Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2

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In a mansion in Bhawanigarh, Rajasthan, in 2004, powerful sorcerers and priests perform sacred rituals, and supernatural events begin occurring throughout the palace due to a malevolent spirit named Manjulika, who is determined to attack the family's daughter-in-law, Anjulika. A sorcerer intervenes and forces the spirit into a chamber, sealing it inside with a powerful trishul and sacred amulets placed on the door. Afterwards, the family abandons the mansion for safety.

Eighteen years later, in Himachal Pradesh, Ruhaan Randhawa meets Reet Thakur, who is travelling to Bhawanigarh via Chandigarh to reluctantly marry her fiancé, Sagar. They board a bus to Chandigarh but cut short their journey to attend a music carnival, later discovering that the bus on which they were supposed to travel had met with an accident, killing everyone on board. Subsequently, the Thakurs, owners of the mansion abandoned 18 years earlier, presume Reet to be dead. Reet attempts to contact her family, but overhears a conversation between her younger sister Trisha and Sagar over the phone, realising that an affair is developing between them. Hoping to spare them from a loveless marriage and avoid marrying Sagar herself, Reet goes along with her family's assumption of her death and travels to Bhawanigarh with a hesitant Ruhaan.

Reet drags Ruhaan into the mansion, despite his belief that it is haunted. Together, they hide in the abandoned ancestral mansion, but Chote Pandit, a priest, notices that the mansion doors have been opened and informs the Thakurs. Accompanied by the villagers, they enter the mansion and find Ruhaan, who covers up the situation by falsely claiming that Reet's spirit led him there and that her final wish is to see her family living in the ancestral mansion, with Trisha getting married. Influenced by Ruhaan, the Thakurs arrange Trisha's wedding to Sagar. Due to his supposed ability to communicate with spirits, Ruhaan becomes popular as Rooh Baba, and he and Reet become friends. When Ruhaan is led to the room where the spirit was trapped, Anjulika, Reet's sister-in-law, warns him to stay away from it and reveals that the spirit is actually her twin sister, Manjulika.

The sisters had moved to the mansion when their father, Debanshu, was appointed to manage the Thakurs' accounts. Debanshu's preferential treatment towards Anjulika's talents instils jealousy in Manjulika, which gradually turns into hatred. Both sisters fall in love with Kunwar Thakur, Reet's elder brother. However, Kunwar reciprocates Anjulika's feelings, leaving Manjulika enraged and heartbroken. Seeking solace in learning black magic, Manjulika decides to use it as a weapon against Anjulika. On the night of Kunwar and Anjulika's wedding, Manjulika brutally stabs Debanshu after he discovers the truth and sets out to murder Anjulika. However, Anjulika defends herself and fatally stabs Manjulika in self-defence. Even after death, Manjulika's spirit continues tormenting the family and paralyses Kunwar by pushing him off a balcony. The priests eventually capture Manjulika's spirit and imprison it in the room on the third floor.

After the flashback, Reet's father reveals to Ruhaan that Manjulika's curse has killed eight members of their family. One night, Chote Pandit finds Ruhaan and Reet wandering around the mansion and discovers the truth. With the help of his elder brother, Bade Pandit, and his wife, whose business is suffering because of Ruhaan's popularity, Chote Pandit leads a search of the mansion. Knowing that no one would dare enter Manjulika's room, Reet decides to hide there, and Chote Pandit's accusations are proven false to the family. Once freed, Manjulika attacks Anjulika, who discovers that Reet is alive and joins forces with Ruhaan and Reet to ward off the spirit. They seek help from the same priest who had captured Manjulika's spirit, but he informs them that he requires three days. Manjulika's spirit possesses the priest, forcing him to kill his disciples before he is himself killed. Ruhaan encounters the spirit and falls from a terrace in terror.

Ruhaan returns to the palace speaking in Bengali and claims to be Manjulika, revealing that he is possessed. The Thakurs spot Reet and discover that she is alive. Ruhaan attacks Anjulika, who uses Reet as a human shield by threatening to slit her throat if Ruhaan attacks her, while addressing him as "Anjulika", confusing the family. Ruhaan then reveals that he has merely been pretending to be possessed and that the woman who died in 2004 was actually Anjulika, while the woman living with them is the real Manjulika.

In 2004, after killing Debanshu with the assistance of the priest, who is revealed to be Manjulika's accomplice, Manjulika used black magic to manipulate Anjulika and steal her identity. Disguised as Manjulika under the influence of black magic, Anjulika attacked Manjulika, who then stabbed her to death under the guise of self-defence. When Kunwar uncovered the truth, Manjulika pushed him off the balcony, paralysing him and preventing him from exposing her. She also murdered eight members of the family after they learnt the truth. In the present day, Anjulika's spirit attacks Manjulika and imprisons her in the same room in which she had been locked in 2004. Anjulika's spirit shares a final moment with her family and asks Reet's father to forgive her for revealing the truth about Anjulika and Manjulika. She thanks Ruhaan and asks the family to leave, as she has unfinished business with Manjulika. Anjulika enters the room and tortures the real Manjulika to death. The Thakur family departs, and the mansion is abandoned once again.

Development

A sequel to Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) was officially announced on 19 August 2019.^[8] Bhushan Kumar, chairman of T-Series, had long considered creating a franchise based on the 2007 film. Aakash Kaushik and Farhad Samji had two separate scripts prepared for their independent films. Samji felt that elements of their two scripts could work together for a new film, and they pitched the idea to producer Murad Khetani. Khetani felt the idea had promise and could work as a sequel to Bhool Bhulaiyaa.^[9] Eventually, he approached Kumar, who came on board, collaborating with Khetani for the second time since Kabir Singh, which also starred Kiara Advani.

Vidya Balan was approached to reprise her role as Manjulika for the film but declined, expressing concern that a less successful performance could tarnish the legacy and impact of her portrayal in the 2007 film.^[10][11] The character was subsequently recast with Tabu, of whom Balan spoke fondly.^[12][13] Balan eventually returned for the sequel as Manjullika.

Filming

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 began filming on 9 October 2019^[14] and wrapped up on 25 February 2022.^[15] Aaryan lost his voice while filming the climax sequence of the film.^[16] It was filmed in a real mansion.^[17] Filming was occurring in Lucknow, before the pandemic disrupted the schedule.^[18] It was shot in Mumbai and Manali, Himachal Pradesh.^[19][20][21]

Theatrical

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was released on 20 May 2022.^[1] The film was originally scheduled to be released in theatres on 31 July 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22]

Home media

The digital streaming rights of the film were acquired by Netflix. The film was digitally streamed on Netflix from 19 June 2022.^[23] The satellite rights were acquired by Sony Max, where it premiered on 16 October 2022. On 30 October 2022, a simulcast release of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 occurred on all Sony Network Channels^[24] like Sony Max, SET India, Sony SAB and Sony Pal.

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The music of the film was composed by Pritam, while Tanishk Bagchi appeared as the guest composer, recreating the title track along with Pritam. The lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sameer, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Mandy Gill, and Saaveri Verma.^[25]

The song "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Title Track" was recreated from the title track for the 2007 film Bhool Bhulaiyaa, which was sung by Neeraj Shridhar and written by Sameer.^[26] This is the second time the song is being recreated after the 2017 film Commando 2, which was titled "Hare Krishna Hare Ram", sung by Armaan Malik, Raftaar, and Ritika, and composed by Gourov-Roshin.^[27]

The song "Ami Je Tomar/Mere Dholna Sun" from the prequel was also retained in the film. Shreya Ghoshal, who sung "Mere Dholna" in the 2007 prequel, reprised her vocals and is featured in three different versions of the song in the film.^[28]

Due to fan demand, a version of "Ami Je Tomar" featuring the vocals of Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal was also released as a duet with the title "Ami Je Tomar Kartik X Vidya" on 28 June 2022, taking from each video clip of the song.

T-Series also released the "Cine Audio" of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 on 24 June 2022.^[29]

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Box office

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 earned ₹14.11 crore (US$1.5 million) at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹18.34 crore (US$1.9 million). On the third day, the film collected ₹23.51 crore (US$2.5 million) taking total domestic weekend collection to ₹55.96 crore (US$5.9 million).^[4]

As of 8 July 2022^[update], the film grossed ₹221.33 crore (US$23 million) in India and ₹45.55 crore (US$4.8 million) overseas, for a worldwide gross collection of ₹266.88 crore (US$28 million), to become the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2022.^[30]

Critical response

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 received positive reviews from critics.^[31][32][33] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 8 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10.^[34]

A critic for Bollywood Hungama gave the film four and a half stars out of five and wrote, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is a complete entertainer and works due to the splendid combo of horror and comedy."^[35] Pallabi Dey Purkayastha of The Times of India rated it three and a half stars out of five and wrote, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is an agglomeration of grief and the grieving."^[36] Rohit Vats of Daily News and Analysis gave it three and a half stars out of five and wrote, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is an out and out entertainer and next in the line of typical Bollywood 'masala' films."^[37] Avinash Lohana of Pinkvilla rated the film three stars out of five and wrote, "Kartik, Kiara and Tabu live up to their parts. The film has a mass appeal and the potential to bring the audience back into the theatres."^[38] Tushar Joshi of India Today similarly gave the film three stars out of five and wrote, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has all the masala and makings to satiate the taste buds. It's funny in places, tries to be scary most of the time, but like its title, its efforts get somewhere lost in a maze."^[39] Bharathi Pradhan of Lehren also gave it the same rating and wrote, "Tabu proves once again that she's a rare blend of versatility in performance with an arresting face. It's not the kind of film where you stop to look for logic."^[40]

Rohit Bhatnagar of The Free Press Journal rated the film three stars out of five and wrote, "Horror-comedy is a tricky genre, but Anees Bazmee dabbles with funny one-liners and jump scares together quite well."^[41] Devesh Sharma of Filmfare, also with three stars out of five, wrote, "Watch the film for Tabu's and Kartik's performances and for its comic elements."^[42] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in also gave the film three stars out of five and wrote, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 moves along on its hero's insouciance, Tabu's screen presence, and patches of entertaining comedy."^[43] In a mixed review, Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated the film two and a half stars out of five and found that the film did not take itself seriously to its strength, writing, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is a silly scary movie that knows it is a silly scary movie."^[44] Shalini Langer of The Indian Express rated the film two stars out of five and felt the humour could have been more sensitive: "There are repeated jokes at the expense of an overweight child and a hard-of-hearing pandit."^[45] With one and a half stars out of five, Tatsam Mukherjee of Firstpost lamented for the sequel having no narrative relation with the previous film, writing, "While the 2007 original used the vessel of a horror comedy to tell a rather important story about mental illness, the sequel regresses into actual bhoot-pret (ghost-spirits)."^[46]

A third instalment in the franchise, titled Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, was officially announced by T-Series with a teaser on 1 March 2023. Directed by Anees Bazmee, the film stars Kartik Aaryan, who reprises his role as Rooh Baba, alongside Vidya Balan, returning as Manjulika from the 2007 film, along with Madhuri Dixit and Triptii Dimri. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 was released on 1 November 2024, coinciding with the Diwali festival.^[47]

• Geethaanjali, spin-off to the original Malayalam version of Bhool Bhulaiyaa with similar plot.