Movie Review: ‘Munjya’ is a fun combo of horror and comedy

Horror films have always had a loyal audience in Bollywood, but in the last few years a new genre of horror-comedy has emerged, which has attracted Hindi cinema lovers a lot. Keeping that audience in mind, the makers came up with horror-comedies like ‘Stree’, ‘Bhediya’, ‘Roohi’. Director Aditya Sarpotdar’s ‘Munjya’ also takes this series forward. An entire character created with CGI (computer generated graphics) in the film is a new experiment. There is a lot of horror and comedy, just a little more effort should have been put into the story.

The story of ‘Munjya’

The story is based on the legend of ‘Munjya’ popular in Maharashtra. Munjya is the name given to a ghost who dies within ten days of his/her tonsure and becomes a ghost due to his/her unfulfilled desires. The story begins in 1952 in a village called Chaitukwadi in Konkan, where a ten-year-old boy named Munjya is madly in love with an older girl named Munni. he/she goes to the extent of sacrificing his/her sister and practicing black magic to make Munni his/her own, but something untoward happens there that leads to Munjya’s death.

To avert this bad omen, the family and the villagers bury Munjya’s ashes in the forest under the same tree where Munjya was performing the rituals. But Munjya’s restless soul takes the form of a dangerous ghost. Years later (in the present), Munjya’s descendant Bittu (Abhay Verma) goes to his/her village with his/her mother (Mona Singh) and grandmother (Suhas Joshi), and Munjya’s ghost possesses him/her. he/she wants to search for his/her Munni by scaring and torturing Bittu, so that he/she can fulfill his/her unfulfilled desire of marrying Munni, but then his/her eyes fall on Bittu’s girlfriend Bela (Sharvari Wagh) and he/she becomes infatuated with Bela. Now Munjya has to sacrifice Bela and make her his/her own and marry her. Will the innocent Bittu be able to free Bela from Munjya’s clutches? Will his/her family be able to overcome the curse of this ghost? You will get to know this only after watching the film.

Trailer of ‘Munjya’

‘Munjya’ movie review

The biggest feature of director Aditya Sarpotdar’s film is his/her CJI i.e. Computer Generated Imagery Munjya, who remains like a character throughout the film. This character, created with graphics, visual effects and animation, creates fear in the mind of the audience from the very beginning and as the story progresses, the fear increases. The first half of the film is quite tight, but the story falters a bit in the second half. However, the tadka of comedy with horror is fun, but in scenes like the exchange of souls by the ghost exorcist Guru (Satyaraj), the punch of horror and comedy seems childish.

Cinematographer Saurabh Goswami has created a lot of fear by showing his/her artistry in the sea and jungle scenes. The background score of the film is strong. Talking about music, Sharvari Wagh’s item number ‘Taras’ has turned out well. In the climax, you also get a hint of the next part of this horror-comedy.

Talking about acting, all the actors have given a strong performance. Abhay Verma’s innocence and fear as Bittu has managed to keep the audience scared. he/she has played his/her role very well. Sharvari has got the complete package of being a heroine as Bela, which includes horror-comedy-romance-dance-song, and Sharvari has taken full advantage of it. Mona Singh has played the character of the stubborn mother Pammi strongly, while Suhas Joshi leaves a mark in the role of grandmother. Satyaraj is also memorable in his/her role. The supporting cast is fine.

Why watch- If you are fond of horror-comedy films then you can watch this film.