Why Akshay Kumar's Bhooth Bangla Is A Constant Reminder Of Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Priyadarshan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa made the horror-comedy genre cool, before it was the "it thing" today.

Over the years, fans have compared every release in the aforementioned genre with the brilliance of Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), which was beyond just jump scares and forced jokes with romance peppered over it. Bhool Bhulaiyaa was as much about the sprawling old havelis, eerie corridors, ancestral secrets, Manjulika's jingling anklets, the iconic Ami Je Tomar filling the air with unrelenting dread, and amid it all - Akshay Kumar in his peak comedy avatar as the psychiatrist Dr Aditya Shrivastav, who gets lost in the 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' web.

This was 2007.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa poster

Since then, the horror-comedy universe has expanded with blockbusters like the Stree franchise, Munjya, Go Goa Gone, and so on.

But Bhool Bhulaiyaa's loyal fanbase has been unshakeable. Precisely why, when the announcement of Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar returning to the tried-and-tested formula with their upcoming release Bhooth Bangla first hit the media, comparisons were unstoppable and questions doubled.

From exact locations to similar casts, a lot has been discussed and a lot has been dismissed by the Bhooth Bangla crew, on the pretext of it having no resemblance to Bhool Bhulaiyaa.

Bhool Bangla poster

But is it really?

Same Same But Different

To begin with, the Bhooth Bangla trailer opens with the towering haunted mansion, so central to the story of Bhool Bhulaiyaa. It is the same - Chomu Palace in Jaipur, a 300-year-old heritage site which has been skilfully utilised for its royal facade and mysterious vibe. As it returns in character in Bhooth Bangla, reports state that about 60% of the upcoming film has been shot on these grounds.

While the 16th-century fort instantly teleports you to the 2007 film, what also reminds us greatly of Bhool Bhulaiyaa is the return of the iconic actors beyond characters.

Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, and Rajpal Yadav, who added gravitas to the madness and led the audience to guffaw at their unmistakable comic timing, return in full power in Bhooth Bangla.

Paresh Rawal, Priyadarshan, Akshay Kumar and Rajpal Yadav on Bhooth Bangla set

Paresh Rawal as Batukshankar Upadhyay and his theatrics to the suspicious supernatural occurrences in the haveli; Rajpal Yadav as the distinct red-painted priest with his high-pitched voice - a look so deeply symbolic that you could not envision anyone else. Asrani too returns in Bhooth Bangla posthumously after he died in October last year.

Paresh Rawal as Batukshankar Upadhyay in Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Now, 14 years later, they return as what we call the "golden trinity".

Rajpal Yadav and Akshay Kumar in Bhool Bhulaiyaa

But more than what's to come, fans are constantly made to go down memory lane to re-witness what they created.

Asrani, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav in Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Ami Je Tomar, Once Again

Vidya Balan as Manjulika was a terrifying thought and sight. She didn't just play Manjulika; she became her.

Her threatening voice looming across the dark night, descending upon the haveli; her urge to quench her thirst with the king's blood who killed her lover; but mostly the climax where madness engulfed her and she danced away in complete abandon.

Vidya Balan in Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Vidya Balan was the female lead in Bhool Bhulaiyaa, but it was Akshay Kumar's eccentricities as the not-so-ordinary psychiatrist that, though arriving just before the interval, left a startling impression.

Vidya Balan and Akshay Kumar in Bhool Bhulaiyaa

With the premises, characters, and descriptive songs, the nostalgic pull for OG Bhool Bhulaiyaa lovers is justified.

But why compare at all? To begin with, while the above factors are too stoic to ignore, but there's also the truth of them being completely different genres.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa bent over towards a psychological thriller concept; it was rational, there was logic to the horrors that lived amid the family. Bhooth Bangla is what you call absolute fantasy - real ghosts exist in this world. While Bhool Bhulaiyaa had scientific reasoning, Bhooth Bangla is a lot lighter. The jokes might be the same, the cast too? But the foundation begs to differ.

While Ami Je Tomar was more of a character in the plot of Bhool Bhulaiyaa than a song, Bhooth Bangla found itself in the middle of a copyright controversy when claims were made about their song Ram Ji Bhala Karein, stating that it had elements from Satyajit Ray's 1969 classic Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne.

Specifically, the rap bit - "Kala bhoot, gora bhoot, lamba bhoot, chhota bhoot" - an intrinsic part of the original Bengali track.

Two and two have not equalled four on all fronts amid the Bhool Bhulaiyaa vs Bhooth Bangla storm.

The Balancing Act

From director Priyadarshan to Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal, not only have they addressed the ongoing comparisons between Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Bhooth Bangla, they have unknowingly been banking on it, some might say.

Most recently, Akshay Kumar shared a hilarious anecdote where his son Aarav was terrified of Vidya Balan as Manjulika in Bhool Bhulaiyaa. So much so that he wouldn't speak to her for six years, not look her in the eye when she came home, as it reminded him of the possessed phenomenon.

At Bhooth Bangla's trailer launch and subsequent interviews, Paresh Rawal reiterated that both Bhooth Bangla and Bhool Bhulaiyaa might share the same 'creative DNA', but the latter transcends its predecessor in terms of emotional resonance and aesthetic treatment.

Indirectly, these are also drawing out the similarities and dissimilarities between the two films, amid the constant chatter of them being the same.

Some reports even stated that Bhooth Bangla was in fact a repurposed script of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, which filmmaker Priyadarshan flatly refused, calling Bhooth Bangla an original script.

14 Years Later, Fans Return

Bhooth Bangla marks a reunion between Akshay Kumar and Priyadarshan after 14 years. While all the speculation has made them love Bhool Bhulaiyaa all the more, there have been some crumbs here and there to justify it.

The Bhooth Bangla trailer has one of the dialogues from Bhool Bhulaiyaa - "Behen Darr Gayi" - which instantly made fans think of the OG film and Akshay Kumar's impeccable comic timing.

Over the years, Akshay Kumar's name became synonymous with patriotic films and a dry spell at the box office for years. Bhooth Bangla, whether its underlying theme is similar to Bhool Bhulaiyaa or not - when Akshay Kumar's comedy was at its peak - does have high chances of bringing audiences back to theatres.

Call it a long-overdue reset, but the King of Comedy has been missed. The bits and pieces of the Bhooth Bangla trailer unleash renewed hope for fans who stayed loyal to the actor's knack for comedy.

While Bhooth Bangla struggles to get out of the shadows of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, which may increase as the film releases with more parallels to draw, it just might also strike thunder for the curiosity - "Is it really just Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2?"