Bhediya (2022)

Bhediya is the kind of crowd-pleaser that sneaks up on you: a monster movie with real heart, set against the lush, rarely seen landscapes of Arunachal Pradesh and powered by a sly, contemporary conscience. Amar Kaushik keeps the vibe buoyant and mischievous—one minute you’re laughing at the ragtag camaraderie, the next you’re leaning in as the folklore and atmosphere tighten the screws—while the visuals and creature effects land with a stylish confidence. Varun Dhawan makes the transformation feel more human than heroic, and Abhishek Banerjee is the film’s comic engine, with Kriti Sanon adding a calm, intriguing counterweight. If you don’t enjoy horror-comedy tonal shifts or creature-feature thrills, it may not be your flavor, but if you do, this one delivers both the fun and the bite.

Bhediya is clearly trying to mash up werewolf folklore, a buddy-comedy road trip, and an eco-message into a glossy mainstream package, and you can feel the ambition in the setting and creature concept. The problem is it rarely commits hard enough to either horror or comedy, so the scares are mild, the jokes are hit-or-miss, and a lot of the “surprises” land exactly where you expect them to. If you’re picky about tight plotting, you’ll likely notice the story taking convenient shortcuts and leaning on VFX and energy to paper over holes. Still, Varun Dhawan and Abhishek Banerjee bring likable momentum, and the Arunachal backdrop adds freshness—just don’t go in expecting sharp horror, clever comedy, or a particularly airtight script.