Bhediya is a comedy thriller film directed by amar kaushik.
Varun dhawan is a serious intensity actor. He really does know to portray flawed characters. He again does what he did so beautifully in october and badlapur. This is not so nuanced like those films but it is what is needed for a commercial cinema. Abhishek banerjee hits it out of the park with his dialogues and comic timing. His expressions too are on point. Paalin kabak is impressive. The supporting cast is decent including deepak dobriyal.
The screenplay is good despite its flaws. In the firat half, the runtime feels stretched. The songs are poorly misplaced. It just stretches the runtime. The story is not much benefitted by it. In the second half, it gets much better. Much gravity is added to the story. The comedy in this film is one of its strong points. Abhishek banerjee does most of the heavy lifting and he does it with ease. The writing incorporates various social media references and pop culture. The homage to himesh reshammiya, some previous creature films as well are put well.
The music is decent. Apart from 'apna bana le' no other song is able to make its place in your heart. However, the background music is brilliant. The bhediya theme works very well in the thrilling scenes. The film does one thing very well which is that it talks about casual racism towards north-easterns and the threat to nature. Both of these are very relevant. And it does not come as preachy. The local folklore and tribal culture is given significance here which was good to behold.
Another strong quality is its VFX. Such a superb work!! You cannot feel for two werewolves if you see them as cartoon or just some random creatures. Bhediya uses uts money in the right place and outcome is some outstanding special effects. I also liked the lighting arrangement and the dim atmosphere that the film built upon.
This is a very good film to be honest. Not as good as stree, but something original and an origin werewolf story set in india.
I rate it 8.25 out of 10.