The much-anticipated Diwali special of The Great Indian Kapil Show Season 2 kicked off with the cast of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 — Vidya Balan, Kartik Aaryan, Triptii Dimri, Rajpal Yadav — and director Anees Bazmee. This episode had every ingredient for a perfect Diwali treat — big stars, LOL characters, and a seasoned cast. But despite a sparkle here and a sizzle there, the big dhamaka went MIA.

The Patakha gone poof

Vidya Balan, queen of Instagram reels and mistress of laughs, promised to light up the show with her humour. She kicked off the episode with a giggle and some fun anecdotes from the sets – specially the one about Kartik remaining busy on phone on the sets – but the laughter soon dropped like a Diwali rocket gone astray.

The Fuljhari that fizzled out

Kartik Aaryan added some impromptu jokes to the mix, Rajpal Yadav’s no-holds-barred dance number upped the energy quotient, and Triptii’s adorable laugh sprinkled some pre-Diwali sweetness, but somehow it all seemed like a half-lit fuljhari.

The mithai gone missing

Krushna Abhishek’s Wallahdin (Aladdin’s Bollywood cousin from Moradabad) and Kiku Sharda’s Jinn looked promising on paper, but the magic was missing. And Sunil Grover as Dafli is becoming a, well, drag. The audience waited for punchlines that never arrived, like hunting for sweets that someone had already devoured.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 gang goes ROFL with the gang of 3

Finally, the episode took a chaotic ROFL turn with Kiku, Krushna and Sunil impersonating Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. Sunil’s “disinterested Bhai” act was a standout, drawing howls of laughter and wows of admiration from everyone on the sofa and the sets. Krushna’s ‘jhoome jo Pathaan’ strut and stomp, to us, seemed too much of an action replay from a previous episode starring Kartik and his mother, but Kartik and Co. could not stop laughing. All in all, the gang of 3 – Sunil, Krushna and Kiku – drew non-stop laughter from the Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 gang.