Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship Review: Dharma Productions tried to come out their comfort zone but failed miserably.

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana

Directed By: Bhanu Pratap Singh

Dharma Productions who is known for romance and tear-jerking dramas tries to attempt something new with a genre called horror. Though Dharma tried this genre back in 2005 with Kaal starring Ajay Devgn which became a disaster. After Dharma went to their comfort zone made some huge romantic blockbuster but due to massive back to back flops last year such as Kalank and Student of the Year 2 the production company is trying to experiment with the different genre such as Good Newwz a comedy film starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor released last year December. Dharma again jumped in the genre of horror by making Bhoot: The  Haunted Ship with the latest heartthrob of the nation Vicky Kaushal but Dharma's attempt fails again.

The film established our protagonist Prithvi (Vicky) as a braveheart. A lonely soul who is grieving the death of his wife (Bhumi Pednekar) and daughter. He goes out of his way to help people, even if it involves risking his own life. 

After giving a brief history of Prithvi's life, the film wastes no time in getting to its actual protagonist - Sea-Bird - an abandoned ship that has reached Mumbai's shore. Vicky's company is in charge of getting rid of the ship, with him leading the task. 

Rumours of the ship being haunted have been traveling to Vicky but he ignores it all and enters it for inspection. After experiencing some paranormal activities himself, Vicky decides to delve deep into the subject. His experience on the ship and a few pieces of evidence that he collects, make it is clear that Sea-Bird is haunted. With the help his friend and two more people, Vicky try to fix it all.

Weighed down by a contrived storyline that does not stand a ghost of a chance of drifting close to being convincing, Bhoot: Part One must be deemed to be a wasted effort for director of photography Pushkar Singh and sound designer Anish John. They spare no effort to whip up fear with lighting variations, camera movements and acoustic effects that range from the commonplace to the eerie. But no amount of atmospheric backup can make up for the lack of substance at the heart of the movie.

Prithvi is struggling to live down a tragedy for which he has nobody but himself to blame. His crippling sense of guilt, coupled with his refusal to have his tranquilizing meds, triggers spooky hallucinations. He finds them reassuring because they allow him to see his dead wife and little daughter with whom he has mock communication sessions through a 'telephone' wire attached to a plastic tumbler. The contraption keeps popping up periodically to remind us of his disturbed state of mind.

But before the film introduces us to the anguished protagonist, it takes us through a brief prelude that ends in an unexplained mass suicide and the disappearance of a three-year-old girl on a merchant ship, Sea-Bird. Eleven years later, it is the selfsame vessel that washes up on Mumbai's Juhu beach with not a living soul on board.

Bhanu came with little homework done and his lack of experience and knowledge is screaming on-screen. He keeps a major plot twist for the end and uses it as a bait. He wants his already mind-numbingly bored audience to watch his film till the end of that twist. But we lose our strength here. After watching most of this "horror" film with a straight face, it gets difficult to sit through the last few minutes 

In the end, the burden of Bhoot Part One: The Haunted Ship falls on Vicky's shoulders and the actor tries his best to keep it from sinking. He plays his part with conviction but succumbs to a lack of directorial sense and a weak storyline. 

Like Vicky, the makers waste Ashutosh Rana's talent in Bhoot as well. It was hard to watch the audience laugh at him when he was trying to chant a mantra and scare off the ghost in the film. why makers give a rouge or tantric roles to actors of Rana's caliber.

After making a short in anthology film Ghost stories for Netflix which also was failed and got a lukewarm response like Kaal. Dharma should never attempt a horror genre film because a horror by a Dharma film is itself a horror for the audience. Hence proved by this film. Period.