Sanjoy Ray
Director: Hardik Mehta
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Varun Sharma, Janhvi Kapoor, etc.
Roohi is a horror comedy directed by Hardik Mehta. The story revolves around two small-time reporters, Bhawra (Rajkummar Rao) and Kattanni (Varun Sharma), of Bagadpur town, who also moonlight as bride abductors and have made a name for themselves for their clinical handling.
But, unlike other cases which they had successfully executed, things do not go the way they had planned when they are assigned to kidnap a girl named Roohi (Janhvi Kapoor), from a nearby town, Mujaribaad.
How they deal with the situation when Roohi actually turns out to be a possessed girl is what the movie is all about. Blame it on inconsistent writing or wish-washy execution; the movie could neither evoke fear nor laughter to satiate an ever-evolving audience. One felt that with a story premise such as this, the movie could have still got away had we not watched Stree, one of the best horror comedies made in recent time in Bollywood.
The film fails to leave a mark also because of the fact that the director tries to juggle too many balls in the form of sub plots but fails to hold on to any of them at the end of it. In its pursuit to stay relevant, the movie ends up becoming a little too preachy as well. In fact, the biggest drawback of Roohi is that the film does not offer the right build-up for the audience to relate to the situation that the characters are in.
To add insult to injury, there are too many impoverished one-liners and jokes which do not seem to land either. Both Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma are good but they could have been much better with their comic timing. Janhvi does justice to both her avatars.
