Bulbbul – Netflix Movie Review (4/5)

BULBBUL is a Netflix horror movie from India. With a runtime of just 94 minutes, it’s worth your time and offers high production value. This is a dark fairytale with important messages and a stunning visual style. Read our full Bulbbul review here and check it out on Netflix now!

BULBBUL is a new Netflix horror movie. Or actually, it’s more of a dark fairytale that has lots of gorgeous colors and morals. However, it does also become very brutal and violent at times (including rape). The movie is from India and was both written and directed by a woman, which is obvious in several important ways.

And yes, I do mean this in a very positive way!

Also, while movies from India tend to have a lot of dialogue in English, Bulbbul does not. The story begins in 1888 and ends 20 years later, so we’re not in modern India. If you’ve watched any Netflix productions from India, you’ll know that the production quality is very impressive. This is definitely also the case for this one.

Continue reading our Bulbbul review below.

A classic horror movie from India

We’ve watched quite a few horror movies from India in recent years. We absolutely loved Tumbbad (2018) which you should definitely check out if you like Bulbbul. It’s (also) like a crazy dark fairytale that you find yourself getting totally immersed with. Also, Tumbbad has an IMDb rating of 8.3 which is well-deserved! Just sayin’.

Recommended reading: Our review of the Hindi fantasy-horror movie Tumbbad here >

Most recently, we’ve watched Netflix horror series from India. Just this past month (May 2020), Netflix released Betaal, which you should certainly also check out on. Plus, if you like it even darker (and with a cool female leading character), the Netflix mini-series Ghoul is also one I’d recommend. You can check out our review of Ghoul here >

Obviously, Bulbbul is a movie (like Tumbbad), which does mean it differs quite a bit from both Betaal and Ghoul. However, what it does not do is go the way of Bollywood music videos. That happened several times during The Body on Netflix which was the remake of a Spanish thriller.

The musical Bollywood elements simply do not work for international audiences, so I’m glad they stayed away from that with Bulbbul. While this new movie does have the vibrant colors of classic Bollywood productions, the story is much darker and is definitely a comment on issues that still plague the country to this day.

The cast of Bulbbul

Tripti Dimri plays a key role in Bulbbul as the title character. I haven’t seen her in anything before, but she certainly makes an impact with her portrayal in this Netflix horror movie. She plays the character as a young woman who is still sweet, happy, and innocent. Just a few years later, Bulbbul is changed in fundamental ways.

She doesn’t seem as carefree and happy, but she seems a lot more confident and fearless. Something of immense importance in this movie – and for this character in particular. Tripti Dimri does an excellent job when it comes to portraying the two versions of this character!

In fact, her portrayal is key to the entire plot, so she really does carry the movie on her shoulders.

Avinash Tiwary portrays the character Satya. You might recognize Avinash Tiwary from the horror anthology Ghost Stories, where he was in the fourth (and final) segment by Karan Johar. Paoli Dam plays Binodini and delivers a very good performance as well. She has done a lot of movies in recent years, but none that I’m familiar with.

Watch Bulbbul on Netflix now!

Bulbbul was written and directed by Anvita Dutt. This is her first time directing, but she has written for many movies in the past. Often, she’s been on board to help with dialogue for screenplays, and this time, she’s done everything on her own.

I’m not familiar with any of the previous productions Anvita Dutt has worked on. She’s won a few awards already though, so that should tell you she’s just getting started. Also, she’s well into genre productions since her previous writing credit (for dialogue) was for the movie Pari from 2018. A fantasy, horror, mystery that looks pretty dark!

If you’re ready for a different kind of horror movie (one that is more like a dark fairytale), then I would absolutely recommend Bulbbul. It is a bit of a slow-burner when setting the stage at first. However, the final third part of the movie more than makes up for it.

Bulbbul is out on Netflix in most countries from June 24, 2020.

Details

Director: Anvita Dutt
Writer: Anvita Dutt
Cast: Tripti Dimri, Rahul Bose, Avinash Tiwary, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Paoli Dam, Veera Kapur Ee