Bhoot And Friends Movie Review: Bhoot And Friends: Well Intentioned

This seems to be the season for children's films, what with the winter vacations on. Director Kittu Saluja's 'Bhoot And Friends' is an adventure story, with a ghost thrown in for good measure. And even though the film has its fair share of thrills and glitches, in all, one can safely say that the director manages to make a fairly decent film.

One of the highlights of the movie is the presence of Jackie Shroff, who plays the part of the titular friendly 'bhoot'. Even though he has lost most of his starry luster, he still manages to infuse his character with a certain amount of aplomb and style.

The film's story is about a bunch of kids, Raghav, Roma and Igloo, all pre teenagers, who go to a village to spend their vacations. Once there, they meet Ali, a poor kid who lives there. One day, while Ali is showing them around the village, they witness a bunch of goons spiriting away Ali's poor father. It is then that they learn about an English man who has been terrorizing the simple village folk and taking away their land. Ali is very upset and Raghav is determined to help him. Back home, his grandmother asks him to stay away from Ali and refrain from interfering in the affairs of the village. But the next morning, the kids go looking for the place where the goons have hidden Ali's father. Gomes, the English man, is out looking for treasure, which was hidden by the last maharajah of Pratapgarh, from the British, just before he died. He is the grandson of the then general of the British army, which fought the king and possesses one half of a map, which indicates where the treasure is hidden along with his ancestor's diary. He has been forcibly taking away land from the village folk so that he can dig for the treasure. Ali's father was abducted because he refused to sign off his land.

Meanwhile, the kids reach Gomes' house and make off with his diary and the map. They flee to the jungle, which is said to be haunted, with Gomes's men after them. At night, the four kids encounter the ghost of the jungle, the Bhoot Uncle (Jackie Shroff), who turns out to be the commander of the Pratapgarh army that had fought against the British. He had promised the king that he would protect the famous blue diamond or 'neel mani' and other treasures from the British and ensure that they reach their rightful owners, the people of Pratapgarh. The commander died in the ensuing battle but lingered on as a ghost to fulfill his promise. Possessing the other half of Gomes' map that the children stole, he discovers the hiding place of the treasure and sends the kids off into a secret tunnel to find it. After an eventful journey, the kids make their way to the antechamber where the diamond and the other treasures are hidden. In the meanwhile, Gomes and his men also reach the spot. But the friendly ghost comes to the children's rescue and takes on the goons. With a little help from his magical powers, the bad guys are defeated and the four kids now emerge as heroes.

While the story has its moments of thrill, the effects could have done with some enhancement. These are times when kids are feasting on the Narnias and Harry Potters, and in comparison, 'Bhoot And Friends' turns out to be quite simplistic and na?ve in comparison. Though there are a few sequences that are quite impressive, most of the action is simplistic and clich?d. There is a long, drawn out encounter between the goons and the ghost that may have been added as comic relief, but turns out to be quite tiresome. In fact, the movie seems to be very well intentioned and sincere but is let down by its execution, which is too simplistic. One feels that the three children, the protagonists of the film, so to say, have not been very well etched, except, perhaps, for Igloo. A little more colour would have added more interest to the movie. Also, the kids seem to stumble onto all the solutions so simply that there does not seem to be any kind of struggle, which makes the film a little bland and shorn of the excitement. And even the entry of the 'Bhoot', played by Jackie dada, fails to add sufficient spice to the proceedings.

The children, Makrand Soni as Raghav, Ishita Panchal as Roma and Akash Nair as Igloo, put in pretty decent performances. The adults have little to do, except, perhaps, for Ashwin Mushran, the main villain, who gives a very over the top performance as the British officer's grandson. Jackie is quite charismatic as the friendly ghost.

Presented by Wide Angle Media and produced by Aneesh Arjun Dev, the screenplay and story of the movie has been written by Reshma A Dev, while the dialogues have been penned by Sachindra Sharma. In fact, the flaw with the movie lies with its writing as well as its execution. One feels that within the time span of one hour and fifty six minutes, the film's running time, the makers could have done a more efficient job and also managed to add some more colour to the movie, thereby making it more engrossing. Maybe, the fantasy element could have been played up a little more, or even the child actors could have been a little more animated. So even though the story has 'dum' in it, the lack of masala and colour prove to be its undoing.

Overall, despite being a very well intentioned and sincere effort, 'Bhoot And Friends' turns out to be quite bland.