November 23, 2007

Bhool Bhulaiyaa : Priya Darshan.


There is only one reason to bear through this insufferable mumbo-jumbo of black magic and para-psychology. And it's not Akshay Kumar. Sure, his comic timing remains supremely impeccable.

But we've seen him do this stuff many times over. And a sense of predictability has now crept into the way he laughs, the way he stops just a split second before exhaling the guffaw, or the way he lifts his bare feet before the camera and yawns.

Yes, in "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" he does it all and brings the house down.

But once he gets down to playing the serious psychologist doing an "Exorcist" on the possessed US-returned Vidya Balan, you wonder if there's a serious smirk secreted in the knee-jerk horror comedy.

Welcome to the house of horrors with the ghost of a wronged nautch girl cursing, abusing, singing and dancing in Bengali.

By the time the buck stops at Vidya, we've had enough of the Priyadarshan regular - from the reliable Mohan Joshi, to the insufferable Rasika Joshi, the unusually unfunny Rajpal Yadav and the 'loose-limbed' Paresh Rawal. Priyadarshan's patented parody fails to appeal - this time projected into a story that seems to endorse blind faith and black magic.

One wonders why Paresh is playing all these badly written characters these days?

"Bhool Bhulaiyaa" just makes you wish ghosts would haunt the people who thought up this piece of odd abomination.

As usual Priyadarshan spends a lot of time in detailing trivia, which finally adds up to much ado about absolutely nothing. The characters of the village are piled on for about 30 minutes of playing time. Another 30 minutes goes into introducing the wacky inmates of the ancestral house ... And that's when Akshay makes his entry.

The film is initially shot on the banks of the Ganga, but suddenly we see deserts and ethnic clothes.

But the one person who keeps you watching the film is Vidya Balan. As a woman possessed, she pours so much intense energy into her raging Kathak dance as the courtesan that you forgive Priyadarshan all his trespasses of vulgar excesses.

Vidya brings a great deal of charm, elegance and horrific angst to her part. As she swirls and twirls as the enraged dancer in a jealous king's court, she appears lovely in this distinctly un-lovely film.


The main High light of the film is the Music. The songs are just exhilarating. The title song is on the minds of every teenager. For the music review there is nothing to say other than "the best".


Director : Priya Darshan.

Cast : Akshay Kumar , Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal,Shiney Ahuja,Amisha Patel.

Producer : T-Series.

Music : Pritam.



No comments: