Bhoot Unkle
A
kiddie film can go either ways. Entertain and enlighten
or fizzle out while trying too hard to entertain the kid
in you.
Years ago, music composer Vishal Bharadwaj made a striking
directorial debut with MAKDEE, with Shabana Azmi enacting
the role of a witch. BHOOT UNKLE has a somewhat similar
plot of a haunted lighthouse and a kid exploring the place.
The only difference is, Shabana was a crooked witch in
MAKDEE, while Jackie is the friendly ghost in BHOOT UNKLE.
He''s the Indian Casper!
For a film that relies on chills and thrills, besides
moments that would appeal to kids, BHOOT UNKLE runs out
of gas after a fairly interesting first half. There are
two reasons for its downfall: One, the special effects
are shoddy and tacky and two, the second half transforms
into a masala flick that moviegoers have witnessed a million
times before.
If the idea is to woo the kids, sorry, the execution of
the subject ruins whatever chances it may have had!
Write your own movie review
of Bhoot Unkle
For 12-year-old orphan Shyam Dev Kantawala, life had been
nothing but a series of tragedies and hardships. He is
ill treated by his aunt Rasika Joshi, while his uncle
Anurag Prapanna watches helplessly. One night, Shyam unexpectedly
stumbles upon an idol of Lord Shiva in a haunted lighthouse.
The mystery of the missing Lord Shiva idol, which Shyam
accidentally solves, makes him come face to face with
a dead pirate aka Bhoot Unkle Jackie Shroff, who had robbed
the idol a hundred years ago and is now trapped in the
lighthouse.
Shyam is now entrusted with the responsibility of saving
the idol from the clutches of the corrupt MLA Akhilendra
Mishra and installing it back in the temple.
For any kiddie film to leave a mark, it ought to be embellished
with antics and frolics that would appeal to kids from
6 to 60. In BHOOT UNKLE, a series of watchable events
happen in the first half, while the second half is devoid
of moments that would make the kids clap with glee. In
fact, the writing screenplay: Rajiv Agrawal and Veeru
Shahane is the culprit here. It''s slipshod, to put it
bluntly!
The emergence of Jackie in the second half raises the
expectations, but the animation that follows it''s a brilliant
idea nonetheless fails to appeal because the animation
is poor. Let''s face it, the kids today are exposed to
highly skilled animation on the small screen and the quality
of the 10-minute animation in BHOOT UNKLE is akin to the
games kids generally play on their computers.
Besides, the visual effects are low-grade and the cinematography
C. Vignesh Rao is also substandard. From the writing point
of view too, not much happens in the second hour, with
the kid forgetting all about the idol. Things fall into
place in the climax, but it''s too late by then.
Given the poor screenplay in the second hour, there''s
nothing the director can do to salvage the situation.
The film has just one song Baba Saigal, which is tuneful,
but the effects in the song are inferior.
Jackie Shroff, the friendly ghost, doesn''t work. Dev
Kantawala, the child artist, is a complete natural. He''s
the scene stealer actually. The remaining kids are tolerable.
Akhilendra Mishra, Rasika Joshi, Shehzad Khan and Anurag
Prapanna are plain mediocre.
On the whole, BHOOT UNKLE lacks the power to satisfy its
target audience -- kids. With not much going in its favor,
its chances of survival at the ticket winow are bleak.
|
