Plot: Major and Gullu find their hands full when they come across a ghost who gives them a business idea that goes awry.
I enjoy horror comedies. These are two genres which are hard to pull off and it is a challenge to evoke a response from them.
While parodies are still am easier route, original stories in the horror-comedy genre can be difficult to write and there have been several attempts made in the past in which the movie just ends up being neither scary nor funny.
Phone Bhoot has managed to fall into a category of its own.
It tries to be funny and ends up being silly. It tries to induce frightening moments but ends up being...silly.
Phone Bhoot is a silly movie in every aspect and you will wonder what prompted Katrina Kaif to take on such a role. She is clearly wasted in a movie that doesn't make use of her talents.
She is left to babysit two actors who have performed better in previous movies.
And then Jackie Shroff comes in and you wonder who wrote a script so bad yet managed to get decent actors to sign in on it.
Just how did anyone agree to be a part of this movie?
PHONE BHOOT Movie Plot
The movie opens with a voice over telling the audience not to get scared even though there is a chudail in it. There are some jump scares which do not make you jump. There is an attempt to make a joke about an old movie, that too falls flat.
We see Major taking a shower when suddenly blood pours out of it. He continues taking a shower nevertheless.
Gullu wakes up. It was his dream. He has been dreaming about his friend taking a shower. Major wakes up and makes some joke about him hardly showering.
The two are unemployed and trying to make a living with horror stuff although they haven't decided what to do with their lives yet.
Their previous attempts to open a horror-themed restaurant , and horror-themed parties have failed miserably.
The next event they are planning to host is an Amavas Party which will be ghost themed.
The two pray to a statue they found called Raka who was a character in a Ramsay horror film. They unearthed him and think praying to the statue will fulfill their wishes.
For the party, they drag along Raka and in order to make his eyes glow, fidget with the electrical wires that causes them both to receive an electric shock.
They awaken to find the hall is full of guests and set about trying to get them to buy tickets. There is one guest who is keeping an eye on them. She approaches them and it is Ragini who is surprised to see them but mostly because they are alive.
A song ensues and both Gullu and Major believe that Ragini is into them. Ragini doesn't stay for long and while the two are swooning, the police come in and inform them they are creating a ruckus and trespassing.
The two are not arrested for some reason and instead let go so they can drive and indulge in illegal substances. Ragini also makes an appearance but both of them are certain they are hallucinating her.
Under the influence, they believe they are flying over the clouds.
As night falls, a chudail wanders lonely roads and unknowingly gets hit by Gullu and Major's car. She goes flying into a large pipe.
Gullu and Major, not fully recovered from their trip, think they've hit a widow which caused her feet to get upturned. In a not so funny scene, they try to straighten it and cause immense pain to the chudail who does whatever it takes to run away from the two dunderheads.
The next day, Gullu and Major awaken to find their breakfast is ready. Gullu likes coffee while Major drinks lassi. This is because of the respective states they are from. Okay...
Turns out Ragini was behind it and she tells them she's a ghost. They don't believe it and she has to enter Major's body to convince them.
She has a proposal for them: she will possess people and the two can then pretend to be exorcists and charge people for getting rid of the haunting. The two decline.
Ragini may be hot but they are ruled by ethics and refuse to deceive people. Ragini leaves disappointed and then Major reasons that while they won't deceive people, there's no problem deceiving ghosts and stealing their business ideas.
Their decision to do this bolstered by their respective fathers visiting them and complaining about their lack of focus towards their future. There is some attempt of humor made when Gullu's father slaps Major instead because Major is used to being slapped but not Gullu. Ha ha. Not really funny.
The fathers cut off their pocket money and give them a file to show how much they owe them.
Gullu and Major have to return almost 5 Crores in three months.
They set up the phone lines and paint their truck, and even ready the uniforms.
They receive plenty of prank calls and even one from the Fukrey boys. Unnecessary promotion that doesn't land.
Eventually they get a genuine call. When they reach there, at first the owners tell them they didn't make any calls. When Major and Gullu hear a screech, they assure the parents that they can help get rid of the demon.
They go upstairs and it is a girl in a school uniform, floating about with a cane. She punishes Gullu and Major who hide under a bed.
Eventually, she speaks in a different dialect and Gullu makes a connection with the demon possessing the girl.
They ask the demon to come out and it is a young woman in a helmet. She had been involved in a hit and run with the girl's father, and possessed the daughter to teach the man a lesson.
Gullu and Major convince her to leave the girl and assure her that they would give money to her poor family. The boys ask for the fees and that is when Ragini appears, admonishing them for stealing her idea but then convincing them to make her part of the team.
She makes the boys give up the whole fees amount to the dead girl's parents. The three then discuss the terms of the deal, and Ragini tells them she will help them earn money in exchange for a favor they can not say no to. That favor will be asked at a later time.
The Phone Bhoot company meets with a lot of success and the trio are happy to help souls achieve freedom.
However, in another realm, the villain makes an entry. It is Atmaram who isn't happy that souls are being helped. He much rather trap them and use them to become more powerful.
He sends a threat in form of vibration which cracks Gullu and Major's glasses.
Ragini realizes that Atmaram may be onto them and tells the boys to lay low for a while.
She then tells them of favor she wants.
Things are about to get convoluted now and will make little sense but here goes.
Ragini tells them she used to be a physiotherapist and managed to bag a Prince when he got injured during a polo match.
They have an affair and one day, Ragini dies in a car accident. She tells the boys that her lover, Dushyant wants to celebrate her one year death anniversary by committing suicide. And she needs Gullu and Major to convince Dushyant to not do it.
Atmaram, meanwhile enlists a Chudail to help him thwart the Phone Bhoot company. She follows the boys only to realize they are the same ones who were twisting her feet. She gets scared of them. Ha ha. Not really funny.
Anyway, Ragini manages to get the chudail on their side and tells her to not help Atmaram since he doesn't care for souls and will never grant them freedom.
Ragini then reveals to the boys that she had not told them that Dushyant had also died in the car accident and Atmaram has stolen his soul.
There was no reason for Ragini to hide that from the boys before. Things get a little hard to follow now.
It doesn't make sense why Gullu and Major are compelled to help Ragini when they know they can't make that much money.
You will find yourself asking once again, what is Katrina Kaif doing in this half-baked comedy movie that is barely even works as a horror?
Back to the story, Ragini is eventually taken by Atmaram for helping the Phone Bhoot company.
It is up to the boys to save her.
PHONE BHOOT Ending Explained
Gullu and Major are helped by all the souls they have saved so far. It could have been a heartfelt moment but the story is too confusing at this point. Shouldn't the souls already have left when they were helped?
The two reach Atmaram's lair and manage to open the bottle containing Ragini.
The two manages to also put one over Atmaram by telling him they hadn't come for Dushyant's soul but someone else with a similar name, another running joke in this movie.
Confused, Atmaram is distracted while Gullu and Major managed to take Dushyant and the magical scepter.
Atmaram is defeated, Dushyant is freed and he reunites with Ragini. The two get their freedom although Ragini assures her friends she will be there for them.
Gullu and Major leave happily and realize although they didn't make enough money, they can always manage to fool their fathers.
Ha ha ha, nope.
The movie ends, finally.
PHONE BHOOT is a movie that is best avoided mainly because the story doesn't work, and the actors are given practically nothing to work with.
Even though the final scene leaves place for a sequel, as another villain is ready to take Atmaram's place, hopefully there isn't one.
One Phone Bhoot is enough in this lifetime.
SCARE SCALE: 1/5
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