Bhediya-- My take on the movie with spoilers!
Plot: When Bhaskar visits the jungles of Arunachal for a project, he comes across a local legend that threatens to derail his plans.
First it was Stree. Then Roohi. And now Bhediya.
The universe has indeed gotten bigger and better.
Stree was one of the first horror comedy movies that was based on a local legend of Nale Ba.
Following the success of the movie, a sequel was announced but instead we got the disappointing Roohi that had a ridiculous ending.
Roohi tried too hard to piggyback on Stree's success and ended up being one of the movies in this horror comedy franchise that can be given a miss.
You can skip Roohi and watch Bhediya right after Stree. In fact, you might just appreciate it more.
Bhediya is a remarkably visualistic movie that is based on a folklore. It effortlessly balances both horror and comedy without being too showy.
Of course it helps the story is carried on the shoulders of good actors with impressive skills.
Varun Dhawan's acting skills have improved with this movie. His previous movies showed that his acting skills were reduced to simply emulating actors like Govinda and Salman Khan.
But with Bhediya, Varun Dhawan shows that he has the potential to carve out his own identity. In several scenes, you will see the actor playing his role and not borrowing gimmicks from other actors.
Kriti Sanon gets too little space in this movie but whatever she is given, she plays it with aplomb and easily slips into her character as Anika.
The supporting cast could very well be called parallel leads. Together, the actors make each scene entertaining.
BHEDIYA Movie Plot
The movie begins with a tribal man telling his child a bedtime story of baby goats being left at home. Their mother tells them to lock the door and let no one in. After she leaves, there is a knock on the door.
The father then asks what happens next to which the child, who knows how stories turn out, answers that there is a wolf outside pretending to be their mother so that the baby goats would open the door.
Just then they hear a noise outside. The growling sounds like "I am your mother". The father goes to inspect and is promptly attacked. The child is stunned but before anything can happen, the wolf breaks through the door and pounces.
Cut to Bhaskar in an office, interacting with his boss' pet dog. Bhaskar despises dogs but is ready to do whatever it takes to get in his boss's good books.
Bhaskar has just won the contract for building a road through the Ziro forest. To win this project, Bhaskar has mortgaged the house that belonged to his grandfather.
He informs his cousin Jana who is studying for his IAS exams. Clearly Jana is having problems retaining basic general knowledge. He is convinced to join Bhaskar. Bhaskar's father, who keeps pressing his face against the phone in every video call, doesn’t want Bhaskar to go but his son assures him he will be fine considering he will be accompanied by Jana.
They reach their destination where Jomin has come to pick them up. They sing songs along the way and finally reach the house that Jana remarks is completely made out of Bamboo.
Inside the house is a bat that startles them all but then escapes. Suddenly, the night sky is filled with bats. A wolf appears, watching the new arrivals.
The next morning, Bhaskar has a meeting with the people who will be working on the project with him. He manages to convince them that cutting a road through the forest will benefit them monetarily.
Panda, a local, is tasked with setting a meeting for them with the locals.
One night, after getting into a car accident, Bhaskar is chased into a forest by a wolf with red eyes. Bhaskar tries to climb a tree but is bitten by the wolf in his rear. His friends manage to save him and Jana thinks they need to go to the hospital. Jomin thinks it is a bad idea as the locals would think the worst since they believe in superstitions.
Jomin advises they go to Dr Anika who is a vet. She isn’t sure she can help and has plenty of self-doubt regarding her abilities as a doctor.
The wound exposed, Jomin, Jana, and Anika contemplate the sort of life Bhaskar will lead with half a rear.
Eventually Dr Anika is able to help him with an injection and of they go.
But by morning, Bhaskar can feel a change within him. He notices his teeth are sharp enough to draw blood. He checks out his body just like Peter Parker does after he got bitten by a spider. He is impressed by his new ripped body.
Bhaskar claims to smell something really delicious but can't find the source. His friends are concerned for him but he assures them that he has healed.
As they head to the meeting with the locals, Bhaskar finds the source of the delicious smell: dead rabbit.
His friends are repulsed and Bhaskar reluctantly puts the rabbit down and head to the meeting.
Of course the meeting doesn’t go well and the locals pretty much beat him up before he makes an escape.
Bhaskar suspects Panda for not being on their side and comes up with the idea to pitch to the youngsters.
The next morning,
Bhaskar has a meeting with the youngsters and convinces them that a mall and cineplex is the way to go. They agree and sign the papers.
Bhaskar feels sick again but this time he overhears two men talk about the project and he realizes they are open to being bribed.
As he and his friends walk away and consider their next steps, Bhaskar suddenly gets sick and throws up blood.
His friends are concerned but Bhaskar still goes out for dinner, chats up with Dr Anika who is proud of her small town girl status, and then we get a song.
Right before the song ends, Bhaskar feels pulled away.
The next morning, Bhaskar learns that the man who had taken signatures from the youngsters was attacked by an animal. The papers are lost in a stream.
Bhaskar has a meeting with the men he overheard who are willing to sway their stance regarding the preservation of the forest.
Bhaskar feels he's making headway only to find that those men were killed too.
Bhaskar meets with Dr Anika who suspects severe gastritis and right before she can inject him, Bhaskar gets angry and lifts the bed.
The friends begin to suspect something is wrong with Bhaskar and consider the superstition of the shape-shifting wolf that roams these parts.
Jana and Jomin decide to get a stool test done but knowing that Bhaskar would not agree to it, they steal his stools by cutting through a pipe.
As they visit the hospital to get the test done, Bhaskar visits the man who survived the animal attacks and notices that he is healing.
The test results come in and of course there are some human bones found in his stools. Dr Anika can't believe it but still offers to look into it.
It is a full moon night and Bhaskar is mesmerized by it. Then slowly, he begins his transformation into a wolf. His shorts, that have the words Faad (tear) on it, actually rip off so his bushy tail can come through it.
The friends are walking into the house when a wolf jumps right out of the window.
Convinced that it is Bhaskar, they follow him in a car. In order to beckon him, they both try to howl but realize they are not melodious enough. While Jana and Jomin argue, they accidentally turn on the music and it is Himesh Reshammiya's Tera Suroor which has howling music.
The wolf immediately arrives. It attacks the car and the friends notice that the wolf is wearing Bhaskar's boxers. Didn’t they rip off?
Bhaskar the wolf goes off while the friends are clearly shaken.
The next morning, Bhaskar wakes up by a pond and finds a snake in his shorts. He stays calm and it goes off but now he has to make his way back to the cabin in his torn shorts.
Luckily Dr Anika is there to offer him a ride on her motorcycle.
Bhaskar and his friends try to understand what is going on. They are then called to the police station as a video was captured to show one of the cops being mauled by a wolf. The cop was assisting Bhaskar in his project.
Outside, Bhaskar laments his project going sideways and the friends decide to tie him up so he doesn't attack more people.
A cop overhears them.
That night when they are tying up Bhaskar, the cop shows up and locks them all up. He plans to go over Bhaskar to get a good deal.
Bhaskar turns into a wolf despite his friend's efforts. The cop films it all.
Jana and Jomin try to evade the wolf who has no control over his urges. Jana asks the wolf to attack Jomin who gets pissed off. Another wolf, the one with red eyes, Wolf Prime, attacks the officer and then opens the door. Bhaskar the wolf comes out.
The next morning, Jomin is leaving in a huff, clearly annoyed with the way he is being treated because of how he looks and talks, and the fact that Jana offered him to the wolf.
Bhaskar assures Jomin that should he transform again, he will eat Jomin because animals don't eat trash, alluding to Jana.
The friends decide to go to Ojha for help as he is 120 years old and had an inclination about Bhaskar's secret nature when they met last. Panda also gets on the bandwagon to help Bhaskar.
When they finally meet Ojha, he tells them that the only way to reverse the curse is for Bhaskar to be bitten in the same place, on a new moon night.
The friends prepare for it and enlist Dr Anika's help. She shows Bhaskar around since he is nervous about going near the wolf again.
Bhaskar is mesmerized by the beauty of the jungle and remarks that if he were an animal he would just roam about here and never go back.
Dr Anika asks if he would consider staying back. The background song tricks you into believing that a romantic moment is playing out.
BHEDIYA Ending Explained
Bhaskar readies himself to be bitten by the wolf. On the other side, the local hunters are planning to hunt down the wolf that is killing off their people.
Bhaskar hangs from that very same tree while his friends wait a little distance away with a gun in case the wolf attacks him.
Just as the wolf with red eyes approaches Bhaskar, the hunters shoot at it.
Wolf Prime runs away and Bhaskar and his friends are shocked and disheartened that their plans did not work.
Bhaskar follows Wolf Prime to a cave and is shocked to discover the true identity of the shapeshifter wolf.
While there was some doubt being cast on Panda, the twist here is pretty obvious.
I mean, obviously Kriti Sanon didn’t come for a two-bit role. Wolf Prime is none other than Anika.
She confesses to biting Bhaskar because she actually wanted to kill him.
A 100 years ago she had been bitten by a wolf and turned into a protector of the forest. Anytime anyone comes to harm the forest, the wolf defends it by killing the greedy men.
Remember the child from the first scene? Well, that was her. See? That scene wasn’t merely an extra scene to start the movie with. Just to set up the tone. It was essential to the story.
So kid Anika was bitten but she grew up and then stayed at that age for 100 years. Or was it her shape-shifting abilities that helped her take on any form and she chose to look like Anika?
Anika hadn't developed any romantic feelings for Bhaskar. She wanted him to take her place because she wanted to move on to another place. Kind of selfish, but she did want to turn the destroyer into a defender.
Anika tells him she's ready to bite him and transforms. Bhaskar is too stumped to reply.
Wolf Prime walks out and Bhaskar reveals what he learned to his friends.
Just then Wolf Prime is captured. Bhaskar decides to help her but since he doesn’t have the moon to help him, he must learn to transform at will. He is unable to do it even as his friends try to piss him off or try to show him images of the moon. Eventually, Panda reminds him that the jungle runs through his veins and he must call upon that power to transform.
He finally does and reaches the camp site where the hunters and police officers are getting ready to burn Anika.
Bhaskar calls upon the bats to confuse the officers and tries to unsuccessfully break open the cage. It doesn’t work.
The friends come along to help and manage to get Anika free. But just as a hunter is about to kill Bhaskar, Anika comes in to save him and is severely injured. The enemy is defeated and Ojha comes over to bring peace and remind the locals that the wolves need to be revered for their work in preserving and defending the forest.
Bhaskar leads an injured Anika to the top of the mountain. Both are still in wolf form. The scene is all special effects but it is visually beautiful.
Anika passes on her responsibilities and powers to Bhaskar whose eyes turn red. He embraces her, and then Anika succumbs to her injuries and falls off the mountain.
Bhaskar is reformed now and ensures the locals that he will build a road around the jungle.
Jana still ties Bhaskar up so he doesn't feed on people. Bagga, Bhaskar's boss has been eaten a few days ago. Bhaskar is still hungry after that big meal.
Just then there is a knock on the door. It is Vicky and Bittu, characters from the movie STREE.
They want Jana's help in finding Stree since he was once possessed by her and suffers seizures.
But why? In the last scene of Stree, Vicky had not learned what Shraddha's character was really up to. Or was it a story that takes place in the middle of Stree's story?
The scene needed to be built a little better rather than inform us that a sequel is coming soon and that there is a possible crossover in the works too.
The friends hear a noise and even though Jana tries to dissuade them, Vicky and Bittu enter the shuttered area, keen to meet Jana's girlfriend.
They find a wolf instead. Bhaskar has gotten loose and has already fed on the meat Jana had left for him.
He sees Vicky and Bittu and pounces on them.
Will they get bitten too so that they get powers to fight against whatever Shraddha Kapoor's character in Stree was?
Only time will tell.
The movie ends.
Bhediya is an entertaining movie with lots of laughs and thrills. It's a worthy installment in the horror-comedy franchise Dinesh Vijan is trying to build.
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