The story
Dilawar Rana (Sumeet Vyas) is imprisoned for a crime he hasn’t committed, thanks to his stepbrother Kash (Pranay Manchanda). Dilawar’s fears he will be stuck with the label of being a fraudster for the rest of his life. But, being the productive sort, Dilawar uses his business acumen to harness the talent in prison, in order to start a papad making business, which turns out to be a huge success.
Seeing this, Mrs Rana (Sujata Segal), Dilawar’s stepmother, gets him out on anticipatory bail. She then puts forth a proposal, which Dilawar reluctantly accepts. Dilawar is asked to run the family’s ancestral heritage property, which the family had profitably converted into a hotel. But, travellers started opting for modern hotels over the old mansion. And, spooky happenings in the premises made travellers weary of returning to the old mansion. Dilawar’s aim is to get the place running again and sell it.
Dilawar, Mallika (Eisha Chopra) and Kash come together to change the fate of the property. They have advantageously steered the markets to believe they will offer best spooky adventures to the travellers. Visitors start flooding in, but the question remains, will Dilawar auction the property?
Review
Horror? Seriously? Nahhh! ‘Original Bhootiyagiri’ can be comfortably termed as a light-hearted comedy. The spook levels are trivialised in a manner that could make anyone burst into peals of laughter. Even the faint-hearted can cherish this one. The protagonists, Sumeet Vyas, Eisha Chopra, and Pranay Manchanda are simply having a blast on the sets. The plot progresses organically with twists and turns that have been planted at the nick of time. Every aspect of the plot completes itself in a manner that is most fitting. The writer doesn’t necessarily delve into needless details of how and why was Dilawar imprisoned, so on and so forth.
In fact, there is a very simple message that the story conveys: Our fears stem from our childhood. Over a period of time we shove these fears under the carpet and forget to face them. These fears loom in our subconscious and come back to haunt us, when we least expect it. Hence, it is important to see fear in the eye and fight it, just as Dilwar does, in the first few nights of his stay at the mansion.
The jokes are spontaneous. But there is some serious underlining emphasis laid on the goodness that is served in clay pots, by ‘Biryani by the Kilo’. Honestly, it’s not right to tempt viewers during the lockdown phase, especially when we know that home deliveries are still a burning question. But jokes apart, the production could have toned down the advertisements. Toning down the language (lot of cuss words used) could have helped them garner a broader and wider target audience. Overall a no-brainer! And a must watch this one when you are feeling sad and low. —Review by Heer Kothari
BOX
Name of the series: Official Bhootiyagiri
Name of platform: MX Player
Number of episodes: Five (30 mins each approx.)
Cast: Sumeet Vyas, Eisha Chopra, Pranay Manchada, Mohan Kapoor, Sujata Segal, Udita Bhalla, Naveen Prabhakar, and Ajay Kapoor
Director: Vishwajoy Mukherjee
Rating: 3.5/5