From its inception in the early part of the genre's history, the fascination and love for the werewolf have persisted quite heavily, making it one of the biggest genre icons and most popular movie monsters concocted over the years. This has led to it being utilized as everything from a rampaging, mindless monster to a dark, philosophical soul capable of layers of metaphorical care underneath the lupine facade. Having attempted something similar with witches several years ago in “Stree,” director Amar Kaushik decides to utilize the legendary creature for a hard-hitting ecological message in his return to the genre with “Bhediya.”
“Bhediya” is screening at Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival
Sent to the Arunachal forest, land developer Bhaskar (Varun Dhawan) brings along his cousin Janardan (Abhishek Banerjee) with him while on assignment to secure building rights in the area for his company attempting to develop a massive development deal connecting that section of the forest with the rest of India. Meeting up with his friend Jomin (Paalin Kabak), they start to explore the possibilities of their project, only for things to go afoul when Bhaksar gets attacked by a strange creature. After being looked over by veterinarian Anika (Kriti Sanon) he miraculously heals faster than expected but a strange series of deaths soon strikes the members of the project. This forces the group to confront the possibility that a local legend involving a shapeshifting protector of the jungle has been awakened and trying to stop them from continuing their project.
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One of the finer aspects here is a solid and engaging atmosphere brought about by director Kaushik's mixing of comedy with a stern ecological message. The lighthearted atmosphere allows this one to be filled with an innumerable amount of sight gags, slapstick humor, and visual features surrounding the gradual transformation, which helps to make Bhaskari's condition more relatable as time goes on. Far more than just being a simple klutz or the clumsy oaf most would assume, the focus goes on simply performing outrageous slapstick sequences filled with the opportunity to offer up snarky jokes and comebacks about the situation. This continues nicely with the influx of constant wordplay and rapid-fire jokes emitted, which keep everything light and generally fun enough, revolving around everything from misunderstood local customs to misinterpretations and the absurdity of the situation.
Following this impressive setup, “Bhediya” creates a rather fun series of creature-action playing off the humor. Despite the silliness of the initial attack that causes Bhakar to become the werewolf, the rest of the attacks keep a far more genuine bent to everything else that occurs throughout.. From encounters with unscrupulous locals to the same performers who wanted to help the project go through, this aspect adds a nice bit of continuity between the two stories. By also featuring the legend about the origins in the context of what's going on, the scenes including a chase through the forest, a confrontation on the streets of the village, and a big sequence at an abandoned factory manage to feature some fine action set-pieces while also highlighting some solid visual effects with just the right amount of comedy. The thrilling finale, featuring the massive rescue assault on the hunters intruding one on the forest trying to stop his rampage, is a fun sequence offering a grand sense of spectacle with the storyline context for what's going on with the wolves attacking, which provides a great fantasy style finale, to end this on a high note.
That leads to one of the least enjoyable if not problematic facets of “Bhediya” in its central storyline from writer Niren Bhatt. The main idea here provides a lot to like, with the discovery of the power of nature and the conservation necessities that are required to keep the forests going for all to enjoy, is a solid concept that has a lot of weight to it. Taking the form of a protector from the one who had initially sought to be its destroyer in the name of progress is a suitable subplot adopted, but is a rather obvious ploy that's handled rather messily. It's only one small section of the film, relegated to the last act no less, that tries to make this point a decided part of the storyline while far more time is spent on cliched werewolf transformation antics. This includes the build-up of his newfound powers after the attack signaling the transformation that comes with all the hallmarks of the genre since its inception. That leaves surprisingly little to be done for integrating such a heavy-handed theme, as the last act brings this home almost exclusively, in a way that can be grating. While not a crippling flaw, it is an issue that holds it back.
Offering a solid mixture of laughs alongside some generally fun creature action, “Bhediya” might stumble slightly with its central storyline but that's not enough to detract from the fun elsewhere throughout it. Fans of the style or those who are generally intrigued by what's in store here would enjoy this quite a bit.
