The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Go for the friendly ghost

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Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Go for the friendly ghost

Bhoothnath

Film: Bhoothnath

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Aman Siddiqui

Director: Vivek Sharma

Hindi cinema is learning to laugh. Some witty one-liners, calculated situational humour, a more than competent actor are just enough. That is what saves debutant director Vivek Sharma’s film “Bhoothnath” from slipping into the realms of average fare.

The peerless Amitabh Bachchan plays a ghost. Here, Bachchan’s ghost is a bit of an angel, a guarding uncle to a little boy, who lives in the villa the old man died in.

His body is gone, his soul lingers. A series of occupants are driven away. Until there comes a little family of three – Shah Rukh Khan in a special appearance he probably did as a favour, with Juhi Chawla and the brilliant debutant kid Aman Siddiqui.

Smooth going

This time, the ghost runs into a wall. The little boy won’t be scared. You scream at him, he would scream louder at you.

You try to browbeat him, he would simply snare. The going is smooth in the first half as young Aman trades punches with Big B.

And Big B actually manages to show an emotion he probably has not in his long and illustrious career, a nice little scary expression with his red-shot eyes popping out and his tongue slithering like a snake. Brilliantly executed, very well captured by the camera.

The first part is marred only by pedestrian songs and dances which retard the progress of the story without adding any entertainment quotient.

However, it is in the second half that the director takes a step backwards, thereby reducing of what could have been a delightful film for children into a stereotyped family film for conservative viewers.

Watch “Bhoothnath” for Amitabh Bachchan. And little Aman shows a spark too. “Bhoothnath” is not the cliffhanger one would expect with that name. Rather, a pleasant comedy in parts, and an average family film in others.

ZIYA US SALAM

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