Chhaya Kadam wants audiences to walk into Bhootam Bhayyam expecting a good time, not a long sit. The Marathi horror-comedy, which landed in theatres on July 24, 2026, runs 164 minutes - close to two and three-quarter hours - but the veteran actress insists the real investment happened long before anyone bought a ticket.
"The film itself is just two-and-a-half hours," Kadam said in an exclusive conversation with Hindi Movie Buzz. "But the work behind it takes years."
Her point is simple: a comic-horror entertainer built around a haunted mansion, a cursed coin and a gang of unemployed friends lives or dies on preparation. Timing, prosthetics, VFX and the sheer logistics of shooting supernatural sequences all demand patience that a viewer scrolling through a runtime listing will never see.
A Cursed Mansion, A Mysterious Coin And Seven Friends Out Of Luck
Directed by Ramchandra Gaonkar, Bhootam Bhayyam follows seven unemployed friends who move into a cursed mansion and stumble upon a mysterious coin. What begins as a shortcut to easy money through planchette sessions quickly spirals into something far worse. The coin awakens ancient forces, and the group soon finds itself hunted by both spirits and occultists as buried secrets claw their way to the surface.
The premise sits squarely in the space Marathi cinema has mined successfully for years - comedy laced with genuine dread. Gaonkar's film leans into that balance with a cast that includes Karan Sonawane, Neel Salekar, Saurabh Ghadge, Sidhanth Sarfare, Shubham Jadhav, Pushkaraj Chirputkar and Manmeet Pem alongside Kadam.
For Kadam, whose career has moved between Marathi and Hindi projects with steady regularity, the appeal here was the ensemble dynamic. Seven friends sharing screen space means relentless back-and-forth, and the actress credits the younger actors for keeping the energy loose between takes.
Horror Comedy Is A Genre That Refuses To Stay Quiet
The timing of Bhootam Bhayyam places it in a crowded field. Audiences across India have developed a healthy appetite for horror-comedy, a genre that rewards films willing to switch tones mid-scene. Kadam sees that shift clearly.
"People want to laugh and then jump in the same minute," she said. "That is harder than doing only one of those things."
It is a fair assessment. Comedy depends on rhythm, horror depends on withholding, and a film that does both needs a director who understands when to release tension and when to tighten it. Gaonkar, working with a runtime that gives the story room to breathe, has the space to let both registers play out rather than rushing to the next scare.
The film's Marathi-language identity also matters. Regional horror-comedy has found a loyal audience without needing to dilute itself for a pan-Indian template, and Bhootam Bhayyam arrives as a Bollywood-industry production rooted firmly in Marathi storytelling.
What The Numbers Say So Far
Bhootam Bhayyam carries a TMDb rating of 0/10, a figure that reflects insufficient user votes rather than any verdict on quality. Early audience data has not yet accumulated, which is typical for a release still building word of mouth.
What is clear is the runtime. At 164 minutes, the film asks for a real commitment from viewers, and Kadam's comment about the gap between screen time and sweat equity is as much a defence of that length as it is a statement about craft. Horror-comedies can sag when the scares thin out, but the planchette-session premise gives the narrative a repeatable engine - each session escalates the supernatural threat while offering another chance for comedy.
The Occultists And The Coin
Without spoiling the film's turns, the introduction of occultists as antagonists alongside the awakened spirits suggests Bhootam Bhayyam is juggling more than one kind of threat. Human greed and supernatural vengeance often make for uneasy bedfellows in this genre, and the coin functions as the pivot point between the two. The friends' decision to monetise it through planchette sessions is the moral hinge - quick cash in exchange for something they do not understand.
Kadam's role in that machinery remains deliberately under wraps, but her presence gives the film a seasoned anchor amid the chaos.
A Word On The Hindi-Movie Buzz Angle
Bhootam Bhayyam is a Marathi-language film produced within the Bollywood industry ecosystem, and its release reflects the increasingly porous border between regional and mainstream Hindi cinema. Kadam herself has become one of the more recognisable bridges between the two, appearing in projects across languages without being boxed into either.
Whether the film finds its audience beyond Maharashtra will depend on word of mouth and how well the horror-comedy balance holds across 164 minutes. For now, Kadam's message is straightforward: judge the finished product, but understand what it took to get there.
"The film is just two-and-a-half hours," she repeated. "The work takes years. That is the part nobody sees."
Bhootam Bhayyam is currently running in theatres.
Source: Filmibeat
