‘The Bhootnii’ movie review: Sanjay Dutt’s ghosthunter act cannot enliven horror comedy -OxBig News Network

A still in ‘The Bhootnii’

Mild spoilers…

What’s the deal with Sunny Singh? The actor, in his fairly long career, has been a curious nonentity in Hindi cinema, turning up in any and every film that will have him. He was a mildly amusing presence in the Luv Ranjan Cinematic Universe. But his recent output has been especially bleak. It does not seem to matter if he is playing Lakshmana in Adipurush or a boozy beefcake in Wild Wild Punjab. Whatever the assignment, Singh gives the impression of an amiable jock who’s wandered in from the nearest Hakim’s Aalim. 

In The Bhootnii, a new horror-comedy, Singh plays Santanu, a student of ‘St. Vincent’s College of Arts and Culture’, a true cradle of learning. Its students occupy themselves with the pursuit of sachi mohabbat (true love), which is understandably hard to come by. Each year, on Valentine’s Day, they hang trinkets and pictures on a wishing tree called the ‘Virgin Tree’. It is worshipped as a bringer of romantic good luck, but it also bodes ill: a tree nymph, played by Mouni Roy, haunts the campus, and has apparently precipitated a string of recent suicides. 

To rid the college of its woes, a ‘paraphysicist’, played by Sanjay Dutt, is called in. Fans of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. will grin at the prospect of Dutt steamrolling through a large and busy campus, riding roughshod over assorted chumps and prudes. This, sadly and unforgivably, never comes to pass. Dutt’s character here, Baba, is a cartoon creation, an ‘elite’ ghosthunter who zips around in an armoured truck, packing an array of glowing gizmos that look stolen from a toy shop. 

The trick with horror-comedies is striking a certain tonal equilibrium. Not consistency, that is, but balance. The Stree films, for instance, do this well, plying the audience with silly gags and pop-culture references while dialling up the scares. The Bhootnii winks at Stree—the wellspring of modern Hindi horror comedies—yet it does not heed its advice. Writer-director Sidhaant Sachdev mashes all his ideas together into one, undifferentiated pulp. There are sequences in this film that wouldn’t scare a six year old. The whole production seems dunked in trippy confetti, like a wedding party that suddenly turned into a rave. 

I have never seen the Naagin television serial featuring Mouni Roy, although, on account of this film and Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva, I am more than convinced she comes through beautifully. Sanjay Dutt’s costumes are a nice throwback to Ssshhhh…Koi Hai, which I have definitely seen. But The Bhootnii does not merit comparison with the heyday of satellite TV in India. It belongs in a league of its own. This is not just bad filmmaking—it’s anti-filmmaking. 

The Bhootnii is currently running in theatres