Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Cast/Actors: Kartik Aaryan as Ruhan Randhawa / Rooh Baba, Vidya Balan as Mallika, Madhuri Dixit as Mandira, Triptii Dimri as Meera, Vijay Raaz as Maharaj – The King of Rakht Ghat, Rajpal Yadav as Natwar/Chhota Pandit, Sanjay Mishra as Jagannath Shastri/Bade Pandit, Ashwini Kalsekar as Panditayeen/Bade Pandit’s wife, Rajesh Sharma as Meera’s Mama, Manish Wadhwa as Rajpurohit & Others
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Movie Director: Anees Bazmee
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Release Date: November 01, 2024
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Available On: Theatrical Release and (likely to be released on Netflix OTT Platform)
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Released/Available In Languages: Hindi
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Runtime: 2h 38m
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Critic Review:
Sometimes, a film takes off with an unpredictably thoughtful ending. The beginning and the middle get written to lead up to it.
Director Anees Bazmee and writer Aakash Kaushik seem to have had an unexpected climax in mind before they sat down to take the audience through a maze, keeping alive the question, “Who’s Manjulika?”
With the return of Vidya Balan (Mallika) to the franchise, the entry of Madhuri Dixit (Mandira) and the tussle between them, the guessing game goes on.
When fake exorcist Ruhan Randhawa who styles himself as Rooh Baba (Kartik Aaryan) lands up in the haunted haveli where Manjulika has been locked up, an ancient story is narrated. Manjulika, daughter of the Maharaja of Raktghat, was the gifted one, unerringly accurate in hitting her target. But when her father had named her young half-brother as his heir, her intense jealousy had awakened to kill her sibling. She was burnt at the stake as a punishment but Manjulika’s thirst for revenge had brought her back to haunt the palace. She had to be kept locked up for two centuries.
Rooh Baba has been enticed by Meera (Triptii Dimri) and her mama (Rajesh Sharma) who’s the brother-in-law of the present-day Maharaja of Raktghat (Vijay Raaz), to open locked doors and free the palace of the curse of Manjulika.
With the promos spotlighting the dance-off between Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan, the one-‘upwomanship’ is the centrepiece of the new edition. Who’s the real Manjulika?
The viewer is unprepared for it when Anees Bazmee unveils Manjulika which is precisely how a mystery should climax. He had done it in BB2 too, when the good Tabu had turned out to be the one locked up while the bad one roamed outside pretending to be virtuous.
However, before making the startling revelation, the route taken this time is not as entertaining as it should have been. Writer Anees Bazmee who’s always had a flair for comedy, seems to have taken a backseat as the elaborate but elongated process slumps for a long time before it awakens to a politically correct climax. The sparkling wit usually associated with Bazmee’s writing is largely absent. An impoverished Maharaja who throws a shahi dawat (royal feast) by serving biryani made of dead crows and ulta situations like a cow being fed milk instead of giving milk or the Maharaja pushing his bodyguard around in a wheelchair instead of the other way around, are feeble attempts at comedy. The effort to amuse is so laboured that it cannot be sustained. Vijay Raaz talking with an exaggerated ‘O’ in his words to establish that we’re in Bengal, is hardly a tickle. And the entertainment comes in trickles. Like Rooh Baba shuddering, “Don’t mention the word shehzada”. Those who remember how badly Kartik’s film Shehzada had flopped last year would find it funny. A well-inserted ACP Rathore also elicits a smile.
Usually, large leaps of logic are overlooked in a horror-comedy since it’s the entertainment that keeps you going. But with Bazmee focusing more on ‘who’s Manjulika?’ he tends to lose grip on the all-important element of rib-tickling comedy where the bar has been set high this year by Amar Kaushik’s Stree 2. The Sanjay Mishra-Ashwini Kalsekar-Rajpal Yadav trio doesn’t get it as right as it did the last time around.
Kartik Aaryan throws a surprise as a performer, he is worth a watch. Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan are reassuringly efficient as rivals who must outperform each other. Triptii Dimri has no part to play except to be around for the mandatory romance with the hero.
As for the music, it is still the old ‘Ami je tomar’ and the familiar strains of the ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ title track that continue to haunt with no new tune to captivate the ear.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa translates into both a ‘maze’ and to ‘meander’. The screenplay tends to meander before it finally a-mazes.
The end matters. So does the means. Anees gets the former right but loses his way with the latter.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Movie – Watch Or Not?: Watch it for Kartik Aaryan, Madhuri Dixit, Vidya Balan and for the inclusive twist at the end.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Movie Review Score Rating: 3 out of 5 (i.e. 3/5)
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Movie Official Trailer:
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