Movie Review

Rating :

Verdict : ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ is a well made sequel which has some decent performances by the entire star cast. Interesting twists, perfect set up and a talented Huma Qureshi make this film definitely worth a watch

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Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Ishqiya’ (2010) made Vidya Balan a huge star in Bollywood and now its sequel, ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ has the eternal diva Madhuri Dixit in the lead role. Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah continue to reprise their respective roles from the prequel while Huma Qureshi is presented in a supporting role. Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ has hit the screens today and so let’s see how it fares.

Story:-

After committing a small robbery, Babban (Arshad Warsi) and Khalujan (Naseeruddin Shah) end up in Lucknow which is city that was once ruled by the nawabs. Here Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit) is the wife of one of the most powerful Nawabs who after the death of her husband decides to re-marry in order to give her dynasty a new Nawab.

Begum Para announces a huge swayamwar in the city and soon enough Khalujan falls head over heels for Para and decides to participate in the contest. As things move on, Babban also joins the fun and woos Para’s assistant Muniya (Huma Qureshi).

Soon enough, a major twist in the tale make things turn ugly and Babban and Khalujan find themselves in a big mess. What is that twist? What happens to Begum Para? How do Khalujan and Babban come out of the tricky situation? For all these questions, you need to watch this film on the big screen.

Positive Points:-

Arshad Warsi once again proves that he is an excellent actor as he perfect as Babban and he adds the necessary comic element to the film. Huma Qureshi is the surprise package of the film and has the most powerful role in the film. One can easily predict that she definitely will be one of the most powerful actors to watch out for in the days to come.

Naseeruddin Shah continues from where he left off in ‘Ishqiya’ and his body language and screen presence is so amazing. Vijay Raaz suits his role perfectly and does a brilliant job as the bad guy.

The entire second half of the film is pretty entertaining with this portion moving in a brisk pace with enough twists and turns. Madhuri Dixit still looks beautiful and carries out a not so powerful role wonderfully.

Negative Points-

Though the story revolves around Madhuri’s situation, she however has the weakest role in the film. She is the hardly in the film as Huma Qureshi becomes her face.

The first half of the movie is very slow and some unnecessary situations have been included that have no relation to the film. This film will not appeal to certain sections as it has some instances of Lucknowi culture and most of the dialogues are in fluent Urdu.

The major letdown of the movie is the lack of entertainment as the comic quotient, which was popular in ‘Ishqiya’, is missing from this film. Overall, the theme of the movie is the same as the first part.

Technical Points:-

The music of the film is a big letdown as Vishal Bharadwaj disappoints hugely with the songs as none of them fail to register. Since the film has Lucknowi culture and Madhuri’s character loves dancing one would expect that atleast one dance number would have been easily added.

The cinematography is pretty good and showcases the Muslim culture well. The screenplay is interesting as most of the scenes are nicely etched out. Director Abhsishek Chaubey who has written screenplays of films like ‘Omkara’ and ‘Kaminey’ deserves a pat for making this sequel equally interesting. Also, he does not lose the narrative grip and sticks to the plot.