Two years after brewing a storm at the box office and successfully breaking the coronavirus-induced lull, Rooh Baba and the Manjulika sisters are back, freshly rehashed, with new demons to deal with.

This time around, the fraudulent shaman (Kartik Aaryan) is based in Kolkata, busy duping gullible, evil-fearing people until he is called to an obscure palace town to bust the myth of Manjulika.  Locked behind gilded doors, the spirit has been desperately seeking vendetta for two centuries, wanting to avenge the wrong inflicted upon her and burning everything in the process.

Directed by Anees Bazmi, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is a marked improvement compared to the insufferable sequel (despite a terrific Tabu). Though it suffers from a sluggish, seen-before first half, the threequel redeems itself spectacularly after the interval, which begins with a dazzling dance-off between Vidya Balan and Madhuri Dixit.

It feels like homecoming watching Balan perform to Ami Je Tomar 17 years after she captivated the entire nation with her impeccable, hypnotic craft in the first instalment. She is so good, she makes it difficult to focus on anything, anyone else, including Dixit. Not just when they are dancing but for the entirety of the 160-minute film.

Balan is the undisputed trump card of this horror comedy even if it gravitates inordinately towards Aaryan, who gives his career’s best performance. If his act in Kabir Khan’s Chandu Champion earlier this year was overly accentuated and laboured, here he flows effortlessly, almost like water.

For humour, this third part relies heavily not on Aaryan but on the comedic talents of Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar, and Rajpal Yadav, who get better as the movie progresses.

Akshay Kumar’s towering legacy looms large on Aaryan who liberally uses him as an obvious inspiration. Despite feeling derivative in certain moments, Hindi cinema’s newest superstar is a revelation in the dramatic parts, especially in the rousing climactic sequence.

Although Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 tries to tie all loose ends neatly, some glaring gaps remain. For instance, how did Meera (Triptii Dimri) and her uncle get to know about Ruhan (Aryan)? Or the arc of Dimri’s character in the story from 200 years ago. It’s just hinted at, never explained. But that’s true of Dimri’s entire presence in the film. From central, meaty parts in gems such as Bulbbul (2020) and Qala (2022), it’s agonising to see her tossed around as meat in populist Hindi cinema.

The same holds for Dixit. Bollywood’s stubborn refusal to look beyond her dancing talents for the remarkable actor that she is is debilitating, and tragic. After a prolific career spanning 40 years, can we, for the love of all that we hold dear, please give her a break, a change, a truly memorable role?

It’s not just Dixit or Dimri, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 also woefully wastes Vijay Raaz, who plays Meera’s father and a faded king who struggles to make ends meet. However, despite its rough edges and re-jigged songs, there’s a lot to appreciate. Written by Prakash Kaushik, the film is laden with topical, self-referential humour. There’s an in-joke on Shiney Ahuja, another on Aaryan’s infamous dud Shehzada (2023), Jawan rises from the dead, and then there’s an elaborate scene just to make room for Raaz’s ‘kawwa biryani‘ (the scene from 2004’s Run that gained cult status over the years).

Other than its apparent commentary on sibling rivalry much like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, the film dares to dabble with ideas of gender, propriety, myth-making, and the hollowness of stately titles in the contemporary world.

Mounted lavishly with a gorgeous production design, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 also makes a case for how history is a lot more layered and complicated than we make it to be and how it’s never as simplistic as good over evil. Dig deeper before you celebrate the burning of another effigy.

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