Bhoothnath: Adorable but flawed

Cast – Aman Siddiqui, Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanshu Chatterjee

Director – Vivek Sharma

Producer – B R Chopra, Ravi Chopra

Rating - ***

It's an absolutely adorable film. Of course that's if you can overlook the corny dialogues, the pointless songs, the embarrassingly lame reason for the Bhoot to 'bhatko' in Nath Villa, and the rather foolish storyline. So yes, it has its flaws.

To not let the cat out of the bag the story can be summarised in one sentence. Banku (Aman Siddiqui) meets a ghost (Amitabh Bachchan), becomes friends with him and then does a 'pooja' to supposedly release his 'aatma'.

The graph of the film is like a Moby Dick drawing. It picks up sharply from the start, remains there for a few minutes before gradually plummeting downwards to its climax (or anticlimax). The first part of the film, where the ghost meets the child is cute, funny and ingeniously original. They're not 'buddies' at that time. When they become 'buddies', they're not interesting.

Eventually the angle of why the 'Bhoot' becomes a 'Bhoot' is pushed in and then begins the 'Rona Dhona' of a 70's drama climax. And then there is the 'when I go away I'll become a star' thing that, overnight, turns an eight-year-old kid into a wannabe Shah Rukh Khan standing on the terrace arms held open to the sky howling his head off before the film ends.

So the film is not flawless but credit has to be given to director Vivek Sharma, who still managed to make his first film with some style and elicit simply rocking performances from the film's leads, Amitabh Bachchan and Aman Siddiqui.

The seasoned Amitabh times his expressions to perfection and essays the character-change of a 'bhoot' with panache. But move over Mr. Bachchan. Here comes the new superstar, Aman! A bundle of delight, the little kid breathes life into even the limpest of scenes (that's of course until the script demands him to be a complete jerk). In fact, move over all the stars of today; they can't ever give the performance that the little tykes give in the song 'Hum to Hai Aandhi'.

Which brings us to the music. The movie has a host of bad playback songs with worse situational placement barring one song 'Banku bhaiyya' which is spot-on. The background music is subtly effective and has a lot to add to the mood of the film.

One thing that needs to be taken note of is the editing and the visuals that are slick and make the film a treat for the eyes.

The script is erratic being simply brilliant at places while simultaneously making you want to punch the scriptwriter's nose for the flabbergasting melodrama that ruthlessly massacres the end of the film. Thankfully, the last scene of the film saves it from being completely disappointing with a ray of hope hinting towards a sequel.

Let's hope Vivek Sharma learns from his mistakes the next time around.

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