Kapkapiii (2025) marks the final directorial venture of the late Sangeeth Sivan, a Hindi‑language horror‑comedy and official remake of the 2023 Malayalam hit Romancham en.wikipedia.org+14en.wikipedia.org+14indiatoday.in+14. Starring Shreyas Talpade as Manu and Tusshar Kapoor as Kabir, it also features Siddhi Idnani, Sonia Rathee, and a supporting ensemble including Jay Thakkar, Abhishek Kumar, Varun Pandey, Dhirendra Tiwari, Manmeet Kaur, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya newsbytesapp.com+9en.wikipedia.org+9indiaglitz.com+9.
Plot Summary & Tone
The story follows six aimless, unemployed friends living in Faridabad. Boredom leads Manu to experiment with a homemade Ouija board made from a carrom board, summoning a spirit named “Anamika.” What starts as a practical joke quickly escalates as eerie happenings intensify, turning their lives upside down movietalkies.com+1indiaglitz.com+1. Injected with high‑energy slapstick humor and tapori slang, the film resembles sketches stitched together—lighter on horror than humor bingescreen.blogspot.com+2filmfare.com+2timesofindia.indiatimes.com+2.
Performances
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Shreyas Talpade steps into Manu’s shoes with gusto. His boisterous timing brings life to the screentime, and even critics acknowledge he “never misses in the comedy genre” newsbytesapp.com+1bingescreen.blogspot.com+1.
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Tusshar Kapoor, as Kabir, arrives mid‑film and creates delightful chaos. His goofy expressions are appreciated, though critics note his entry is belated and characters are underdeveloped filmfare.com+5newsbytesapp.com+5timesofindia.indiatimes.com+5.
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The female leads—Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Rathee—bring freshness, but their roles are underwritten, largely ornamental, and peripheral to the main action newsbytesapp.com+10indiaglitz.com+10bingescreen.blogspot.com+10.
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Dibyendu Bhattacharya shines in a cameo, elevating his scenes with a strong presence indiatoday.in+12filmfare.com+12bingescreen.blogspot.com+12.
Strengths
The core bond between the friends feels genuine, their camaraderie bringing warmth amid paranormal hijinks filmfare.com+1movietalkies.com+1. The dialogues by Kumar Priyadarshi and Saurabh Anand mix slapstick with wit, delivering laugh-out-loud moments that retain the flavor of the original Malayalam script firstpost.com+3indiaglitz.com+3en.wikipedia.org+3. Movie Talkies praises the film’s spooky atmosphere and effective jump‑scares, recommending an air‑conditioned theater for full effect indiatoday.in+4movietalkies.com+4bingescreen.blogspot.com+4.
Weaknesses
Critics across the board agree on a weak screenplay and fragmented narrative. The structure feels like disconnected sketches, lacking enough suspense and depth . Firstpost’s Vinamra Mathur described it as “instantly forgettable” and criticized it for failing to match the rooted charm of the original filmfare.com+3firstpost.com+3en.wikipedia.org+3.
TOI and NewsBytes mention the muddled pacing and tonal inconsistency—while humor lands sometimes, scares often fall flat reddit.com+10nowrunning.com+10bingescreen.blogspot.com+10. Redundantly long runtime and weak subplots (like the female leads’ arcs and the spirit’s motives) were also highlighted indiatoday.in+9nowrunning.com+9movietalkies.com+9.
Overall Reception
Critics rated it between 1.5 to 3/5:
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Filmfare gave it 2.5/5, noting more laughs than horror filmfare.com.
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TOI rated it 3/5, appreciating cast chemistry but cautioning against expecting genuine scares .
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Firstpost and NewsBytes offered harsher reviews—1.5/5—dismissive of its disjointed execution .
In contrast, Movie Talkies was more generous (3.5/5), praising its faithful adaptation and recommending it for group viewing . IndiaGlitz praised the film’s energy and humor, calling it a “spooky laugh riot” with effective chemistry from the leads indiaglitz.com.
Audience Response
On social media, audience sentiment was mixed. Some celebrated it as “the light‑hearted fun Bollywood was missing,” while others expected more coherence and scares indiatoday.in+1indiatoday.in+1.
An X (formerly Twitter) viewer said:
“Honestly, kapkapiii dekhkar laga ki Bollywood mein light‑hearted fun films ki kami thi… perfect weekend watch!” en.wikipedia.org+14indiatoday.in+14indiatoday.in+14
Final Verdict
Kapkapiii is a playful yet flawed effort—its loud humor and spirited lead pair offer intermittent enjoyment, but an inconsistent screenplay and muted scares limit its impact. This cinematic rollercoaster may please fans of buddy‑comedy and horror‑comedy hybrids, but falls short for those seeking a cohesive, spine‑tingling experience. If you’re in the mood for a group outing with popcorn, it might offer some chuckles; but if you want genuine horror or sharp storytelling, consider tempering your expectations.
