Bhoot Police: Neither Scary, Nor Funny
Yogendra is freelance writer
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By Yogendra
First publised on 2021-09-22 14:39:17
About the Author
Yogendra is freelance writer
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Bhoot Police is about two tantrik brothers and two tea estate-owning sisters whose business is going down the hill due to an atma, Kichkandi, that has taken over the estate and scaring the workers.
Vibhooti (Saif Ali Khan) and Chiraunji (Arjun Kapoor) run Ullat Baba & Sons. While Vibhooti is street smart and does not believe in ghosts, Chiraunji wants to take his father's name forward by following the rituals described in the book he left them.
The sisters Maya (Yami Gautam) and Kanu (Jacqueline Fernandes) have inherited the estate from their father. While Maya sees it as his legacy and wants to revive it, Kanu wants to sell it off and live the life of luxury in London. While Maya hires the brothers to rid the estate of the atma (because their father had done the same 27 years ago), Kanu, who does not believe in ghosts and tantriks, employs the manager to scare the workers and her sister.
But when Vibhooti sees a ghost, his bravado goes for a toss and when the atma possesses Maya, Kanu's disbelief vanishes. The rest of the story is about how the brothers reunite the atma with her daughter and rid the town of Kichkandi.
Perhaps the director (Pawan Kriplani) was enthused by the success of Bhool Bhulaiya and Stree but this movie is not in the same league. Although some one-liners are genuinely funny and some scenes are scary, the overall effect is childish. Although story does not matter in such films, it has to be genuinely scary and funny to achieve its end. Bhoot Police falls flat there.
Saif Ali Khan is good in parts as the tantrik who does not believe in bhoots and wants to make money by preying on the fear factor. He is genuinely funny in some scenes. Arjun Kapoor looks lost most of the times. Ditto for Yami Gautam. Jacqueline is good as the scheming heiress. Javed Jaffrey plays his part well. If one had to rate the film, it will get 2 out of 5 as it fails to do justice to the genre.
