Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is a horror-comedy directed by Anees Bazmee, Aakash Kaushik penned the screenplay with dialogues by Farhad Samji. The film stars Kartik Aaryan as Ruhaan Randhawa/Rooh Baba, Tabu as Anjulika, Kiara Advani as Reet Thakur, Rajpal Yadav as Chhote Pandit, Sanjay Mishra as Jyotishi Baba, Ashwini Kalsekar and others.
Produced by T-Series Films and Cine1 Studios, Sandeep Shirodkhar has composed the score. The music is by Pritam and Tanishk Bagchi. The runtime of the film is 143 minutes.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Review Contains No Spoilers
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Review: Plot Summary
The opening scene of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 shows the Thakur family of Bhawanigarh together in their haveli’s hall, terrified. A Tantrik baba is saying some chants in an attempt to trap Manjulika. He succeeds and locks her in one of the haveli’s rooms. The Thakurs leave their lavish house to live somewhere else. The story then jumps to 18 years later when Reet Thakur meets Ruhaan. A tricky situation arises where Reet has to take Kartik with her to Rajasthan. However, her family can’t know she’s back.
Reet decides to stay at the abandoned Thakur haveli with Ruhaan. However, the opened haveli door gets noticed, and the Thakurs are informed. Everyone is worried about how it happened. Tabu always shares her concern about how Manjulika is a ghost who does black magic. Now that the haveli doors are open again, what we have to see is who is Manjulika, what she wants, and how will the Thakur family survive her attacks.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Review: Discussion
The first half of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is packed with lots and lots of comedy. We are teased with some scares that do leave an impact in between. Bazmee and his team of writers knew that they had to make the audience laugh, and they delivered it well. While the film was funny most of the time, what bothered me a bit was a few fat-shaming jokes on a kid. If you want to show an adult who isn’t fond of kids, there are other ways to show the annoyance. Fat-shaming could’ve been avoided.
Another flaw in the first half is the lengthy sequence of Ruhaan becoming Rooh Baba. The intention was to generate laughter. However, it generates only a few laughs because the comedy in other scenes was much better. The first half ends with some major revelations about Manjulika. While I was sure of one twist, I could’ve never predicted the series of events that led to the first big twist.
BB 2 keeps the comedy intact in the second half and amps up the horror element. As a viewer, you are laughing and laughing, and suddenly, there’s Manjulika on screen. The last 30 minutes will keep you glued to the screen. There’s another big twist in the end and it is bewildering. The climax also brings the best out of Kartik Aaryan and Tabu.
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Akshay Kumar-Vidya Balan starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa by Priyadarshan was a psychological thriller. However, Anees Bazmee has presented a horror-comedy where the ghost is real. Even though the approach to telling Manjulika’s story is new, some elements take us back to the first film. Some of them are the title track, Mere Dholna song, the name Manjulika and Chote Pandit.
Apart from what I mentioned above, even Kartik Aaryan sometimes remind us of Akshay Kumar. Some of his dialogue deliveries and physical actions are similar to that of Akshay in BB. Was it an ode to the actor because of how loved the first film was? Well, only the makers know it.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Review: Performances and Music
After Dhamaka, Kartik Aaryan has delivered another fantastic performance. He has a lot, and I mean, a lot of comedy scenes. He’s good with comedy, but he’s much better in intense scenes. In the last 30 minutes, you will be impressed with the shift in his acting. We have never seen Kartik in this mode before, and the credit goes to the actor for trying something else and the director for making him do it.
Tabu adds another brilliant performance to the list of her phenomenal performances. There’s a reason why she’s one of the best actors in the Indian film industry. The actor leaves us impressed with every movie, and she does it again this time. I couldn’t stop admiring how beautiful she looked in the film.
Along with Kartik and Tabu, the actors who made Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 a hilarious watch are Sanjay Mishra, Rajpal Yadav, and Ashwini Kalsekar. Bazmee used their acting chops well to leave the audience in splits. Kiara Advani has fairly shorter screentime. Even though Kiara’s character is credited in the end for something, the actor deserves better.
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Thanks to Shreya Ghosal’s mellifluous voice, Pritam’s composition Mere Dholna gives us goosebumps again. But who would’ve thought there would be a male version of the song? Tushar Joshi has sung the song with the required passion and emotions. Can the makers please release his version ASAP?
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is packed with plenty of humour and chills. It’s highly entertaining. The plot is intriguing, and the performances are good. The visual effects were nice but the CGI on the ghost could’ve been better (scarier). It’s the kind of film that moviegoers have been waiting for a long time to enjoy. It will succeed in pulling the audience to the theatres in great numbers.
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