Bhoothnath

Bhoothnath
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Vivek Sharma
Produced by	Ravi Chopra
Screenplay by	Vivek Sharma Sudhanshu Dube
Starring	Amitabh Bachchan Aman Siddiqui Shah Rukh Khan Juhi Chawla Satish Shah Rajpal Yadav Priyanshu Chatterjee
Music by	Vishal-Shekhar Salim-Sulaiman
Distributed by	B R Films
Release dates	9 May 2008 (2008-05-09)
Running time	136 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹200 million (equivalent to ₹390 million or US$5.8 million in 2016)
Box office	₹684 million (equivalent to ₹1.3 billion or US$20 million in 2016)

Bhoothnath (Devanagari: भूतनाथ translation: "Lord of Ghosts") is a 2008 Bollywood horror comedy film directed by Vivek Sharma, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Aman Siddiqui, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Rajpal Yadav in lead roles and features Shah Rukh Khan in a supporting role. The film is an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde short story "The Canterville Ghost".^[1] A sequel titled Bhoothnath Returns was released on 11 April 2014.

It was released on 9 May 2008, receiving generally positive reviews from critics and was well received by audiences, thus becoming a moderate success at the box office. Moreover, it was a very popular movie among children and the performances of the main trio (Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, and Aman Siddiqui) were praised by critics and audiences alike.

Plot

The story focuses on Aman Sharma a.k.a. Banku (Aman Siddiqui), who has recently shifted into an old bungalow in Goa, with his parents, Aditya (Shah Rukh Khan) and Anjali (Juhi Chawla). His father Aditya is an engineer on a cruise line, and therefore moves with his cruise. They are made aware that the bungalow is haunted, but they disregard this. Banku is enrolled in St. Francis High School, and Anjali hires a kindhearted and comedic drunken thief, Anthony (Rajpal Yadav), as a servant to clean the house. One night, Banku goes down to the living room to have some ice cream when he sees a shadow on the wall. Frightened, he calls out to his mother, before seeing that the bowl in which he was having ice cream has vanished. Later, Banku returns and passes a sleeping Anjali to investigate. He then sees the ghost of Kailash Nath (Amitabh Bachchan) and then they start arguing on whether Kailash is a ghost or an angel (according to Banku, who constantly persists that Nath is an angel rather than a ghost). Banku nicknames him Bhootnath as Kailash says that he is a bhooth (ghost) and also says that "Nath" is his last name.

Since the ghost of Kailash does not want anybody to occupy his house, he tries different ways to scare Banku and his mother, but Banku considers him as an angel and treats him like a friend. Soon, Bhoothnath accepts by Banku's innocent love after a minor incident, as Banku fell from the stairs for which Bhoothnath is responsible for.

The two become friends and thoroughly enjoy the company of one another. It is at this point that Bhoothnath's son returns from the United States and plans to sell off the bungalow. Angered, Bhoothnath scares the buyers, but Anjali comes to know about the existence of him. He then tells his story to Banku and Anjali about his flashback, how his son deserted him at a time of need for him, along with the story of his death. He had a happy family consisting him, son Vijay, wife Nirmal, his daughter-in-law, and his grandson Vibhut. He explains that his son had attempted to sell the house, but Bhoothnath forbade him. Vijay's wife was desperate to get to America as soon as possible. Bhoothnath begs his son to stay behind, but Vijay refused. On the day they were about to leave, Bhoothnath's grandson begged to stay with his grandfather, but was taken away. Bhoothnath attempts one last time to stop his son, but as he hurried down the stairs, his foot slips on a step and he falls to the ground, and he dies instantly.

Two seconds after that, Bhoothnath, unaware that he had just died, rises into his ghost body, tries to stop Vijay, who is entering the taxi, one last time, but Vijay does not see or hear his father, and leaves the bungalow to go to America. Bhoothnath sighs, walks inside and immediately discovers his own dead body lying at the foot of the stairs.

Later, Aditya and Anjali decide to perform the final rites of Bhoothnath to give him Moksha or salvation. It is performed by Banku and Bhoothnath bids an emotional farewell to Banku. By this time, Bhoothnath's son also comes to know of his fault and apologises.

In the end, Banku, who is sad that Bhoothnath is no more, sees Bhoothnath again, who says that he is always there for him and makes Banku promise not to tell his parents about his return and also requests the viewers the same. Vijay, along with his wife and son, reside in Nath Villa with Banku and his parents permanently.

Music

Cast

• Amitabh Bachchan as Kailash Nath (Bhoothnath)
• Shah Rukh Khan as Aditya Sharma
• Juhi Chawla as Anjali Sharma
• Aman Siddiqui as Aman "Banku" Sharma
• Satish Shah as Principal J.J. Irani
• Rajpal Yadav as Anthony
• Priyanshu Chatterjee as Vijay Nath
• Shaana Diya as Shaana (Vijay's wife)
• Neena Kulkarni as Nirmala Nath
• Delnaaz Paul as Jojo's mother
• Aashish Chaudhary as Rohan (Special Appearance)
• Nauheed Cyrusi as Tina (Special Appearance)
• Amit Behl as Doctor

Reception

The film received generally positive response from critics. IMDb rated it 6.9/10, and holds a score of a fresh 76%. At the box office, the film had a good opening, though managed to gross ₹68 million (US$1.0 million) among its theatrical run and was declared semi-hit by Box Office India.^[2]

Sequel: Bhoothnath Returns

As the movie finished with a "to be continued..." ending, a sequel to Bhoothnath was expected but there was no clear intention. Amitabh Bachchan and the original production team announced a sequel, titled Bhoothnath Returns, released on 11 April 2014. Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan reprised their roles, though the latter only had a cameo appearance.

See also

• List of ghost films

References

External links

• Bhoothnath at the Internet Movie Database