Phone Bhoot

Phone Bhoot Movie Review: PHONE BHOOT has a fine first half with all the ingredients of a youthful, fun horror comedy. PHONE BHOOT has a fine first half with all the ingredients of a youthful, fun horror comedy, and will appeal to an audience who love horror comedies.

PHONE BHOOT is the story of two ghostbusters. Sherdil Shergill aka Major (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Galileo Parthasarthy aka Guru (Ishaan Khatter; credited in the film simply as Ishaan) are best friends who have a crazy interest in ghosts and spirits ever since they were kids. They want to make money out of their love for ghosts. Sadly, all their business ideas flop. Nevertheless, they continue trying and they host a ‘Moksha Party’. It emerges a success as several partygoers mark their presence. Unbeknownst to Major and Guru, they are all ghosts. One such ghost is Ragini (Katrina Kaif). She informs them that they are gifted with the ability to see dead people. Hence, she gives them a business idea that they should start a phone line for those who want to get rid of ghosts. Major and Guru refuse at first. But their fathers arrive at their doorstep and ask them to pay Rs. 5 crores, which is the amount spent on their sons till date. They are given a time period of three months. With no other option, Major and Guru accept the idea although they also wonder why Ragini wants to help them. At first, their initiative gets massively trolled. Later, once they start solving cases, their business idea becomes a success. It also gets them in the bad books of the evil Atmaram (Jackie Shroff), who traps spirits trying to achieve ‘moksha’ (salvation).

Ravi Shankaran and Jasvinder Singh Bath’s story has all the ingredients for a youthful, fun horror comedy. Ravi Shankaran and Jasvinder Singh Bath’s screenplay, however, is shaky in several places. Ravi Shankaran and Jasvinder Singh Bath’s dialogues are witty and funny. Gurmmeet Singh as a director handles certain scenes with panache, be it Major and Guru finding success as the ghostbusters, Major and Guru’s encounter with Chikni Chudail (Sheeba Chadha) or Major and Guru’s antics when Ragini is narrating her story. The pop culture references of FUKREY [2013], Katrina Kaif’s Mango Slice ad, Rajinikanth, MIRZAPUR [also directed by Gurmmeet Singh and backed by Excel], the coffin dancers, HINDUSTANI [1996], KHILADIYON KA KHILADI [1996], KOI MIL GAYA [2003], KABHI KHUSHI KABHIE GHAM [2001] etc. add to the fun element. On the flipside, certain references will go over the top. The character of Raaka forms an important part of the film but the makers, for no reason, did not feel it was important to explain its relevance to the current generation, who might have never watched a Ramsay film. But the bigger problem of the film is that it fails to evoke laughs in the second half. The climax is unimaginative and anything but funny. Moreover, the track of the killers of Ragini’s fiancée is simply not addressed after a point.

Genres:Comedy, Horror

Director:Gurmmeet Singh

Cast:Surendra Thakur, Kedar Shankar, Nidhi Bisht, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Manuj Sharma, Shrikant Verma, Manu Rishi Chadha, Ishaan Khatter, Jackie Shroff, Katrina Kaif, Sheeba Chaddha