The Bhootnii Movie Review: The Bhootnii, written and directed by Sidhaant Sachdev, is supposed to be a horror-comedy - except the comedy is horrifying, and the horror elicits giggles. But there’s an underlying mystery that makes it utterly captivating: what on earth convinced Sanjay Dutt not only to act in this atrocity but to invest in it as a producer? This film is so catastrophically bad that if I were part of the cast or crew, I’d discreetly scrub it from my IMDb credits. 'The Bhootnii' Song 'Mahakaal-Mahakaali': Sanjay Dutt Invokes Spiritual Fervour in This Powerful Shiv Bhakti Track (Watch Video).

The story is set in some random college (whose name I couldn’t be bothered to remember). It’s supposed to be a science institute, though no one’s doing anything remotely scientific - instead, they’re praying to a campus tree called the Virgin Tree to conjure up a lover. Frankly, it’s a fitting metaphor for the country’s declining scientific temperament. Then there’s the tantrik hero, who insists that true progress can only be achieved by merging religion and science, right before spouting mythological nonsense.

'The Bhootnii' Movie Review - Dumb Plot

On Valentine’s night, Shantanu (Sunny Singh, who looks old enough to send his own kid to primary school), a heartbroken collegian, bawls in front of the tree after drinking. His loser tears awaken its spirit, Mohabbat (Mouni Roy), who becomes obsessed with this man-child.

Shantanu has two friends, Sahil (Nick, in his movie debut, but should have stuck to his reels) and Nasir (Aasif Khan), who compete for the title of Most Annoying. Honestly, their scenes make you root for the ghost to just end them all and spare us the agony. In fact, Ms Ghost, could you start before the opening credits? Because the suffering begins immediately- Sunny Singh delivers the least convincing drunken act in cinema history right in the first scene.

Watch the Trailer of 'The Bhootnii':

Then there’s Ananya (Palak Tiwari), Shantanu’s friend-with-a-crush. Since the budget clearly couldn’t stretch to Ananya Panday, Palak had to suffice. To be fair, she’s not half bad - in fact, she’s the only one who actually looks college-aged. But her chemistry with Sunny Singh is as non-existent as the film’s entertainment value.

A Still From The Bhootnii

And of course, there’s Sanjay Dutt as Baba, a para-psychist (I am just repeating words here, I have no clue what that entitles) who seemingly raided his Rudraksh wardrobe for this role. He’s summoned to the college to investigate the haunting, where he stumbles upon Shantanu and his undead girlfriend.

'The Bhootnii' Movie Review - Atrociously Bad!

From the opening scene, it’s painfully clear you’re in for a jolly bad time. The screenplay, camerawork, editing, and performances unite in glorious harmony to make you squirm in secondhand embarrassment. The dialogue is so painfully unfunny that some actors don’t even bother delivering it properly. Poor Aasif Khan tries to salvage his lines before surrendering entirely. The comedy, when nothing works, either has the characters explain the punchline of the non-existent jokes or simply rely on homophobia to sail through.

A Still From The Bhootnii

The special effects are on par with the rest of the film - including the attempt to make Mouni Roy look scary (she ends up resembling someone with Fanta in their veins). After a ghostly fight scene, a character remarks, “This reminds me of Naagin.” I’ve never watched the show (which, incidentally, starred Mouni Roy - oh, meta joke… har har!), but I wholeheartedly agree. Not to mention, there are plenty of continuity errors, which you are bound to miss if you are watching the film while holding your head, nursing the headache that The Bhootnii is bound to give you.

A Still From The Bhootnii

After two hours of self-inflicted humiliation, the film briefly embraces its absurdity - like a ghost and Shantanu playing Antakshari in the clouds—and almost becomes fun. But then it takes itself seriously again, cramming in an awkward romantic song between Sunny and Palak before hurtling toward a climax where people fly around a tree, Sanjay Dutt struggles with rope stunts, and the ghost gets a tragic backstory because horror clearly wasn’t working. ‘Ghudchadi’ Movie Review: Neither Sanjay Dutt-Raveena Tandon nor Parth Samthaan-Khushalii Kumar Could Salvage This Outdated Romcom!

A Still From The Bhootnii

The best part? It finally ends. There’s an epilogue, but I was too terrified to check if it teased a sequel. One Bhootnii is more than enough for my lifetime.

'The Bhootnii' Movie Review - Final Thoughts

The Bhootnii is so atrocious that even the single star I gave in the review feels overly generous. The direction, the performances, the dialogues, the songs (what even was that idiotic "Tara Ra" track where the characters urge us to sodomise ourselves?), the technical aspects, the CGI—every element is in perfect sync, united in being thoroughly mediocre and painfully embarrassing. Move over Nadaaniyan - this is, without question, the worst Hindi film of 2025. And we still have eight months to go. That’s far scarier than anything Mouni Roy attempted on screen.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 01, 2025 10:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).