Almost five years ago a brilliant director Abhishek Chaubey made his directorial debut with an unconventional romantic story with a surprisingly twisted thriller added with it. Now the same director has came with his next movie which is the sequel to his first movie "Ishqiya". This time the title has been changed to "Dedh Ishqiya" that is very much unconventional just like the film itself. So the question is whether this film will be able to surpass the expectation set by its predecessor lets check it.
In this movie the story goes forward from the earlier one. Khalujan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warshi), the uncle nephew pair are still together, they are still partner in crime, they still work for Mushtaque, again they had done some fraud with Mushtaque and ran away, they again take shelter in the house of a widow and fall in love with her instantly, again the widow has something else in her mind than love which will be revealed sometime before the climax. In one word it can be said that in the sequel there is nothing new here than Ishqiya , the story and screenplay have been written in the similar manner. The new things in the movie are very few those are; The background of the story has been changed from a dalit village to a nawabi haveli of Mehmudabad, Here there is two girls one is Begum Para(Madhuri Dixit) and another is her attendant cum friend Muniya( Huma Qureishi), so Khalujan and Babban are not madly in love with a single lady this time rather they have their own separate girls to love and lust. There is another thing which is different from the earlier one and that is the suspense which is revealed near the climax is far less thrilling and this thing goes strongly against the film.
The story in the first half is more about the growing romance between Begum Para and his admirer Khalujan who is disguised as a poet poet with his original shayaris. This phase will take you to the world of nawabi culture in UP and its very much engaging if you love Urdu poetry otherwise it may look very much boring but the time Babban enters in this haveli the story goes back to the bromance between this uncle nephew relation. There is no doubt the chemistry between Naseer and Arshad is far more interesting than their chemistry with the leading ladies.
As a director Abhishek Chaubey has authentically portrayed nawabi culture on screen but he looses his grip towards the end. Till the climax it seems that the story has been dragged too much specially because the suspense revealed here is just a lame excuse and audiences feels cheated with such a revelation.
Naseerudiin Shah has done full justice to Khalujan once again. Thios time his character has something new to offer as the poet in the first half and the way he recites the Urdu shayaris, that will surely grab your attention.
Arshad Warshi is so much effortless as Babban that it can be said that no one else will be able to step into the shoes of Babban other than him.His comic timing is superb.
Just like "Ishqiya", the female characters have been portrayed as very bold and brave here too but you will still miss Miss Valan as Krishnaji. Madhuri Dixit Nene looks gorgeous as Begum Para. She maintains the dignity of a begum so well with her facial expression and body language.When it comes to dancing there is nothing more to say about her dancing skills. But in the emotional scenes , specially towards the end she is disappointing.
Huma Qureishi is a brilliant actress with a smart sense to choose appropriate roles for her. Here too she has stands out as her own in the crowd of so much talented and more experienced actors.
Apart from these four there is one actor who is just awesome and he is Vijay Raaz. He has played the character of Jaan Mohammed a local goon who wants to marry the begum desperately to become the next Nawab.
Among the technical team the dialogues written by Vishal Bhardwaj are superb though it has too much use of Urdu language but that is the demand of the story itself and the subtitles provided there makes the job easy for the audiences to understand the beautiful meaning of the dialogues. The sets designed by Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray are very much realistic and gives the feel of old Nawabi Havelis. The camerawork by Setu is very nice and eye catching. The editing by Sreekar prasad is good. Choreography by Pt. Virju Maharaj and Remo Dsouza is brilliant. Special credit goes to Remo for choreographing a typical Indian classical dance which is totally out of his signature style. The costumes and designed by Payal Saluja looks very authentic , her research on awadhi culture is showing. The action sequences are just ordinary.
Music is a weak point of this movie. We expect much more from Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj combination. The only popular song is "Hamari Atariya Pe" which has been wonderfully sung by Rekha Bhardwaj. Another good song is "Dil Ka Mizaz Ishqiya" but the song has not been used in the movie too well. The rest of the songs are just okay.
Overall "Dedh Ishqiya" will not give you one and half times more entertainment than the earlier one. This will be more loved for presenting Nawabi culture and Urdu shayaris than suspense or thrill. This is a nice love story but the added punch of shocking thrill is missing this time.
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