With ‘Stree’, the filmmakers have found a gold mine. From ‘Roohi’, ‘Bhediya’ and the recent successful ‘Munjya’, they have been delving deeper into horror comedy and are regularly entertaining the audience with films in this genre. Now, there is another chance with Zee5’s ‘Kakuda’. Starring Sonakshi Sinha, Riteish Deshmukh and Saqib Saleem, the film is a lot of fun to watch. While there is hardly any thrill in it, it does provide some laughs thanks to the quirky dialogues and performances of the actors.

The story is derived from folklore where villagers built a small door at their entrance and waited for the ghost ‘Kakuda’ every Tuesday evening. If this supernatural being finds a door locked, he kicks out a member of the family, leaving him with a bulge on his back and only 13 days to live.

Indira (Sonakshi Sinha) and Sunny (Saqib Saleem) play a loving couple who are struggling to get married. The main hurdle – Indira’s father wants an English-speaking son-in-law. When Saqib’s character fails the language test, the two decide to elope. On their wedding day, Sunny is late in reaching home and thus faces Kakuda’s wrath. While he is waiting for his death, his newlywed wife decides to save her husband just like the story of Savitri and Yamraj.

Watch the trailer of ‘Kakuda’ here:

Enter ghost hunter Victor (Riteish Deshmukh), who also plays Cupid for the departed souls. With the power to use charcoal paintings to understand the unfulfilled desires of the souls, he helps them attain salvation. Along with Indira, he sets out on a journey to solve the case. They are joined by the couple’s friend Kilvish (Asif Khan), who is terrified at the thought of ghosts but puts up a brave front for his friends.

After several misunderstandings, failed attempts and a confrontation with a spirit, the team finally manages to solve the mystery. But, will they be able to save Sunny? That’s for you to watch. Also, Sonakshi has a surprise for fans, but we are not giving away any spoilers.

Riteish Deshmukh won everyone’s heart with his extremely cool, new-age role. TantricWe have all been fans of his comic timing, and he has once again proved his worth, carrying the film forward with his humour. Sonakshi Sinha too is good and has shown many shades to the character. After watching her play strong roles in ‘Dahaad’ and ‘Heeramandi’, one can miss her powerful stance and attitude. Saqib Saleem and Asif Khan have done a sincere job, but they don’t have much to contribute.

None of the songs are memorable and in fact we skipped them while watching the film. However, the biggest highlight is how the makers used animation to show Kakuda’s backstory. It was refreshing and added a new dynamic to the storytelling process. The VFX and background score also strengthen the narration.

Buoyed by the success of ‘Munjya’, director Aditya Sarpotdar has done a good job with ‘Kakuda’ as well. He seems to understand the genre and folklore well, making his storytelling quite interesting. The story, screenplay and dialogues are written by Avinash Dwivedi and Chirag Garg, who are actors themselves. The story is quite good, but their screenplay could have been even better. On the other hand, the dialogues are also better, thanks to the actors who have performed well with their timing.

However, he succeeded in understanding the sentiments of rural India – whether it was Indira’s father’s desire for an English-speaking woman son in lawOr Sunny’s father is eagerly waiting for his son’s death without any fight due to his blind beliefs. The mystery behind Kakuda is also an encouraging thing, considering that society is still not able to fully accept the differently abled. ‘Bhoot’ has been given a very good prosthetic look, but we wish the film had more scary scenes. It ends up being a horror comedy in name only.

If rain spoils your plans, you can watch it at home on the weekend.