Although the promos to Bhool bhulaiyaa would lead one to expect it to be yet another typical Priyadarshan comedy, the movie is actually a thriller with doses of horror and comedy interspersed here and there. It is a remake of a Malayalam movie, Manichitrathazhu, but with significant changes to the plot to make it more realistic.

Siddarth (Shiny Ahuja) is the heir to the throne of a small area in South India. He has recently returned from the USA, and has just been married to a lady named Avni (Vidya Balan), who he only very recently met and fell in love with. He wanted to live in his ancestral house (a palace), which according to the local people is haunted.

The couple thought the idea of the house being haunted was ludicrous, so they moved in despite their family trying to talk them out of it. Their extended family moved into the palace with them, to protect the couple should anything go wrong. After a string of mysterious near death incidents in the mansion, Sid calls his trusted friend Arjun (Akshay Kumar), a psychiatrist, to try and help find out whatthe hell is going on and bring matters under control.

The first half of the movie is much lighter than the second. It is full of silly jokes but still entertaining. Akshay Kumar makes his entry just before the first half, and right from the beginning he brings some much needed life to the screen. The second half gets serious, being where the plot really unfolds. It is interesting the way that a ghost story is combined with a scientific/medical and religious theme. The blend go quite well and is actually quite though provoking, making one think whether the concept of a person being possessed by a spirit can be explained by modern psychology and whether mantras and chants can create the right vibrations to cure. The last 30 minutes in particular were the best, and belonged totally to Vidya Balan, who did total justice to the challenging role she was presented with.

It is interesting how the movie shows the contrast between the simple Indian townspeople on one hand, who believe in ghosts and that ritual can protect them, and the modern American couple on the other, who laugh at the townspeople. Yet somehow the story also reconciles the belief of the simple folk with the skepticism of the modern, showing them not to be irreconcilable. The solution and cure to the strange happenings is eventually brought about by a combination of a Hindu pandit working in tandem with the psychiatrist.

As far as the music is concerned, Bhool bhulaiyaa has a couple of very catchy tracks, most notably “Hare Krishna Hare Rama”, which evoked controversy about the way it is remixed and its video. Apart from the first song, which is totally out of sync with the storyline, the rest of the songs facilitate rather than hinder the progress of the story.

Overall this movie is a good entertainer, combining the elements of a thriller-comdey, with an interesting ploy and a quality star cast. It is rare to find these elements in a single Bollywood film, so if you watch Bollywood, you’ll find Bhool bhulaiyaa way above average.