Like all other horror flicks from this side of the world, ‘Bhoot Returns’ comes ready with the much scary
ingredients like a family shifting into a new house that is haunted. Namrata Awasthi (Manisha Koirala)
and her husband Tarun (JD Chakravarthy) along with their two kids, Taman and Nimi, move into a new
house after the earlier tenants left in a jiffy. Things change as soon as their six-year-old daughter Nimi
starts talking about an imaginary friend, Shabbo. When Tarun’s sister, Pooja, a photographer comes
home for a vacation, she starts suspecting Shabbo to be something more than just an imaginary friend.
What follows are scary shots of them pacing up and down the stairs in the middle of the night looking
for something eerie. A scene that shows Pooja, Tarun and Namrata hiding from each other suspecting
something spooky, will have everyone around you in splits.
The cinematographer seems obsessed with the idea of depth of field as it is used in every second shot.
Otherwise, extreme close-ups fill up the frame. The framing of the shots sometimes is so random
that for long moments you are forced to look at just Manisha’s fat fingers while holding a mug.
There is hardly a need for 3D and the heavy frames on your nose just leave you irked. The cacophony
background score that is intended to induce an element of startle and fright fails as well. We still prefer
the scary doorbell from ‘Bhoot’ than all the music in this one put together.
With its much scary ambiance, the movie successfully scores 4/5 in rating.