Box Office: Bhoothnath Returns In Style In Spite Of Chinks In Armour And A Tepid Start

Cleaning up the ‘System’ might be Bollywood’s latest passion, but it reverts to stereotypes all too soon and the art of conveying a pertinent message becomes an imperfect endeavour. The saga started with Gulaab Gang, continued through Youngistaan and climaxed with superstar Amitabh Bachchan returning with the much-hyped supernatural comedy sequel, Bhoothnath Returns. This time, we have an adorable 70-plus ghost trying to set things right for the Dharavi slum dwellers and rooting out corruption in the process. But unlike the 2008 prequel, Bhoothnath, finger-snapping alone doesn’t do the trick. Instead, Big B (Kailash Nath aka Bhoothnath in the movie series) gets ready to contest polls, preaches people to go out & vote, and does loads of good work in-between, amply helped by the street-smart brat Akhrot (Parth Bhalerao). Undoubtedly a great gesture from a spirit who cares, but it carries too much baggage than is good for the subtle art of influencing, impacting and entertaining – all at the same time.

But that does not mean the fantasy-comedy won’t become a Bollywood hit. In spite of its many faults, Big B spins his magic on-screen and the movie has managed to shake off a slow start. Directed and co-written by Nitesh Tiwari of Chillar Party fame, Bhoothnath Returns hit around 1,300 theatres at home but had a dull opening on April 11. It netted around Rs 4.07 crore on the debut day and witnessed a low occupancy rate of 25-30%. But weekend business literally touched the sky and the movie netted a little over Rs 18 crore at the domestic box office after the first three days.

“BhoothnathReturns Fri 4.07 cr, Sat 5.85 cr, Sun 8.10 cr. Total: 18.02 cr nett. India biz… Excellent growth over the weekend,” tweeted film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

But the numbers dwindled on the crucial Day 4 and Day 5 (April 14 and 15). Although official figures are not available yet, the movie totalled a little more than Rs 7 crore on these two days, according to Box Office Collection, thus reaching Rs 25 crore (approx) at home. Interestingly, the budget of this movie has not been disclosed yet, but some industry insiders put it at around Rs 30 crore. However, the initial numbers are definitely much better than Kangna Ranaut-starrer Queen (Rs 12 crore in first 4 days). Incidentally, Queen has already netted more than Rs 60 crore at home, as per industry reports. We can’t really predict whether this Big B movie can get into that Big League or enter the Rs 100 crore club, but going by the current trend, it may overtake Bhoothnath’s earnings that managed to gross around Rs 68 crore worldwide.

And that brings us back to the basics. With the Lok Sabha polls in full swing, Bhoothnath Returns was expected to do much better at the domestic box office, especially as it aims to blend some meaningful messages with fantasy to present a socio-political satire, loaded with tongue-in-cheek humour and sharp, witty one-liners. The movie follows that script, but only up to a point, and then loses its pace and crispiness as is the wont of traditional Bollywood flicks.

The first half of the movie is quite entertaining, though. Bhoothnath returns from the Bhoot World as he is under pressure to prove his mettle as a ghost and must be able to scare a kid (his previous caper with Banku clearly hadn’t won the approval of fellow-ghosts). But this time, he has been won over by the slum kid Akhrot (Parth) and soon has a face-off with the evil politician Bhau (Boman Irani). The rest of the story gets painfully predictable and then downright preachy, dragging on eternally before reaching an over-the-top climax. As most critics have pointed out, the second half of this flick could have easily passed muster as an infotainment video on ‘why you should vote’ and ‘vote for change.’

As the story gets stretched and execution gets lacklustre, Bhoothnath Returns loses its appeal of fantasy (something that never happens in a Harry Potter movie in spite of its markedly pronounced good-versus-evil theme), its appeal for kids (hardly a fun movie, compared to the earlier one) and its appeal for thinking adults (Rajkumar Hirani’s Munna Bhai series will impact you better).

But Bhoothnath Returns has its special charms as well. The Bachchan magic and his easy frolic with kids are bound to win many hearts. But the star of the show is the Bollywood debutant Parth Bhalerao who is absolutely brilliant. Then there are the cameos – Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap all fall in line to support the message Bhoothnath is trying to convey. All in all, Bhoothnath Returns is a movie worth watching in spite of its none-too-impressive initial performance and execution flaws. Business may pick up further as the (release) timing has been perfect and Bachchan fans are known to form that critical mass of movie-goers that can always spell massive success, even if it is a bit late in the day.