The nation is plagued with the evils of corruption, greed and crime that are controlled by power-lords such as Bhau (Boman Irani). When the most testing time of elections comes around, these powers rise by making false promises to gullible voters and all hope is lost for the common man. Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to salvage the reputation of ghosts, Bhoothnath Returns to scare a few kids and gain some credibility and thereby, moksha. While doing so, he must also fight injustice along with Akhrot (Parth) by taking on Bhau in the biggest battlefield, that is the Lok Sabha elections. The plot's absurdity is quickly forgotten with some pragmatic situations, realistic performances and credible viewpoints of the protagonist. An alternate plot would involve Amitabh Bachchan attempting to scare kids, making things really absurd.
After some initial bonding between the ghost and the kid, a mutually beneficial partnership between them ensures the clearance of other ghosts from abandoned construction sites until they confront complexities at whose source, they find Bhau. While the political goon prepares for elections, Bhoothnath is motivated by the common man's troubles and their inability to rise above them. Initially with Bhooth powers but later with ideologies, the publicly audible ghost initiates a movement of encouraging voter turnout and contests against Bhau to bring about a positive change. The result of the election is then left upon the wave of positivity among the public and their frustration with evil powers.
Director Nitesh Tiwari received acclaim for his Chillar Party and here too, he displays his ability to entertain with light hearted social stories. Topical as it may be, the plot engages with its sincere portrayal of righteous ideologies and practical governance. Not since Munnabhai has the audience witnessed such a fight against the system that also entertains on several fronts. However, that has its share of commonalities and predictability. Boman Irani gets a bit repetitive in his negative role while Parth Bhalerao is only convincing to some extent as his mavali character goes over the top. Sanjay Mishra as the consulting lawyer is excellent. Bhoothnath is perhaps the most human of ghosts around and Amitabh Bachchan makes enacting him look very easy.
Party with the Bhoothnath by Honey Singh and Party toh banti hai are the only songs that even Auto Rickshaws will bump to. Unfortunately, there isn't much more to credit the film-makers. While they haven't done anything wrong with the film they haven't done anything outstanding either. Simply because of its topical nature, the film is worth a lazy afternoon watch and it does carry an important message that a couple of major cities need to embrace in the future with regard to voter turnouts. Perhaps it does take an unreal ghost to tell us the simplest message and instill some common sense. Bhoothnath gets that message across pretty well with some song and dance mixed in.
