The most positive aspect of "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3" (2024) is its unpredictability. While the climactic twist is audacious and unique, the film suffers from clumsy execution, falling short of evoking the intended emotions. It's a fine thought, albeit underwritten, and it deserved a bit more complexity than the film's chaotic momentum allows.
Nonetheless, I have to say that I did not see it coming. The "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" franchise began with the 1993 Malayalam film "Manichitrathazhu," which was remade in Hindi in 2007 by Priyadarshan, starring Akshay Kumar as the esteemed psychiatrist Aditya Shrivastava. Both the original and the remake delivered a skilful mix of laughs and scares but without paranormal activity.
There the leading lady's transformation into Manjulika, the unhinged royal dancer, was attributed to dissociative identity disorder. However, when Anees Bazmee took over the reins with the 2022 reboot, genuine horror elements, including black magic, spirits, jump scares, and ominous background music, were introduced, along with Shreya Ghoshal's beautiful rendition of "Ami Je Tomar", and some cheerful, lowbrow humour. In "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3", Bazmee retains the tropes of the first two Hindi films: a sprawling haveli with one room locked for years, believed to be haunted by a ghost; a royal family hiding secrets; a mysterious woman named Manjulika who dances to "Ami Je Tomar"; as well as atmospheric elements such as long empty corridors, creaking doors, arched doorways, darke.
