Bhootnath - an old Man (ghost) and a young child - starring Amitabh Bachchan (2008)

Bhoothnath the film is an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde short story, The Ghost of Canterville. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawala, Aman Siddiqui, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Rajpal Yadav and Shahrukh Khan. Essentially a film meant for kids, it has a strong message on love and respecting one’s elders. At the end of the film you do get to understand what Virgnina from the original story had meant when she had said that the ghost had taught her “what Life is, what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both.”

The opening sequence of the film sees a family being scared out of a house by a ghostly figure. Soon after Banku, his mother Anjali Sharma (Juhi Chawla) moves in to the same house called the Nath villa. Banku’s father Aditya, an Engineer with a cruise liner has to be away from his family for the greater part of the year. Even though the family is amply warned about the presence of a ghost in the house, they refuse to believe in such hogwash. Barely have they moved in to the new place that Aditya is called back to his ship. Now it is up to Anjali and Banku to make the new place their home.

As a new boy in school Banku has a tough life and back home, it is the ghost who makes his life pretty miserable. Banku however is not afraid of the ghost and even gives him a name, Bhoothnath. Soon this oddball duo strikes up a warm friendship. The ghost is actually none other than the original owner of the Nath Villa, Kailash Nath. He had send his only child to the US to study and he did not come back home to his parents. Father and son have an argument one day while the son (Priyanshu Chatterjee) is visiting and he promises never to return. As Kailash Nath runs after his son, he trips and falls and hurts his head. He dies on the spot and ever since then his spirit has haunted the house, never letting any family settle down and make it their home since he is so embittered.

However Banku, who resembles his grandson, is able to reach out and thaw his cold anger. This is the story that Bhoothnath tells Anjali. Soon after Anjali decide to perform his last rites so that he can move on. Bhoothnath aka Kailash Nath’s son also makes it to the last rite ceremony and father is able to forgive his repentant son. Banku is heartbroken as he realises that he has lost his friend forever but his father reassures him that Bhoothnath will forever look after Banku as his guiding star.


CAST AND CREW

Directed by: Vivek Sharma

Writing credits: Sudhanshu Dube
Screenplay and dialogue: Vivek Sharma

Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Satish Shah, Rajpal Yadav, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Aman Siddiqui, Shahrukh Khan

Produced by
Kenedy Bakshi .... executive producer
Abhay Chopra .... associate producer
B.R. Chopra .... producer
Kapil Chopra .... associate producer
Ravi Chopra .... producer

Original Music by: Vishal Shekhar
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Background score: Saleem Suleiman

Cinematography by Vishnu Rao

Film Editing by Sanjay Verma

Production Design by Muneesh Sappel

Art Direction by Muneesh Sappel