Arjun Unnikrishnan

I had reasonably high expectations for this movie based on its success, and the apparent postive feedback from critics and audiences. I guess had higher expectations for the audiences and their standards, now that I have actually seen it for myself. I am, unfortunately, thoroughly unimpressed and rather disappointed. The movie does follow that wonderful original very closely, in script, in pacing and in the overall feel. But where the animated version was innovative and precocious, this one comes across rather juvenile. There's something about it that feels distinctly Disney Channel original. First is the way it is shot; it's very mediocre and unoriginal. The shot compositions are basic and messy, especially whenever there's any type of action depicted on screen. It's very chaotic and substandard. Second, the acting is also extraordinarily subpar. It reeks of a soap opera or a kids TV show rather than a high budget Hollywood production. This may be a result of the success of those Marvel movies which required their actors to project the most basic of human emotions in the most average and all-encompassing way possible to appeal to the widest possible audiences. Here, the result is that mediocre overacting and bland line deliveries stunt what we have already seen in extremely effective animated sequences. There's no punchiness, no truth behind any of the motions the people on screen are going through. It also doesn't help that there are no good actors of calibre on screen anyway. The CGI is reasonably good, especially considering how bad Marvel has become. But even the best CGI can't compete with the exquisite, wonderfully articulate animation they're based on. In the end, this is an overrated, undercooked mess that has surprisingly pleased an audience grown used to subpar material thanks to the dominance of Marvel and Disney properties in the last decade and a half.

Baahubali and the Lords of The Rings were better fantasies than this convoluted, unnecessary, misguided attempt at Hindu placation.

Anyone who found this movie even remotely entertaining has been severely handicapped by the lack of quality entertainment in their lives, and that is truly a sad state of affairs. Bhool Bhulaiyaa, the reasonably entertaining adaptation of the far better Malayalam movie "Manichitrathazhu", was a good standalone movie by Bollywood standards and did not need sequels, and certainly deserved better than what it got. The first sequel, while unnecessary, at least had a moderately interesting storyline involving Tabu's character. This movie has nothing good about it, and that's heartbreaking considering the presence of two legends. Vidya and Madhuri aren't in it long enough, or significantly enough to make a difference to the overall experience of the movie. The movie itself is far too long with the horror (let's call it that) and comedic (yeah, let's not dissect that) elements fight each other to gain an ounce of the viewer's interest. The story is trite, extremely basic and reliant on unbelievable and idiotic progressions and character moments that would seem out of place in a kid's animation from the 2000s. The twist is reliant on a very tired cliché that does not hold up, the pacing is laughably bad, the "comedy" is unfortunately not laughable at all, the music is forgettable and there is no purpose for the existence of this movie. The acting by the supporting cast is good but the material they are given is pure bile. Why the characters of Manjulika and Anulika exist as they are named beyond the most threadbare link to the original Bhool Bhulaiyaa is impossible to justify. The talent of Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan, even Dimrii, is wasted in service of a leading man with the charisma of a wet rotting leaf. He can't act, and he can't dance and yet the "twist" relies on it. Even things that could have been excellent additions like the music and dance sequence with Madhuri and Vidya are disappointing. The song Ami Je Tomar has been beaten to death, that horse needs to be left alone and buried now. Madhuri and Vidya do their best with what they are given, and they are unquestionably the only things worth looking at in this movie. And don't even get me started on the surprises. This is on par with the Telugu crapfest with the Chandramukhi character that I hate with a vehemence even the Tamil version doesn't get. Its success so far only speaks to the absolute low standards of Bollywood movies. In summation, if you enjoyed it, I would recommend looking into why you don't have better taste in entertainment and why you're doing this to yourself. Madhuri and Vidya deserve better.

If I could have, I would have given a zero. The amount of historical revisionism is astounding. Every ounce of legitimacy and historical accuracy has been leeched out of this daily soap. It has nothing of value to offer as a historical drama or base entertainment.

Salman can't act, and that's why he has to keep making these below average, intellectually stunted barely coherent "movies" that are more akin to live action versions of kids cartoons. And I don't particularly enjoy watching this middle-aged north Indian man make a fool of himself poking fun at south Indian people.

Overblown, overrated and overflowing with characters, the film is a celebration of everything that's outrageous and yet exceedingly lacking in substance. It's all about face value, the outer surface so to speak, without the grit or substantial substance of other similar final acts in major franchises, but obviously an overblown CGI Fest is what the menial masses demanded and that's what they get. Mindless entertainment at its finest.