Review of the movie Phone Bhoot :The newest horror comedy thriller from Bollywood, starring Katrina Kaif, Ishaan Khatter, and SiddhantChaturvedi, is funny in certain places and outright ridiculous in others.
Every now and then, a film appears that is dubbed the "anti-Nolan."
These movies don't need a moment of your concentration, much like Christopher Nolan's movies don't demand you to focus all the time. Such a movie can be "seen" while you browse Instagram or talk to pals. You're not required to use your brain.
Heck, if you don't want to use your head, that won't affect the experience at all. The thoughtless comedy genre is exactly where Phone Bhoot fits in.
It is absurd, nonsensical, and constantly makes fun of your intelligence. In spite of all of this, there are some enjoyable aspects.
They became Ghostbusters after having a fortuitous encounter with a really attractive bhataktiaatma (Katrina Kaif) (actually bhootbusters for copyright reasons).
Together, they are tasked with assisting these lost souls in finding salvation and thwarting the evil tantrikAatmaram (Jackie Shroff), who is utilising ghosts for his own sinister plot.
The Gurmmeet Singh-directed film gets off to a strong start thanks to sharp writing and amusing language that makes the audience like the two incompetent morons posing as heroes.
Given their strong connection, Siddhant and Ishaan's scenes are enjoyable to watch. However, the movie doesn't really come to life until Katrina enters the picture.
But just as the plot is taking shape, the producers decide to insert a Katrina dance routine, and the whole thing immediately strikes a brick wall.
And Phone Bhoot struggles with it throughout. The plot veers off course and wanders off in a different direction just as things start to get intriguing.
Like a fishing net, this movie's story has more holes than it does. But it's not through lack of paying attention to details.
In a meta-attempt to make the movie a parody of various horror films we have watched abroad, the audience gets the impression that anything nonsensical has been purposefully kept there.
A good number of pop culture allusions have been added by the writers, some of which are hilariously meta.
Phone Bhoot dabbles in everything, and most of the time does so brilliantly, from Katrina's Slice advertisements to K3G parodies to Jackie Shroff singing the Hero music on a flute.
The movie's star, Katrina, has a strong screen presence but occasionally struggles with her comic timing. As the evil, a parody of every horror movie villain ever, Jackie Shroff is amusing and charming.
The movie Phone Bhoot shows promise. It is a well-written but not entirely successful endeavour that has both benefits and drawbacks. It is a respectable addition to Bollywood's expanding horror comedy subgenre.
In terms of comedy and creativity, it's not nearly Stree, but it's also not as awful as Roohi.
