In third outing, maze can still amaze

Horror.com is fast proving to be a money-minting genre. If the stupendous success of ‘Stree 2’ is fresh on your mind, let’s refresh your memory and remind you how, back in 2022, Anees Bazmee’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ worked magic at the box office. And as the third outing of the successful franchise hits the screens, the paramount question is, can Bazmee better his own record? Will he compete with himself by simply repeating and recycling his old gags? Or come up with a novel concept? And seriously, the master of comedies like ‘Ready’ and ‘Welcome’ does not disappoint.

Indeed, he keeps some of the madcap humour, his signature style, intact. Method in madness… here, he does work to a plan even though it comes to fruition in the second half. Expectedly, the spectre of Manjulika of the very first Priyadarshan film comes to life again. The masterstroke, of course, is to bring the original Manjulika, Vidya Balan, back at the table. And even better, he gives us not one but two possible Manjulikas. If you are not in touch with Bollywood grapevine, let you be told that apart from the talented Vidya returning to the franchise after 17 years, the ‘dhak dhak’ Madhuri Dixit, too, is a very significant part of the film. Even though her dramatic entry happens at interval point, she remains a high point.

Kartik Aaryan reprises his part of Rooh Baba of the prequel of 2022, in essence a conman who dupes people in the name of busting ghosts. Until this modern-day ‘ghost-buster’ meets a princess, Meera (Tripti Dimri), and is drawn into a world peopled with ghosts and chudails, with a history dating back to 200 years. A short prelude has already introduced us to the ghastly ghost, who else but Manjulika. Common sense tells us it has to be the restorer of the haveli, Mallika (Vidya Balan). Who better than Vidya herself to play Manjulika? And she does get more than one scene to remind us of the latent energy of ghost Manjulika and her own inherent talent. The mystery around her part is captured effortlessly by Vidya. Just when you think the film belongs to Vidya, a climatic last act points in another direction and we don’t mean Madhuri.

As if handling horror and comedy is not enough, Bazmee turns woke too. For a mainstream film and commercially successful hero to walk an unconventional path is indeed commendable. Even more laudable is that the strong messaging does not stand out like a sore thumb. Amid jokes and horror, Bazmee makes us feel for his principal characters and there is more than one emotive moment in a film otherwise meant to entertain. By and large, the film, especially in the second half, is engaging, if not an outright laugh riot.

Tipping the hat to other films has become passe. So, there is a reference to Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’, with a comic slant. The playoff between Madhuri and Vidya’s dance act is an obvious ode to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s epic dance duets. ‘Inception’, Kanye West, pop references are very many. Some find the funny bone, others miss the target. Our favourite is the dig on Kartik Aaryan’s super flop film ‘Shehzada’. ‘Main Shehzada ka naam bhi nahi sunna chahta…’ goes the wisecrack. But here, the Shehzada, literally Kartik’s double role, has him essaying prince Rajkumar Debendra Nath in a previous life. Kartik scores in more than comic timing.

As for Bazmee’s trademark humour, well, the pagalpanti doesn’t always work, especially the humour around his core assets Sanjay Mishra (Bada Pandit) and Rajpal Yadav (Chotta Pandit). If Vijay Raaz as Raaja Saheb finds his mojo much later in the film, the humour of Arun Kushwah remains flat out. All he does in the film is to fall flat out in fear each time the face of horror surfaces. Not funny at all. Nor are the bits where Bada Pandit, his wife played by Ashwini Kalsekar, and Chotta Pandit are subjected to inhumane treatment.

On the flip side, however, Bazmee’s humour is not cheap. Amidst laughter and jump-scares, there is a solid story by Aakash Kaushik too. Never mind the House of Dragon inspiration in the heir apparent plot, it has enough twists of its own. In the two-hour-forty minutes’ film, however, new songs are totally unnecessary, created only to boost the Kartik-Tripti hero-heroine romantic track. In fact, the reprised versions of previous hits ‘Ami Je Tomar’ and ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ are more than enough to sustain the mood.

Despite a few letdowns, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ lives up to its name and is an enticing maze that invites you to lose yourself in its suspension of disbelief.