Bright upon first glance...then fades away...... Review on Ishqiya

For a directorial debut (Abhishek Chaubey), Ishqiya is a great effort. But when you see that Vishal Bharadwaj is the producer, you wonder what happened to his usually great scripting sense....

Plot:

Ishqiya revolves around three central characters: poetic and shrewd Khallu jaan (Naseeruddin Shah), rustic and naive Babban (Arshad Warsi), and a mysterious femme fatale Krishna ji (Vidya Balan). Khallu and Babban are two criminals on the run from another gangster, taking refuge in Krishna ji's house. Krishna ji is a dignified (faintly tragic), alluring widow, who has all kinds of hidden agendas in her head behind giving shelter to these two men. She leads them a merry dance, seduces the both of them, leads them through yet another criminal caper and before we know it, the movie hurtles down, like a car out of control, to its very convoluted climax!

My Take:

I havent revealed much of the plot, because frankly, it all happened so fast, I am still trying to figure it out! There IS is a plot to be sure (which is what makes Ishqiya the one-eyed king amongst the other mindless movies!), but everything is just too hurried to make much sense. I liked the fact that the director built the film around the mysterious, vengeful femme fatale...but as a viewer, I wanted a bit more time to figure out why exactly she had that tragic air to her, and to comprehend what she was orchestrating around her...if you've watched the movie, you'll know what I mean.

The best part of Ishqiya for me was the picturization of the song "Dil to Bachcha Hai ji". Naseeruddin Shah is at his charming best, flirting with a random girl on the bus, who is also making obvious eyes at him..the chemistry is palpable betwen them! It was all so delightful and so innocent at the same time. The movie is worth the price of a ticket, JUST for that song alone!

I enjoyed all the songs in the movie, especially the beautiful old hindi songs thrown in liberally to build the atmosphere. The setting of the movie was perfectly authentic UP...took me back to my childhood and growing up in Rampur, UP. The dialogues, especially the way Arshad Warsi said them, were absolutely on the money. Speaking of Arshad Warsi, I know most people are raving about Vidya Balan, but for me the star of the movie was Arshad Warsi...he was absolutely indistinguishable from the character Babban that he plays in the movie. Hard to imagine that this is the same man who played Circuit in some other movie!

Vidya Balan is a good actress, and has a warm, dignified presence on screen. I think her characterization suffered the most because of the hurried plot. A bit more time for her character to breathe, for her motives to become clearer, and Krishna ji would have been a role of a lifetime. Naseeruddin Shah, with the exception of the song, disappointed me. He appeared to sleepwalk through his part for most of the movie. Yeah, he had good chemistry with Vidya Balan, but he can enact that in his sleep is the impression I got. He only seemed to wake up when he made eyes at that girl on the bus!

There were some quirky characters (Helen resurrected in a beauty parlour, an oily twisted businessman) and sequences that really entertained, and that you wish you could see more off, ..but it all didnt amount to much in the end. I think movies are remembered mostly for the way they end. If the climax is spoiled, as it is in this movie, the movie fades pretty rapidly from your mind...much like a mirage.......