Review of Bhootnath Returns

Now a days it is trend to make sequels just to en-cash the success of the first movie , no matter if the sequel really carry forwards the story of the prequel or not. In that sense "Bhootnath Returns" is a true sequel to the 2008 release "Bhootnath". The story starts from the same point from where the story was ended in the earlier movie. There are some reference of Banku and his father too but if you are thinking that this is going to be the same fun ride for kids then you are wrong this belongs to a totally different genre of movies. There are humors for kids too but those are very few as the main story revolves around a social message which tries to motivate the voters to vote to bring change in system and to build a better country. This film targets the voters, the 18+ audiences not the kids. but that does not mean that this is an adult film as a character at one point says in the film , it is for adults but not only for adults.

The film's opening few reels are the most interesting where Bhootnath (Amitabh Bachchan) goes to ghost office where every ghost is waiting for there turn for reincarnation. Then suddenly Bhootnath realizes that everyone is laughing at him as he had failed to scare a single kid (Banku) with his supernatural powers. To clear his image Bhootnath returns to the earth once again just to scare some kids. But his destiny brings him to Akhrot (Parth Bhalerao) a kid from the slum area of Dharavi, who can see him. Very soon Bhootnath becomes friendly with Akhrot and gets involved in his personal problems. And at one point while solving Akhrot's problems Bhootnath realizes that the problem is on a larger scale and he decides to fight general elections against the local corrupt politician Bhau (Boman Irani). After that the next half tells the story of how a ghost does his election campaigning and finally will he able to win the battle against Bhau or not?

The story written by Nitesh Tiwari and Piyush Gupta is very unusual and it requires the support of a good screenplay to keep the audiences interest alive. But unfortunately in some moments the screenplay looks repetitive. In both the half there are scenes where Bhootnath decides to punish the corrupt government employees but when the same thing happens for 5-6 times it looses the impact. Another problem with the screenplay is its too lengthy, it should have been reduced by at least 20 - 25 minutes. At one point in the movie, it features a whole 5 minute song depicting the poverty of lower middle class people of India which looks totally out of sync with the movie. Although the intention is noble but a movie should entertain also. Unfortunately not everyone knows how to give social messages with entertainment like Rajkumar Hirani. In the second half where a movement has been shown to create Voter ID card looks totally inspired by Munnabhai movies but it does not look as convincing like the Munnabhai movies.

But that does not mean that the movie does not have any interesting moments there are some entertaining scenes. Such as the scene in the opening sequence showing the ghost office, or the scene when Bhootnath along with Akhrot goes to consult with a lawyer (Sanjay Mishra) for the information regarding contesting for elections, or when Bhootnath goes to Anuraag Kashyap with the request to write a promotional song for their party, the sequence involving Bhootnath and Bhau in Bhau's toilet etc. 

Another high point of the film is its dialogues penned by Nitesh Tiwari and Piyush Gupta and additional dialogue writers Nikhil Mehrotra and Shreyas Jain. No matter the screenplay is going up or down the dialogues of the film are always funny and innovative. 

As a director Nitesh Tiwari has done a fair job. He has casted the actors very well and has extracted good performances from all. The detailing about the locations and characters is also visible. Only thing which goes missing by him is that at some points he failed to provide the entertainment value along with the social message as a result in some points the movie starts sounding and looking like a documentary made by Election Commission of India.

In acting department, there is no point to prove once again that what a great actor Amitabh Bachchan is. Among the others the kid Parth Bhalerao has done a superb job. His body language, dialogue delivery goes very well with his character and he has acted like a seasoned actor. Boman Irani is brilliant once again in negative role where he does more comedy than negativity. But one thing needs to be said that now Boman Irani is getting type casted in such comical villan roles. He should stop it before that people starts feeling bored of it. 
Among the others Sanjay Mishra as the lawyer , Usha Jadav as Akhrot's mother and Brijendra Kala as bhau's aide have given well support. 
Anuraag Kashyap has  impressed the audiences in his cameo, but the same can not be said about the two superstars Shahrukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor. Both the actors have done good but their guest appearances has not been used properly in the movie so it does not make much impact on the story.

Among the technical team it can be said that Wasiq Khan has done a wonderful job by recreating the Dharavi Slum area with his realistic sets. The camera work by Kamaljeet Negi is also good. The rest of the technical team is just okay

There is not much scope of music in the movie, and the songs are not much popular. Still the song "Party To Banti Hai" is a catchy number and works in favour of the movie. Among the other songs the "Dharavi Rap" has been written very well with very funny lines and it has been picturised well too so it looks good in the movie.

Overall "Bhootnath Returns" is film made with well intentions to make people aware of their rights using which people can bring change to their society. Of course it is a family film but  the running is too long which can bore the kids accompanying their parents. But still it is enjoyable for its funny dialogues and the brilliant performance by its two main lead. 
So in this voting season you can give your valuable vote to Bhootnath.