'Sadak 2' review: Mahesh Bhatt's comeback film has a bad '90s hangover

There's no better way of saying this. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's comeback film 'Sadak 2' suffers from a bad hangover of the 1990s. The decade was dominated by the mindless pulp in Bollywood - that may have worked back in the day, but 21 years on, the same content seems jaded.

Bhatt, who has given India iconic films like 'Arth', 'Daddy', 'Naam' and 'Zakhm', completely butchers his own 1991 hit film 'Sadak' with its sequel and casts his daughter, Alia in one of the most convoluted stories to have come out this year. Alia is known for her talent and has often lifted some of the most mediocre films just by her performances. But this film is beyond repair and despite having a formidable cast and some hummable music, 'Sadak 2' is unable to create an impression.

The plot revolves around a depressed Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) who is yet to come to terms with the death of his wife Pooja (Pooja Bhatt ) and has suicidal thoughts. He hallucinates about his wife, hears her voice often, and tries to kill himself but is unable to. On one such night when he is planning to kill himself, Arya (Alia Bhatt) comes knocking at his door claiming she had made a booking for a taxi three months ago. Ravi of course is not keen initially but eventually agrees as keeps hearing his wife coaxing him. He takes Arya and her boyfriend Vishal on a road trip to Kailash- a wish that Arya needs to fulfill of her dead mother.

Arya is also on some sort of a mission to bust the nexus of a spiritual guru (Makrand Deshpande) who she blames for her mother's death. She has a gullible father (Jisshu Sengupta) who is deeply influenced by the guru as is her stepmother (Priyanka Bose) whom Arya hates.

If the plot wasn't convoluted enough, there are plenty of twists in the film that put an average Abbas-Mustan film to shame. Ravi may be hallucinating about his dead wife, but he quickly warms up to Arya and makes it his life mission to protect her from villainous gurus and evil family members.