Bhoot Purva Review – A Ghostly Series That’s Not Worth Your Time

BOTTOM LINE: A Ghostly Series That’s Not Worth Your Time

Rating: 3.5/10

What is the Story about?

Aarav is about to propose to Angelina, his college-mate, girl of his dreams and the man has high hopes about her acceptance. His aspirations, however, fall crashing when she outrightly rejects his love proposal. Unable to handle the disappointment, Aarav consumes rat-poison and dies on the spot. Aarav’s heartbroken when Yamraj, the God of death, informs him that his death was just an accident. In an attempt to resolve this issue, Yamraj offers Aarav another chance to live, through the body of the man that Angelina is destined to marry. As Aarav returns to earth as a friendly ghost, he meets a good-for-nothing youngster Purva. The two strike a good rapport and leave no stone unturned to find a groom for Angelina. In a surprise twist, Purva and Angelina find themselves attracted towards each other. The friendship between Purva and Aarav refuses to be the same anymore. Folklore meets horror-comedy in this web series that’s an assault to the senses.

Performances?

Film actor Omkar Kapoor, the lead actor of the series, does a decent job with his portrayal of a jobless youngster who’s gone astray. His looks appear too sophisticated to play a rustic role, but otherwise, there’s nothing to fault from what does on the screen and especially, his humourous antics. Rishab Chadha as Aarav fits into the friendly ghost-act like a T, but his comic timing doesn’t quite match the abilities of his co-star.

Analysis

Zeishan Qadri enters the digital space with a very old-template and has nothing fresh to say through his story. Taking a leaf out of old Telugu films like Yamagola, Yamudiki Modugu, the only element of originality that Bhoot Purva has to offer is its modern-day backdrop. Yamraj enjoys being in the digital space, happens to be a rapper. He uses terms like ‘log out’ as he takes a person to hell.

The director’s forte is comedy, no two things about it. The family backdrop of the lead protagonist Purva, played by Omkar Kapoor, contributes to the intermittent fun-element in the story. The scenes where Purva is alleged to have stolen a crown from a temple and later plays a kushti match with the local pehelwans are reasonably interesting. But, the equation between Purva and Aarav, doesn’t quite hold your attention for long. Instead, Purva’s sequences with his parents are far more entertaining.

The screenplay of the episodes is very old fashioned to impress. There are pointless situations revolving around fake tantriks, superstitions, and black magic. Though these are tropes that appear in every horror-comedy, they need some relevance to the story, which isn’t the case here. There are so many scenes in the web-series where the story just doesn’t make progress. The tactics that Purva and Aarav adopt to find a boy for Angelina are extremely silly.

For instance, the entire episode about finding a man named Kuldeep for the girl has no connection to the story whatsoever. The conflict about Purva having to choose between his friend Aarav and ladylove Angelina, comes very late and it all ends quite abruptly. The final episodes fare better than the initial ones. This series would have come together in the hands of a director with more clarity. Given the makers have hinted at a season two of the series, there’s still some damage-control they could do.

Others Artists?

Zoa Morani, the female lead, doesn’t get much to do in a series dominated by the two leading men. Her character, her sudden mood swings and behaviour changes aren’t established well either and there’s little that the actress can do to salvage the poor writing. Baba Sehgal would go onto qualify as most irritating Yamraj to appear in a socio-fantasy. He overacts and hams so much, trying to sing rap numbers in multiple languages, so much that you would want him to stop his ‘dramebaazi’ at any cost. The supporting cast isn’t quite impressive either, adding up to more chaos and confusion.

Music and other departments?

Most of the music-bits used in the web series are rehashed from popular Bollywood films. Even considering that the tunes are lifted, they are placed randomly in the background score and don’t make much sense with their placement. The cinematography is just okay. The dialogues are decent, but different actors speaking different Hindi accents creates some inconsistencies.

Highlights?

Omkar Kapoor’s performance
A few comedy portions

Drawbacks?

Old-fashioned story
Overacting by the supporting cast
Excessive length spanning four hours

Will you recommend it?

No

Bhoot Purva Review by Srivathsan N

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