‘Munjya’ review: A half-hearted occult comedy about possession and possessiveness

The latest horror-comedy from the makers of Stree (2018) and Bhediya (2002) is supposedly based on a folk tale from Maharashtra’s Konkan region, about a boy who dies soon after his thread ceremony and becomes a demon. Nobody mourns Munjya, who has been stalking a woman. But the village makes sure to stay clear of the grove where his spirit lingers, waiting for the right vehicle to fulfil his one-sided dream of marriage.

That vehicle is the easily frightened Bittu (Abhay Verma), whose family hails from Munjya’s village. Bittu is in his own one-sided relationship, with his college friend Bela (Sharvari).

Forced to carry out Munjya’s bidding, Bittu teams up with his buddy Diljit (Taran Singh) and the psychic Karim Elvis (S Sathyaraj) to tame the frustrated spirit. Bittu also gets valuable tips from his beloved grandmother (Suhas Joshi).

Munjya, directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, is based on a story by Yogesh Chandekar and a screenplay by Niren Bhat. The 123-minute movie is as wispy as a ghost story told to pass the time during a summer vacation.

Its raison d’etre is to serve as the latest entry in a planned franchise that began with Stree. A post-credits sequence links Munjya to Stree as well as Bhediya. But the link between the films is baffling, apart from shared jump scares peppered...

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