The brainwave of putting Big B and a small boy together came to Director Sharma after he noticed the beautiful rapport that the two shared in a TV advertisement. The sweetness of this pair does come across all through Bhoothnath— the story of a friendly ghost and his little friend.

Aditya (SRK), Anjali (Juhi) and their son Banku (Siddiqui) move into an old mansion in Goa, lending a deaf ear to the warnings of the cabdrivers and maid servants of the town who refuse to come anywhere near the “haunted” house. But, a ghost there is! A “che foot, do inch” one who can scare the daylights out of everyone except the “char foot, do inch” newest inhabitant of the house.

“Bhootnath” and Banku become pals... just in time for the intermission, leaving you a little suspicious of what time-wasting tactics you will have to suffer through the entire second half of the film. The answer comes to you shortly: more slapstick, some conflict and a drizzle of emotion— that you can swallow, but the couple of badly-timed songs is pushing it a bit too much.

While AB baby proves his versatility yet again, child artiste Aman too has done a great job of being just the right amount of cute and not another irritating oversmart kid.

The Shah Rukh-Juhi dynamics (with the playful hubby constantly pulling his wife’s leg) bring a smile to your face.

Some other parts will have you in splits, unintentionally though— sample Juhi asking a teary-eyed (bhoot) Bachchan in all seriousness: “Aap kab tak aise bhatakte rahenge?!”

Salim-Suleiman deserve a mention for their original background score that adds to the comedy in the film. Though Sharma insists that Bhoothnath is not really a “children’s film,” the truth is that the kids will enjoy it more than you.