<p><em>Phone Bhoot</em></p>.<p>Hindi (Theatres)</p>.<p>Director: Gurmmeet Singh</p>.<p>Cast: Katrina Kaif, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ishaan Khattar, Sheeba Chaddha</p>.<p>Rating: 1.5/5 stars</p>.<p><em>Phone Bhoot</em> is about two privileged men, Major (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Gullu (Ishaan Khatter), who have a penchant for the macabre and convince their parents to spend Rs 5 crore on them in a span of just a few years until their fathers get fed up and insist that they get real jobs.</p>.<p>They decide to prove themselves by launching their ‘dial-a-ghostbuster’ service after Ragini (Katrina Kaif), a ghost, approaches them with this start-up idea.</p>.<p>The movie uses an old Hindi cinema trick in a new setting — to pass off silly humour as comedy — and is a fiasco whose ghosts will haunt the Hindi film industry for a long time.</p>.<p>With its failed gags, dancing ghosts and witches who spout jokes, and nearly no scary element, the film seems tailor-made for children. But to be honest, even they deserve better.</p>.<p>The script is dull and ponderous, focusing too much on the coolness of its protagonists rather than developing them in a way that would make spectators would root for them, thus, failing to keep the audience engaged.</p>.<p>Using advertisements and product placements to substitute for humour is likewise perplexing. It shows how Hindi cinema lacks quality writers.</p>.<p>The makers marketed the film as a ‘horror comedy’, and viewers anticipated jump-scares. In the Western equivalents, the movies may not be as terrifying as they promise to be but they contain a few genuinely shocking sequences that make for a good scare. There were no such instances in this film, which only added to the agony of watching <em>Phone Bhoot</em>. The objectification of women makes matters worse.</p>.<p>One aspect that cannot be ignored is the number of regions represented in a cliched manner in the film. Gullu speaks Tamil, drinks filter coffee, and is a Rajnikanth fan. Major speaks Punjabi, is a lassi drinker, and is a braggart who boasts about his physical strength, only to embarrass himself. The <span class="italic">chudail</span> (Sheeba Chaddha) speaks Hindi with a tinge of Bengali accent, and Atmaram (Jackie Shroff) speaks Mumbai’s t<span class="italic">apori</span> dialect.</p>.<p>There is nothing extraordinary about Katrina’s role and I am not sure if it warrants a visit to theatres. </p>
<p><em>Phone Bhoot</em></p>.<p>Hindi (Theatres)</p>.<p>Director: Gurmmeet Singh</p>.<p>Cast: Katrina Kaif, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ishaan Khattar, Sheeba Chaddha</p>.<p>Rating: 1.5/5 stars</p>.<p><em>Phone Bhoot</em> is about two privileged men, Major (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Gullu (Ishaan Khatter), who have a penchant for the macabre and convince their parents to spend Rs 5 crore on them in a span of just a few years until their fathers get fed up and insist that they get real jobs.</p>.<p>They decide to prove themselves by launching their ‘dial-a-ghostbuster’ service after Ragini (Katrina Kaif), a ghost, approaches them with this start-up idea.</p>.<p>The movie uses an old Hindi cinema trick in a new setting — to pass off silly humour as comedy — and is a fiasco whose ghosts will haunt the Hindi film industry for a long time.</p>.<p>With its failed gags, dancing ghosts and witches who spout jokes, and nearly no scary element, the film seems tailor-made for children. But to be honest, even they deserve better.</p>.<p>The script is dull and ponderous, focusing too much on the coolness of its protagonists rather than developing them in a way that would make spectators would root for them, thus, failing to keep the audience engaged.</p>.<p>Using advertisements and product placements to substitute for humour is likewise perplexing. It shows how Hindi cinema lacks quality writers.</p>.<p>The makers marketed the film as a ‘horror comedy’, and viewers anticipated jump-scares. In the Western equivalents, the movies may not be as terrifying as they promise to be but they contain a few genuinely shocking sequences that make for a good scare. There were no such instances in this film, which only added to the agony of watching <em>Phone Bhoot</em>. The objectification of women makes matters worse.</p>.<p>One aspect that cannot be ignored is the number of regions represented in a cliched manner in the film. Gullu speaks Tamil, drinks filter coffee, and is a Rajnikanth fan. Major speaks Punjabi, is a lassi drinker, and is a braggart who boasts about his physical strength, only to embarrass himself. The <span class="italic">chudail</span> (Sheeba Chaddha) speaks Hindi with a tinge of Bengali accent, and Atmaram (Jackie Shroff) speaks Mumbai’s t<span class="italic">apori</span> dialect.</p>.<p>There is nothing extraordinary about Katrina’s role and I am not sure if it warrants a visit to theatres. </p>