Rating: 3/5
The horror-comedy film ‘Bhoot Police’ premiered on Disney+ Hotstar recently. The film is directed by Pavan Kirpalani and produced by Ramesh Taurani and Akshai Puri.
Story
‘Bhoot Police’ follows the adventures of two brothers, Vibhooti ‘Vibhu’ Vaidya (Saif Ali Khan) and Chiraunji ‘Chiku’ Vaidya (Arjun Kapoor), as they con people out of their money as paranormal experts.
While Chiku is a firm believer in the supernatural his older brother Vibhu denies the existence of all things extraordinary and is purely in it for financial gain. He’s a real cynic who wants his brother to accept the reality that ghosts do not exist.
The brothers are enlisted for their services by Maya Kulbhushan (Yami Gautam) to safeguard her father’s tea estate from a creature called a ‘Kichkandi’. At the estate, they also meet Maya’s sister Kanika (Jacqueline Fernandez), who has returned from London and seems like a fish out of water.
The rest of the film focuses on the dynamic between the brothers while they tackle this particular issue. They’re constantly at odds with one another on the reality of the problem, which leads to a fallout between the two. With Chiku studying his father’s notes on the various supernatural entities out there, he’s adamant to prove that his father was a real expert. However, Vibhu sticks to his guns claiming that their father was a simple conman who made his living tricking people.
The sisters’ story mirrors that of the brothers with Maya determined to hang on to her father’s legacy while Kanika just wants to sell the estate and move to another country in the hopes of living a more luxurious lifestyle.
Years earlier, when the tea estate is being terrorised, she seeks out the Vaidya brothers as it was their father who had successfully thwarted this demon. She hopes they can do a similar job to ease the fears of the local workers and keep the estate alive.
After facing some real terrors, Vibhu and Chiku develop a better understanding of their true talents and also begin the appreciate the importance of each other better.
Performances
There are a number good performances in this film, with Saif Ali Khan doing really well in the role of the sleazy older brother who’s always up for making a quick buck. He’s supported ably by Arjun Kapoor, Yami Gautam and Jacqueline Fernandez, who play their parts admirably.
Javed Jaffery and Rajpal Yadav manage to grab your attention with their over-the-top characters despite the limited screen time they are tasked with in the film.
With a much smaller core cast, each member gets a moment in the limelight and they tend not to disappoint.
Positives
This is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously allowing the audience to just enjoy it without having to get too critical.
The performance of Saif Ali Khan in the lead comedic role is an absolute delight. He embraces these sorts of roles with total commitment and it shows.
The dialogues by Sumit Batheja are quite humorous and are given a life of their own thanks to the delivery by the talented actors in the film.
Negatives
While the simple nature of the film makes for a casual viewing experience, certain sequences of the film are way over the top and cringe-inducing.
The film doesn’t do much justice to the ‘horror’ tag with more emphasis given to the comedy side of the genre. While there are a few jump scares and the effects are definitely functional, they don’t evoke the true fear one would expect from a horror film
Worth It?
‘Bhoot Police’ is an overall pleasant experience for viewers with a brief runtime and enjoyable humour.
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