Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, Madhuri’s film is a Diwali cracker thanks to its grand climax

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Movie Review

Director: Anees Bazmee

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, Triptii Dimri, Madhuri Dixit, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sanjay Mishra

Where to watch: Theaters

Rating: 3.5 stars

After entertaining the audience with Welcome, No Entry and Singh Is Kinng, Anees Bazmee lost her comic touch with Welcome Back and Pagalpanti. In 2022, the director made a grand comeback with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. Not only did he revive the franchise, but he managed to bring audiences back to theaters after the Covid-19 pandemic. For me, the standalone sequel worked a lot. And now, Bazmee is back with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, with Kartik Aaryan reprising his role as Rooh Baba, a fraudulent psychic who earns his bread and butter by taking advantage of other people’s superstitions.

In three sequences, Triptii Dimri’s princess Meera offers Rooh Baba 1 crore in exchange for banishing Manjulika’s vengeful spirit from a haunted mansion in her kingdom of Raktaghat, West Bengal. As Kartik reaches his destination, horror and humor ensue. It is soon revealed that there is not one, but two spirits – Vidya Balan and Madhuri Dixit – claiming to be the real Manjulika. Kartik’s Rooh Baba has to find out the truth and save the entire village now.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 has a lot of overdose from its previous part. A few scenes even seem to have been re-used with new dialogue as per the new script. The humor is also a bit repetitive and the threequel has no real creepy moments, unlike the last horror comedy, Stree 2, which was a perfect amalgamation of the two genres. But, what works for Anees Bazmee this time are his lead protagonist and a compelling climax.

In my opinion, Kartik Aaryan has successfully replaced Akshay Kumar in the franchise in the latest installment and continues his amazing act as Ruhaan Randhawa aka Rooh Baba. It goes a little over the top, but it fits the character well. As the leading lady, Triptii Dimri has a lot more to do here unlike Kiara Advani. Madhuri Dixit’s performance is credited as the special appearance and she is able to do justice to her small role. However, Vidya Balan fails to recreate the magic of OG Manjulika from the 2007 film Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Since this movie has nothing to do with the first part, I think the makers could have avoided playing on the nostalgia factor and shouldn’t have released it. The trio of Pandit Sanjay Mishra, Rajpal Yadav and Ashwini Kalsekar bring the house down again with their antics.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 emerges as a powerful film due to its remarkable climax. Without giving too much away, the last fifteen minutes of the film will definitely shock the audience. I was pleasantly surprised by how events played out in the end, even after making several guesses while watching the movie. Clever writing and screenplay come together in a well-packaged finale with plenty of twists and a strong message.

Obviously, the makers would now like to bring back Akshay Kumar in the Bhool Bhulaiyaa series. The public would hope so too. But, it would only work if Akshay reprises his role as Dr. Aditya Srivastava from the Priyadarshan classic, unlike what they did with Vidya Balan in this film. The OG movie still stands the test of time even after 17 years and Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is a worthy addition to the franchise.

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