Phone Bhoot Propagates Primitivism,  Fanaticism  &  Dimwittedness

Phone Bhoot

Rating: *  1/2

There is too  little  of everything in Phone Bhoot  except the two bratty boys  Siddhant Chaturvedi  and  Ishaan(he has dropped the ‘Khattar’ in his name)  who are  all over the place  like two bad viruses. For  long patches Katrina Kaif  vanishes: she has every right to since she  plays a   bhoot. Must be the most chic ghost in town . We  only have  to see poor Sheeba Chadha’s makeup and scruffy  look to know  why Katrina  did  this  film.

She  just wanted to show  the world  how pretty   a ghost can be. Thank  you for that.

And  there  ends my sarcasm laden  praise for this  eerie  abomination…eerie  and funny is  what  it aims at. Dreary and  phony is  what  we get in Phone Bhoot, a film so devoid  of any merit  that you wonder why  it was made in the  first film. Born out of  a desperate  sense  of   urgency to score a  win,  the  film tries to be a Stree on   speed. Instead it  ends up being a  witchcraft tale  with  no head or tail

Jokes include  a headless  head  of  security of Jackie Shroff’s  staff . Shroff plays  Atmarama  a dreaded  satanic  presence who  is  more  farcical than fearsome.The  jokes are  so  labored that they are  repeated  twice  so  we get  it. The whole  film is  joke, though not in the way  it was  intended  to be.

I wish I could say   there  is more chemistry  between the  two boys Chaturvedi  and  Ishaan then  there  is among the  boys  and Katrina. That  would  be untrue. The two boys  excel only at  showing  us  who can  make  more faces  on   camera. Chaturvedi wins hands down. It is tragic to  see  the  once-promising  Gully Boy reduced  to  this insufferable ham  .

Ishaan(sans Khattar) is  more  subdued  and  controlled.  But we can see the  struggle to remain sober  is constantly  thwarted  by  the  loud screechy bhoot-pret-atma  nonsense  that unfurls  in front  of   Khattar. As  for Katrina,if this  is  all  the  film industry  has to offer the pretty actress, just  check out.

Phone  Bhoot  thinks  it is the meta screen provider  for generations that have  NOT grown up on  Chanda Mama and  Amar Chitra Katha stories.  The idea is to give  a groovy  cool  spin to  grandma’s tales. But it doesn’t work. The  endeavour is not only insincere  but blissfully blind to propagating  blind faith.

From  primitivism  to  paganism  to heretic  mumbo jumbo, where is  Hindi  cinema  heading  in pursuit  of that elusive success?This is  the same production house which  has given us milestones  like Dil Chahta Hai  and  Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara? Is  success  so  vital that  you sell your  soul to the  devil?

Interestingly I  saw  Sourabh Shukla’s  name in  the credit titles for   associate  director  or  something.  I guess the  mess was   foreseen.