“Spiderman and Superman and the one with the big ape have eaten into our market; Indian cinema needs to compete,” Amitabh Bachchan has said. Will this rare kiddie film kick-start a new genre in Bollywood?
Middle-class couple, Aditya (Shah Rukh Khan) and Anjali (Juhi Chawla) Sharma move into Nath Villa, a Goan mansion with their brattish young son Banku (Aman Siddiqui). Aditya’s job as chief engineer on a cruise ship means that Anjali and Banku are left home alone in what the locals regard as a haunted house. Indeed, it is inhabited by the spirit of Kailash Nath (Amitabh Bachchan) whose attempts to scare the new inhabitants are in vain.
Banku befriends the bhoot (ghost) and names him Bhoothnath. Eventually, Bhootnath reveals himself to the Sharmas who decide that a post-death Hindu puja ceremony must be performed in order to set the spirit free. Will Bhootnath be able to phone home?
There is much to enjoy in this likeable slice of Bollywood whimsy which is a mishmash of Casper, E.T and Beetlejuice, suitably Indianised by trading on and perpetuating the entrenched Indian belief in the afterlife. Predictably, both ghost and spoilt kid learn to forgive and emerge as better souls. Bachchan and Khan (in an extended cameo), rise above the perfunctory plot to instil and sustain interest. Similarly, Chawla and Siddiqui make a fun pair. The obligatory but unremarkable songs are bearable as Bachchan and Chawla actually sing.
However, first-time director Vivek Sharma’s script and direction have too many rough edges and the film is frustratingly disjointed in places. Sharma appears undecided in the first hour as to whether he is making an eerie thriller or a comic Casper. Post-interval, the tonal inconsistency settles firmly into E.T mode as ghost and kid bond by singing a hip-hop song. A lengthy flashback, which explains Bhoothnath’s life story, is saccharine and unoriginal.
With some witty special effects and the seasoned performances of the A-list stars, Bhoothnath works best when it focuses on the spooky antics between ghost and humans. Ultimately, the film’s refusal to question the supernatural and reduce the unknowable to the easily lovable makes this unchallenging, light-spirited entertainment.
