Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again are both paisa-vasool entertainers

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Expectations rise sky-high during the festive season, especially when there are sequels. And these can go bust if they do not match up. But when they do, the people can take them to the skies. This Diwali has proved a bumper feast with two new films that are both the third movies in the franchise. In both cases, the second films were successful yet considered inferior, but the third movies were expected to correct the disappointments, and they do so!

I had thought of writing an integrated review of both these winners but dismissed the idea because the two films are as different as chalk from cheese, or, let us say, as varied yet eminently tasty as, say, a South Indian and a Gujarati thali.

But for all that, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again do have a few things in common. First and foremost is the fact that they are helmed by two of the most intelligent (not intellectual! That’s poles opposite!!) filmmakers in Hindi cinema—Anees Bazmee and Rohit Shetty—who know exactly how to touch the pulse of the audience, especially during festive season, which is the time for viewing with friends and families.

Both know how to up the ante in keeping content earthy and very ‘Hindi cinema’ and yet making fare that is not outdated. I need not add that they, like truly accomplished souls, are humble human beings, who make sure of what they will be going to make before they launch a film.

Yes, both Anees and Rohit have given some commercial failures, but their successes widely outnumber their flops. Also, they bravely and humbly accept their mistakes and learn from them, unlike the diverse majority of hyped names who arrogantly blame everything from audiences to time of release to changing trends to concurrent events to co-releases for their debacles!

A vital common-point here are the ever-rising social media “critics”, all of whom pre-judge a big movie, cry ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ because like several weaker films they anticipate fudged figures each time. Therefore, they are essentially overtly concerned about collections rather than the film itself and tend to run down specific stars and filmmakers for definite, irrelevant or random reasons, while labeling themselves as self-styled saviors of Hindi cinema and its economics!

Also, the third issue here is of “contemporary” thinkers who run down the classic Hindi entertainer that has kept our cinema popular globally (pre-OTT!) with its individualistic stamp over decades. Such movies are not “intellectual”, see? They are illogical and silly and brainless, catering to the “inferior” audiences. They do not accept that these ticket-buyers range from tycoons to thelawalas!

And so, the audience that is itching to have a great time during festive seasons (or otherwise) are labeled as moronic imbeciles who cannot appreciate the generally bland or even rancid cinema of the ‘elitist’ brigade and everyone who represents “evolved” Hindi cinema. Never mind if we Hindi movie lovers struggle to even remember these pseudo-intellectual’s films’ names or filmographies after six months go by!!

And yes, my ratings are primarily based on how successful is a movie in its mission (as in pleasing its target audience), and then how much I like it and assess it.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is a maze of horror and fun

Uproarious humor and a substantial dose of spooky horror embellish this sequel-in-‘spirit’ (pun intended!). Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’s hero, Rooh Baba a.k.a. Ruhaan (Kartik Aaryan), a fraud ‘psychic’ is back as the center-point of this film. A girl named Meera (Triptii Dimri) and her mamaji (Rajesh Sharma) know what he is up to and employ him (for a future remuneration of one crore rupees!) to officially debunk a myth at a palace. Seems there is an evil spirit, Manjulika, who has been imprisoned in a locked room in it, and now even the royal family is scared to reside in the rajmahal!

Rooh Baba’s job will be to open the locked room on the auspicious occasion of Durgashthami (the palace is located in Bengal and the season is Navaratri), prove to everyone in the village that there is no ghost and thus ensure that the palace is sold for a fortune. And Meera happens to be the princess.

The local priest (Manish Wadhwa) narrates a back-story to Ruhaan of how a prince (Kartik Aaryan again) was killed by his sister Manjulika (Vidya Balan) 200 yeara ago, and their angry father sentenced Manjulika to be burnt alive, causing her to return as the evil spirit, kill the king and be ultimately imprisoned as a spirit in a room in the palace.

But things go wrong when Rooh Baba opens the door (due to a chain of circumstances) earlier than the auspicious date. And then it is revealed that Manjulika has a sister, Anjulika (Madhuri Dixit Nene). From here onwards, mayhem and mirth merge into a melee of madcap manoranjan!

Let us now remember that while the horror comedy is the ruling genre of 2024 (Munjya, Kakuda on web, Stree 2), the OG horror comedy was Bhool Bhulaiyaa in 2007, and so this film also aims for a whacky, crazy blend of chills and chuckles. There is a definite plotline and the journey moves from a decided point A to a predetermined point B, but is replete with liberal standout Bazmee witticisms like a king looking after his bodyguard (!), the Rolls-Royce element, the spoofy use of a moving Anu Malik song, a hilarious reference to one of Kartik’s flops, and more. Anees keeps his situational humor crisply edited, and so the film editor does not have much to do in the comic sequences. The script (Aakash Kaushik) is tight, and we know that Anees is a writer of note as well (Aankhen in 1993 was his zippy high-point) and has a hand there as well.

Technically upscale, the film’s music is a weak point, depending entirely on Pritam’s classic from 2007, Ami je tomar, yet again. Pritam had handled the music of the 2022 film as well, but over here, Amaal Mallik does a fab job of the re-creation, with a much-more-seasoned and expressive Shreya Ghoshal doing the vocal honors for both Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Vidya Balan in Ami je tomar 3.0, their face-off dance that not only takes us back to the cult classic number but also creates a kind of déjà vu of Madhuri’s Dola re dola from Devdas. The camerawork (Manu Anand) and sets (late Rajat Poddar) are awesome here—and overall.

Madhuri and Vidya also bring in their veteran expertise to their roles, Vidya scoring with her charming smiles and Madhuri with her menacing frowns. I adored the situation where Madhuri laughs hysterically upon being informed of the death of a potential customer for the property!

The film rests on Kartik Aaryan’s youthful effervescence to carry it through, and he is eminently in command. Every emotion—fear, boldness, anger, bewilderment, romantic fervor, shrewdness—is delivered with expertise. Triptii Dimri looks fetching (her cleavage and change of dress are omnipresent elements that are at odds with her family ‘poverty’ in the film!) and delivers as an actor. Vijay Raaz is a scream in underplayed role of a king, and Arun Kushwah as Tillu and Kanchan Mullick as the bodyguard score high. But I found Ashwini Kalsekar, Sanjay Mishra and especially Rajpal Yadav too loud and over-the-top even for their clichéd characters.

Rating: ****

Singham Again is all about a definite goal in storytelling—to please audiences

Rohit Shetty has perfected the art of storytelling with a definite goal: for one, he deftly blends the Ramayan here with his Cop Universe, even ‘enrolling’ (!) new members for the latter. For another, he therefore has to create an ensemble cast, and do justice to each, including his lead character Singham among them. Each one must get his quota of action and one-liners. After all, it has been eons since a true-blue multi-star film was seen, and for GenY and GenZ this must be truly novel.

The narrative is also blended with the actual Ramayan tableau being performed on stage in Mumbai with the actual happenings that span from Kashmir and South India to Sri Lanka, where Ravan ruled. Sita-Haran, or the abduction of this movie’s Ram (Ajay Devgn as Singham)’s wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan from Singham Again) by the counterpart of Ravan, Danger Lanka (Arjun Kapoor) is the crux of the main story.

Posted in Kashmir, Singham captures dreaded terrorist Omar Hafiz (Jackie Shroff), who had escaped in Sooryavanshi. Omar warns Singham not to take him lightly and warns him that ‘Danger’ is no ordinary man-on-a-mission. And so, after Avni is deviously kidnapped, the Singham team, comprising Simmba (Ranveer Singh) and Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar) come together with two other new ace cops, Shakti Shetty a.k.a. Lady Singham (Deepika Padukone) and Kalaripayattu expert, Satya (Tiger Shroff), both devotees of Singham, to rescue her and bring her back from Sri Lanka after destroying Ravan.

Full-bodied action, spectacular chases and vehicle upturns (all a Rohit hallmark) and playing to the gallery dialogues are the chief assets of the film. As in all Rohit films except Golmaal Returns and Dilwale, the music is a letdown, but we have stopped expecting that element from this box-office whizkid.

And make no mistake—Rohit is a whizkid only because he respects his audience totally and caters to them, not to a niche section of the audience and critics. Ajay Devgn is intense as always when he is Singham, but there are moments of humor too, especially when he interacts with his son. Kareena Kapoor Khan is beauty and allure personified.

This time, a lion’s share of the humor is given to Simmba with his Marathi-heavy lines that created an uproar in the plex where I watched it, and as per a first-person report, faced similar applause even in an upmarket multiplex where tickets cost four figures!!

Now if this does not show that Hindi film audiences are universal irrespective of their socioeconomic strata, what does?

Arjun Kapoor’s grimacing smile is his only weapon to exude menace along with his hairstyle, and he succeeds to a decent extent. Akshay Kumar as the taciturn Sooryavanshi scores. Tiger Shroff and Deepika Padukone do what is expected. So do the rest of the supporting cast.

Awesome indoor and outdoor camerawork (Girish Kant with Raza Hussain Mehta), crisp editing (Bunty Nagi) and fantabulous action (Grant Hulley, Sunil Rodrigues and Rohit Shetty himself) with solid VFX add to the assets. And this mega-entertainer ends (the way Simmba ended with a hint of Sooryavanshi) with a record-smashing concept of a film named Chulbul Singham on the way—that is, of Salman Khan from Dabangg franchise joining Singham and the Rohit Shetty Cop Universe!

Rating: ****

T-Series Films’ & Cine1 Studios’ Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3  Produced by: Bhushan Kumar, Krishen Kumar & Murad Khetani  Directed by: Anees Bazmee  Written by: Aakash Kaushik  Music: Pritam, Tanishk Bagchi, Sachet–Parampara, Amaal Mallik, Aditya Rikhari & Lijo George–DJ Chetas  Starring: Vidya Balan, Kartik Aaryan, Triptii Dimri, Vijay Raaz, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sanjay Mishra, Rajpal Yadav, Rajesh Sharma, Arun Kushwah, Shataf Figar, Manish Wadhwa,Saurabh Dubey, Denzil Smith & others 

Devgn Films’, Reliance Entertainment’s, Jio Studios’, Rohit Shetty Picturez’ & Cinergy’s Singham Again  Produced by: Ajay Devgn, Rohit Shetty & Jyoti Deshpande  Directed by: Rohit Shetty  Written by: Yunus Sajawal, Abhijeet Khuman, Kshitij Patwardhan, Sandeep Saket, Anusha Nandakumar, Rohit Shetty, Milap Zaveri, Shantanu Srivastava & Vidhi Ghodgaonkar  Music:Ravi Basrur & Thaman S.  Starring: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone,  Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Tiger Shroff, Jackie Shroff, Dayanand Shetty, Shweta Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, Viren Vazirani, Sara Arfeen Khan Sp. App.: Salman Khan