Boochi (Bhoot Returns) - Movie Review

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has rocked the Telugu viewers with his stunning crime thriller Rakta Charitra last year. Although his recent movie Department was to release with dubbed version in Telugu, he could not do it due to the poor response. Now, he is back with a horror movie Boochi. But RGV lets you down badly this time.

Boochi is dubbed version of 3D horror film Bhoot Returns. Although it has been promoted as a sequel to RGV's Bhoot, there is nothing much to connect with Bhoot except the similarity in haunted house. Its plot bears a striking resemblance to the RGV's Vaastu Shastra.

The main attraction of the movie Boochi is its stunning special effects. Besides this, Chakravarthy and Manisha's performance, wonderful camerawork, good background score, excellent art direction are its other highlights. Although RGV has several elements to scare, he still falls short of something, which makes you sit on edge of the seat, watching it biting your nails. The director has no grip on its narration. Another drawback is the 3D effect, which remains unimpressive.

Tarun (Chakravarthy) moves in to a luxurious bungalow, that he has acquired on a rather cheap rent, with his wife Namrata's (Manisha Koirala), 10-year-old Taman and 6-year-old Nimmi. During an exploration of the house, Nimmi finds a cute looking doll and she introduces it as 'Dolly'. One day, Tarun's younger sister Pooja (Madhu Shalini) makes a surprise visit to the family. As the family is discussing Nimmi's fixation over her imaginary friend Shabbu, the domestic help Laxman reveals presence of a spirit in Nimmi's life. Suddenly strange things start occurring around the bungalow. What happens next will form an interesting part of the film.

Another drawback of the movie Boochi is that it does not offer much scope to the acting. Manisha Koirala has delivered a brilliant performance in her comeback movie. Chakravarthy is good in his role but his acting looks monotonous throughout the film. Madhu Shalini makes sure to impress you. Child artist Alayna is also good in her role.

In the technical front, Sandeep Chowta's background score is the main highlight. It really heightens the effect of many ordinary sequences. Harshraj Shroff and Ravichandran's cinematography is good, but the 3D technology has not been utilised to the maximum. The editing work is also commendable.

Overall, it can be said that Boochi is not the top horror movie of RGV. It is ranked lowest in the list of RGV's previous horror films like Raat, Bhoot and Phoonk.

Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Producer: Jitendra Jain

Cast: JD Chakravarthy, Manisha Koirala, Madhu Shalini, Alayana Sharma and others

Music: Salim-Sulaiman