Bhoot Police Review: Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Yami Gautam & Jacqueline Fernandes nail it with this rib tickling horror comedy

Bhoot Police Movie Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yami Gautam, Javed Jaffrey, Rajpal Yadav, Amit Mistry, Jamie Lever, Yashaswini Dayama, Girish Kulkarni.

Bhoot Police Movie Director: Pavan Kirpalani

Bollywood Bubble Rating: 4 stars

First thought: Horror. Comedy. Saif Ali Khan and Arjun Kapoor. This combination is a total banger.

Bollywood has always been a little lousy when it comes to horror comedies which is possibly why it remained one of the lesser-explored genres for a long time. Bohol Bhulaiyaa opened a gateway for the genre in Hindi cinema but it was only after Stree that it picked momentum. However, not everyone gets it right. Surprisingly though, Bhoot Police was refreshingly witty, using viral trends as inside jokes, which will definitely crack you up. For example, “Go kichkandi Go (word for chudail), a stark reminder of the ‘Go Corona Go’ trend that had gone viral.

Bhoot Police focuses on Vibhuti (Saif Ali Khan) and younger brother Chiraunji urf Chikoo (Arjun Kapoor), owner of Ullat Baba and Sons, who specialise in paranormal activities. Like chalk and cheese, the older is notoriously materialistic and must I add flamboyant, and the younger, a goody-doer, who wants to live by the books. While Vibhuti is smart and sees superstitions as an opportunity to earn money, Chikoo is simply naive and wants to help people with the legacy his father left. Everything is fine till they go to Dharamshala to help a former client of their father.

With a running time of nearly two hours and ten minutes, Bhoot Police is crisp and to the point. The film lives up to its promise of being a horror-comedy without deviating too much from the subject. It interlaces witty dialogues and socially relevant subjects within the story with ease. The dialogues are witty and written keeping the characters and actors in mind. Director Pawan Kripalani doesn’t waste time establishing the character traits. From the first scene itself, it is clear what one can expect from the film. There is hardly any dull moment, the screenplay works for the film superbly. Kudos to the director for not torturing the audience with unnecessary songs.

Special mention to Jayakrishna Gummadi for his camera work. The beautiful locations of Dharamshala will captivate your heart. I particularly enjoyed the camera work in the second half, especially the last 45 mins. Without giving out the spoilers, there is a scene where the camera follows a scared Vibhuti and Kanika (Jacqueline Fernandes) and the chaotic camera movements just adds to the thrill.

 

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Of course, there are moments in the film which did seem a little forced. A few jokes do run out of pun but that doesn’t affect the overall experience of the film.

Saif Ali Khan plays his age and once again shows why he is perhaps in the best phase of his career. He brings to foray his sense of humour and it is hard to not crack up. Saif seamlessly uses slapstick style of comedy, backed by hilarious dialogues. Sample this: Saif tells a horrified Jacqueline – Yeh Femina se Tehelka kyun ban gayi ho? And the crowd was left in splits! His character has a lot of things to do, and Saif makes good use of dialect and body to make the punches effective.

Arjun Kapoor is the perfect yang to Saif’s ying. As a goody two shoes, Chiraunji, Arjun leaves his own mark. Despite his character having its limitations, Arjun makes sure to leave an impression of his own. He is adorable and super likeable. Arjun uses his innocence as strength to produce comedy and it is definitely a smart casting as well. Both Saif and Arjun complement each other in scenes.

 

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Yami Gautam plays Maya, a tea estate owner from Dharamshala. Yami plays her part perfectly. She even tries to keep it as real as possible by using the local dialect and you cannot miss the extra effort she has made. Scenes, where she is possessed by the kichkandi (chudail), are executed well. She should do more movies, really.

Jacqueline Fernandes as Kanika, the younger sister based out of London is cast perfectly too. She surprisingly is decent in her scenes. Her one-liners are hilarious and she nails the vain fashionista act with perfection. Javed Jaffrey has a small but significant role that will not go unnoticed.

 

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The makers have also worked on the VFX and it is decent, if not the best. Makers of Bhuj should have perhaps taken a cue from them.

So this festive season, if you are in for a lot of laughs while you get a little scared, Bhoot Police is the perfect dish for you. Don’t miss it!

Also Read: Arjun Kapoor is set to make your weekends happening as he announces Bhoot police to release a week early

Bhavna Agarwal

Assistant Editor at Bollywood Bubble. An ambivert who is currently high on K-dramas and K-Pop. A forever Bollywood fan, who continues to gush over solid stories and characters. Hit me up for a fine conversation over chai.

You can also reach me on – https://twitter.com/filmybugB