Bhooth Bangla
Starring Akshay Kumar, Tabu, Paresh Rawal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Rajpal Yadav, Jisshu Sengupta
Directed by Priyadarshan
This comedy circus kicks off with Akshay Kumar being married to a tree in London, as his ‘sister’ Mithila Palkar (at least half his age) and ‘father’ Jisshu Sengupta (much younger than Akshay) egg him on with gritted teeth and determined scowls.
You think that sounds absurd? You are in the right place! Bhooth Bangla is a treasure chest of enjoyable absurdities. It goes from one level of inanity to another without the least bit of hesitation or embarrassment. As far as Priyadarshan’s brazen brand of broad burlesque goes, Bhooth Bangla is the champ of guilty pleasures.
It challenges your finer sensibilities to just chill. Everyone is here for the kill. Priyadarshan’s usual cast of uninhibited actors, Rajpal Yadav (funny even when placed in a perilous position), Paresh Rawal, Manoj Joshi, Rajesh Sharma, and of course the irrepressible Akshay Kumar press all the laugh buttons and evince some laughter from us, albeit in a showreel of galloping giggles which don’t always land. Sometimes, as they are just too bland.
Surprisingly, there is some coarse comedy at play here. I would like to see one particularly cheesy joke involving Rajpal Yadav go out the window before Akshay and Priyadarshan’s family fans fume.
There is also an ongoing gag about Paresh Rawal’s posterior on fire that made me… well, gag. If you are wondering how an actor of Rawal’s seniority could have fun with such crude antics, then the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; I say this with wind (a mood that is as good as treason in this film).
There are lots of windswept images floating through the narrative, and I must say, the VFX is of good, if not outstanding, quality.
That said, the screenplay (Priyadarshan, Rohan Shankar, Abilash Nair) takes too long to get to the point. A large part of the narrative is devoted to ffaffing around, just pointless gabbing, and not of a very intelligent kind. The silly jokes are stretched out. If a cook is introduced into the haunted haveli, she will drop a plate, crashing to the ground, to tell us what we already know. There is something amiss. Not to mention unhinged.
Like all of Priyadarshan’s comedies, this one too is loquacious and over-wordy. Everyone is constantly jabbering, none more so than Akshay Kumar who still has the acting chops to make the chirpiness amusing, at least some of the time.
The magnificent Tabu takes too long to get to the screen. She plays a woman from the past, with a past. Weirdly, Priyadarshan makes Tabu dance a hybrid of Bharat Natyam and Kathak, like Vidya Balan at the climax of Bhool Bhulaiya. This time with satirical rather than sensuous results.
Poor Wamiqa Gabbi! She comes and goes, like the sporadic humour of this toast to the ghost in a honked haveli . It is not Hera Pheri, but still fun as long as you don’t mind the shrieking tone.
