Trade Talk: The Bhootnii Vs Raid 2

Bhushan Kumar and T-Series’ Raid 2 is what is known as a “sureshot” in trade parlance. Going further than the first film which was released seven years ago, director Raj Kumar Gupta, back on the saddle (it’s always best to let the original director helm the sequel), one of the most underrated directors of Filmistan (‘Bollywood’ is a terrible coinage, best avoided), has whipped up a gripping war of nerves between the IRS officer Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgan) and his formidable adversary Dada Monhar Bhai. Riteish Deshmukh replaces the ostensibly irreplaceable Saurabh Shukla who had played the raided politician in the first post. This could be the beginning of a new career for Deshmukh as an antagonist.

But it is the wacky comedy-horror release this week The Bhootnii, written and directed by Sidhaant Sachdev, and produced by Deepak Mukut and Sanjay Dutt, which in all likelihood may prove the surprise success of the sookha summer season.

Peppy, precocious, quirky and insanely entertaining, The Bhootnii is the kind of mass entertainer that the box office looks forward to.

Says producer Deepak Mukut, “We’ve tried to make an entertaining film. If we’ve succeeded then nothing like it. Sanjay Dutt’s comic timing has not been tapped properly in recent times. Everyone knows him as Baba. But the Baba he plays in The Bhootnii is something else.”

Deepak Mukut had a surprise success earlier this year when his 2016 rom-com Sanam Teri Kasam attracted more footfalls on re-release than its original release.

So are we looking at a double success this week at the Hindi box office? Quite likely. God and the box office know, we need the hits. Both the releases on Thursday have what it takes.