Barkha Madan as bhoot. No way!. Review on Bhoot

Just a few years back (in the days of VHS tapes), I asked my mom, what movie tape should I hire for the weekend? I avoided saying ''Action'' category 'cause I knew the possible reactions. I just suggested casually - ''Horror'' and to my dismay she exclaimed ''Yuck''!

''No'', ''No way'', ''Chee'' are OK, but - ''yuck''??

I don't quite blame her. I was the one who showed her ''Evil Dead'', ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' (all parts). While these were scary (ok...ok...I mean I was a kid then), these movies were largely ugly. Ugly!

Yes how else do you explain the gory display of blood (all colors blue, green besides the obvious red), mutilated corpses with hanging eyeballs, worms/roaches creeping out of these ghosts? And Ramsay's! Ha Ha Ha (...LOL...). Humans with ghost masks with perpetual throat aches could even be seen chasing people. I would either classify them as ''Comedy'' or ''Erotic''. [psst...see XXX or Midnight Masala on Gemini TV - 40% of those erotic songs are from Ramsay's movies]. I mean I don't mind being victim of such ghosts if they can promise to be as sexy before killing me...!

But times have changed now. Horror movies are now chilling and have some real scary moments. See ''What Lies Beneath'' or ''the Ring''. Bollywood ain't far behind with our great Ramu churning out wonderful movies.

Ramu forewarns us (before the movie starts) that he does not believe in the supernatural and ''Bhoot'' his new experiment aims to only SCARE the audience by playing with your FEAR.

«« STORY »»

The buildup of the movie is really good and one should laud Ramu for that. No it's not about people going from one village to another with their car breaking down and they taking refuge in ancient Bungalow in the middle of a dense jungle. The movie has a couple staying right in the midst of a hustling bustling city. Ajay Devgan, an investor, just moves to a new apartment - with a small hitch though. The hesitant broker reveals that the previous occupant - a lady and her child had committed suicide by jumping off the gallery.

Who cares, huh? Ajay babu likes the flat and rents it. He stays there with a beautiful wife - apni Rangeeli (Urmila). Things are fine but Urmi (Swati in the movie) is alone in the house while our Ajay babu goes to work. She starts experiencing weird phenomenas, especially after Ajay reveals the truth about the previous occupant. Yes, she sees her...the previous occupant and is scared. Poor Ajay feels that his wife needs psychiatric treatment and does consult a doctor who guides him to a specialist - Victor Bannerjee.

By the time he sees her, she's possessed. Then its our usual filmi stuff - the debate about whether ghosts exists. Doctor saaheb feeling that it's a case of ''Dual personality'' and an exorcist (Rekha) who feels that it's a ''Bhoot'' they are dealing with.

What happens in between and later is what You should be seeing, if not seen till now.

«« MY OPINION »»

See it only if you must or if you are a Ramu fan or Ajay fan. If you have seen ''What Lies Beneath'', ''Sixth Sense'' and our Ramu's earlier ''Raat'', you will absolutely not enjoy the movie. I didn't, for similar reasons.

Having said that, for those who would still like to see it, I will say that the movie has some very good aspects and moments. The start is quite weird with a camera moving low on streets of the city. The focus on SOUND EFFECTS such as rain and lift - ordinary sounds that we hear, have been nicely depicted.

Some scenes are good though I would say that most of the scenes are not scary but just some reflexes on your part due to the sudden jarring sounds post an eerie silence. The first screen presence of ghost, the watchman's murder, and Ajay's daydream when Urmi stabs him are some of the best scenes of the movie - watch them!

The performances by the cast are wonderful - Urmi's deterioration from a hep girl to a possessed girl is very good. Watch her neck turning blue-black as she shrieks when she is tied to bed. Also the parts when she is scared and confused whether she is hallucinating or actually seeing a ghost - the feeling that you get when you are sane but feel that you are turning mad, is nicely expressed. Ajay is good as usual in his role of supportive role. His expressions when he realizes that his wife is possessed and has just murdered the watchman are INCREDIBLE. Watch the look on his face when he enters his wife's room after the murder - scared stiff - wonderful! I didn't quite like Rekha as exorcist. She looks like a ghost herself. Kind of forced expressions to give the movie a spooky feel.

Victor Banerjee as a father of a dying daughter and a responsible doctor is quite genuine. Nana Patekar, as an inspector ''Liyakat Qureshi'', attempts to bring some comic relief. For a change he ain't screaming or uttering dialogues in his usual fiery and fast pace. But with a short role he looks wasted. Seema Biswas's character as a maidservant was confusing. She looked funnily strange! Tanuja as Bhootni's mother with stern looks has a very very short role, which she has done justice. Barkha Madan - the ''Bhootni'' looks like one too. I saw her snap in a BT - she's a cute doll. Wonder why they choose cute babes to look like ghosts! Fardeen Khan is completely wasted in the movie. (It's heard that he grew that beard just to match his negative character in the movie)

While the movie build up was good, it had some boring parts - Ajay goes to office, opens the laptop, close it, comes back home 5 to 6 times - comeon, I know that part - I do it everyday. Focus on lift is also repeated several times.

The movie seemed to just wrap up to an end suddenly. A spate of events happening in a flurry after Fardeen's presence on screen and lo - ''The End''