Bhediya : This Werewolf Horror-Comedy Tale is a Hoot

Bhediya is part of the Horror-Comedy universe created by Dinesh Vijan who has previously produced the very successful film ‘Stree’ followed by ‘Roohi’ and now the Creature Horror-Comedy, Bhediya.

Bhediya’s main story is set in Arunachal Pradesh which is still new geographical terrain for Bollywood. Varun Dhawan as Bhaskar visits Arunachal Pradesh for a forest road project.

He is bitten by a wolf on a special but magical night that happens once in a year. Post this encounter he develops the characteristics of a wolf and can shift from human form  to werewolf on certain occasions.

Bhediya is not your run-of-the-themill sci-fi werewolf thriller. The director Amar Kaushik and writer Niren Bhatt have managed to deliver on the expectation of the audience by linking the storylines and characters from the previous franchise films from the same universe i.e. Stree and also created enough avenues for possible future films.

The entire cast including Kriti Sanon, Deepak Boriyal, Abhishek Banerjee and Paalin Kabaakput up a good performance. Varun Dhawan is on point and also matches the physical attributes to play such a part.  Specially Abhishek Banerjee who can make otherwise absurd gags more than laugh-out-loud hilarious. Deepak Dobriyal is a bankable character artiste and one would love to see more of him.

Bhediya does a great job with the visual effects and the creation of the creature itself is absolutely commendable by the entire VFX team. The most endearing are the scenes where the creature is emotional. Full marks for that.

Unfortunately this kind of emotional depth is missing in the overall film and interaction between the human characters. The characters do give us some genuine gags and great one-liners by the dialogue writers which translate as truly funny in the film.

The film’s subject itself is extremely relevant in our times. The fact that Varun plays a character that has to shake up nature and its topography in the name of development is going to be a talking point.

The Bhediya and the animal inside you has larger metaphorical value. The second half has some beautiful moments with the creature and how it emotes the repercussions of playing with nature.

The larger message of preserving the environment is finally making its way into mainstream commercial cinema. It is ironic though that making cinema itself adds to a lot of carbon emission and environmental pollution.

Jishnu Bhattacharjee’s cinematography is a delight. Arunachal Pradesh and its natural beauty and landscape has been beautifully captured and is a perfect setting for a story surrounding a folklore.  It’s a good relief from the CGI imagery we see these days. Of Course the VFX team itself offers state-of-the-art imagery with the creature they have created.

The background music has been very well done. It perfectly sets the tone of this werewolf story set in a tribal land. The same can’t be said about the rest of the songs of the film. The one song that does stand out is the lilting ‘Apna bana le’.

The plotline and screenplay and the pace of the film takes too long to get the point. In Fact the shock value is totally missing and things become quite obvious at one point.

The main theme of the film is man vs animal and nature, the conflict of balancing these two worlds doesn’t quite come through very sharply.

Even the romance angle with Kriti Sanon in the film doesn’t make for a very interesting part in the film. Varun and she do have good chemistry though and I can hope it will be explored in some future film.

The climax  is quite unconventional and is going to be a personal choice of loving it or not .

The cameo by Rajkummar Rao and Aparshakti Khurana towards the end will be a delight for all.

Bhediya is a must watch for the fact that it has taken up the man vs animal theme and done the werewolf part justice. But it doesn’t quite bring out the deeper dynamics between the two. Watch it for a new flavour, funny gags, beautiful cinematography and good performances.

It’s a film trying to put a message out there about how playing with the environment and forests can have far reaching effects.

Yes it does leave a lot to be desired. But Bhediya is proof that Bollywood is getting there.

It’s definitely an entertaining watch with friends and family and yes it might get you thinking about the Bhediya in you.