If you think that ghost films aren't for kids, Bhoothnath will prove you wrong.
Ghost flicks and kids don't mix well, you might think. Bhoothnath, however, aims to disprove that, and instead of frightening the living daylights out of kids, it does quite the opposite.
Its ghost is not frightening but endearing. Playing this friendly ghost is none other than Amitabh Bachchan, who teams up with child artiste Aman Siddiqui for some light as well as emotional moments onscreen.
Bachchan and kids
As Bhoothnath, Bachchan shares a special bond with Banku (Siddiqui), who is a total brat. Together they play a lot of pranks at home. The film focuses on how adults need to see the world through the eyes of a child. In recent times Bachchan has acted with a number of talented child artistes and it seems he enjoys their company. Ayesha Kapoor in Black, Rucha Vaidya in Ek Ajnabee and Sweeni Khare in Cheeni Kum have all impressed, despite Bachchan's towering presence. "Aman is an absolute darling. I acted with him earlier in Eklavya, where he played the younger version of Saif Ali Khan's character. I've also done several ads with him so we bonded very well," said Bachchan about his latest co-star at the launch of the film's soundtrack.
Third time lucky?
Bachchan has teamed up with Ravi Chopra for their third film after the hugely successful Baghban, which gave Bachchan a new lease of life as an ageing solo hero. This was followed by Babul, which didn't have much success at the box office. Now they are back with another film starting with the letter B, Bhoothnath.
This time, however, Ravi Chopra only produced the film. He handed the reins of direction to debutant Vivek Sharma. "Vivek came to me with the concept of the film and as soon as I heard it I knew Amitabh Bachchan would be perfect to play the lead character. We went to Amitabh with the script and he readily agreed to do the film," says Chopra when quizzed about casting Bachchan.
Bachchan would have found it difficult to say no to Chopra considering that their relationship goes back more than three decades, when Bachchan did B.R. Chopra's (Ravi's father) Zameer. Bachchan has also lent his voice to a couple of songs in the film just as he did for Baghban and Babul. But Vishal-Shekar's musical compositions for Bhoothnath fall short of Chopra-Bachchan's previous efforts.
Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan together
There has been a lot of talk about the rivalry between Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan regarding who is the bigger superstar. All these rumours were squashed on the sets of Bhoothnath, where Khan and Bachchan worked together amicably. The powerhouse pair will be seen together on screen for the first time since Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and fans can't wait to see them together again.
Khan is said to be playing Siddiqui's father and will appear in the second half. Juhi Chawla, who plays Siddiqui's mother, is teaming up with Khan and Bachchan for the second time, after Paheli. Supporting the star cast are Satish Shah and Rajpal Yadav, who will be playing endearing roles.
Chopra is so confident of his film that he has already registered the title Bhoothnath 2 as the film has an open ending with potential for a sequel.
