May 11, 2008 01:59 PM
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I went to the theatres without an iota of expectation. Bhootnath was not the ad blitz movie where hype is generated before the movie to drive the viewers atleast in the first week. Then its all over. But Vivek Sharma’s Bhootnath was not all over the place, hence the lack of expectation. But to my surprise the movie was all fun the first half and all emotions in the second half. In times when children’s movies are not made or are only animations, this ghost comes as a refreshing change
The movie begins with a marine engineer Shahrukh and his wife Shahrukh and their child shifting into haunted house at Goa. The child and Juhi are left there and SRK leaves on his offshore duty. The house is infested by a drunkard Anthony(Rajpal Yadav) and a ghost(Big B) who doesn’t let any inmate settle down. The child defies all frightening postures of the ghost and uses the ghost to clean his house. The Big B, unkempt and dirty, fails to frighten the family away.
Slowly, the child endears the ghost.And they have great fun, at home, in the school and everywhere. The pranks of the child pester the principal Satish Shah and his friends but they are fun for the viewers.Interspersed with songs the first half has the children at the edge of their seats laughing.
The second half is the emotional relationship between the child Aman and the ghost. The son of the ghost wants to sell the house and the ghost resists. In the end the son realizes that he had not cared for his parents and the ghost would be satisfied only whedn he repented. SRK and family hold a shraadh ceremony to appease the ghost’s atma and the ghost returns to his heavenly abode.But he promises to be with the child when he calls for.
The star of the movie is Aman the child who is endearing in his mischief and is intelligently witty so much so that the ghost finds him to be the boss. Amitabh as the ghost again shows that he is the superstar willing to experiment. As the ghost his chemistry with the child is excellent and as the grieved father he is at his best showing his pain.Juhi is perfect as the mother which looks like an extension of the Kurkure character.SRK hops in and out of the film.
All in all its good family entertainment, excellent for children and also with values that parents should not be neglected in old age.The music too is adequate by Vishal Shekhar.
