Movie Review: Bhoot-Part 1 -The Haunted Ship

Producers- Karan Johar and Shasdhank Khaitan

Director- Bhanu Pratap Singh

Star Cast- Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana

Genre- Horror

Rating- **

Clichéd & Predictable!

Jyothi Venkatesh

The film Bhoot Part 1- The Haunted Ship based on a true incident begins with a chilling scene and proceeds with flashes of the incident that led to Sea Bird becoming a dreaded haunted ship. The plot of the ship is juxtaposed with Prithvi’s (Vicky Kaushal) poignant past. Solving Sea Bird’s mystery deaths gives Prithvi’s life a sense of purpose. The film which is suppose to blaze a new trail in horror movies is otherwise all about the young shipping officer Prithvi who is shown grappling with a massive personal loss, taking it upon himself to unravel the mysteries of a haunted ship and though technically is fine, is nothing but a predictable tale of clicked horror.

As far as performances go, to his credit, Vicky Kaushal who plays the character of a guy who has lost both his wife and daughter in an adventure which ends up in mishap in a ship, which they undertake at his initiative, carries the character he is assigned with guilt as required by his character, with utmost honesty and succeeds in delivering consistently though he is handicapped to a large extent by a predictable and repetitive screenplay that puts him in the exact same situation, many times over.

 Bhumi Pednekar does not have any role worth her salt but has been cast only with the avowed mission of attracting the audiences with her face on the posters of the film since she has just a special appearance as Prithvi’s wife, while Ashutosh Rana’s character as the learned professor Joshi, who moves around with what looks like an old voltmeter to chase away the ghost and elicits laughter when he, a la Vikram Bhatt’s God-men in his horror films, starts chanting mantras, making you squirm in your seat.

The background score of the film is quite subtle, while the cinematography is consistently dark in order to create the eerie atmospherics. The film becomes very repetitive as it plods on with the images of a crawling and killing apparition, created partially from unrefined computer graphics, derivative in its look and movements, struggling to create a eerie effect, but you are not at all impressed when you walk away from the theatres but only shudder to know that with an open ending, you will be subjected to sequel after sequel from the stable of Dharma Productions, especially since this clichéd and predictable film made in a meager budget is bound to recoup its cost and investment and make a kill at the box office, all thanks to Vicky Kaushal's star value.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Bhoot-Part 1 -The Haunted Ship, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana