshay, of course. But amazingly, he doesn’t appear until an hour into the movie. An hour. I was shocked. But as you know it, once he’s on the scene, he never leaves. Completely in your face for the next hour and a half. I think I preferred the first hour.

The first half consists of the story with Shiney, Vidya, and the family. Not getting into details, because they’re all boring. Shiney and Vidya are married, and the mansion Shiney owns is supposedly haunted. But they insist on living there, so the whole family moves in with them. Ehh?

I must admit. Shiney and Vidya are very cute together. Though I still don’t see Shiney’s appeal. To me, he’s not all that goodlooking, and in this movie, he seemed to be high on something, especially when he first made his entrance. Too many Red Bulls?

The songs are nothing to write home about. I can’t even remember any of them.

The problem with the movie is it moves too slow. You get bored watching, waiting for something to happen. There are too many moments where you see someone walking down a hall or towards a door or something, and it seems like it takes them half an hour to get there.

And yes, believe it or not, Amisha is actually in this film. Though you wouldn’t believe it while watching it. She pops in here and there, and is gone again before you know it. Poor girl got her song cut out, which was rather nice. Guess all that non-acting caught up to her. Anyone else could have done her role.

The role players were quite good. Paresh Rawal is always great, Rajpal seemed wasted in his role. The others were good as well.

The end isn’t satisfying either. Akki’s suddenly fallen in love with Amisha, and Vidya doesn’t question anything about what’s happened to her, she just simply accepts it. No reaction, no nothing.

Say all you want about Akki, but the real star of this show is the one and only Vidya Balan. Sure, she glides through the three-fourths of the movie, but that last quarter belongs solely to her. She’s simply amazing. Scary even. Major props to her for saving this bland, boring movie.

Rating:

Tags: akshay kumar, amisha patel, bhool bhulaiya, movie reviews, shiney ahuja, vidya balan