The movie opens in the heartland of Uttar Pradesh,a muse that has stuck with Vishal Bharadwaj for sometime now.Rustic and blatant, the surroundings offer a perfect pitch to set the mood of its central characters Khalujan(Nasseruddin Shah), his accomplice Babban(Arshad Warsi) who are thieves, one brooding and the other lusty, that cheat their boss of some hard cash and find a refuge in the idyllic villages outside Gorakhpur in a certain Krishna(Vidya Balan),who apprently is the widow of a certain leader of the numerous factionist groups in the state. During the course of their stay both Babban and Khalujan in their own way get hooked to the demeanour of Krishna,who apprently has her own agenda and plays along until she wins their confidence and has them plan the kidnapping of a small time millionaire and extort money and make merry. But all is not as it seems.Sleight and deceit become part of this cat and mouse game that delightfully complicates a straightforward plan into one that ends up involving the fascist groups after a point and has the trio claim their stake.
The movie deserves to be applauded for its treatment,that osscillates between a comic caper and an intense thriller of sorts dangerously enough and its the skill of Abhishek Chaubey and Vishal Bharadwaj that enables the script maintain its fine balance and has you laughing even when people are being shot at. Much of the entertainment factor in the movie comes from the dialogues that are impactful in driving the movie forward.
Sample this: "Humne galti karne mein thodi jaldi kardi, aapne maafi maangne mein thodi deri" Coupled with Arshad Warsi's spontaineity and reprising the "Circuit" act, the comic punch lines clearly come out as gems of intelligent positioning in the movie. Needless to say,Nasseeruddin Shah as Khalujan is every bit the spurned lover and a man seasoned by experience who slips well into his erratic moodswings more than once.Its a pleasure to watch Naseeruddin Shah go reclusive and communicate his pain to Krishna after his realization of her feelings for Babban ,in these very lines " Main Mard hoon isiliye bata nahin raha hoon. Agar aurat hota toh tumhe pata nahi chalta ki mein biwi hoon ki tawaif" .After a long time,Vidya Balan comes around to prove her mettle as Krishna, a woman with grey shades, an avengeful seductress who feigns her inclinations for Babban and Khalujan only to scheme a way to grab the booty. You cant but help admire the boldness of the character essayed by Vidya Balan that fluxes between a cold and affectionate demeanour by the minute.Scenes where she takes the duo by surprise and holds them captive and drives away with the kidnapped businessman while Babban and Khalujan fight in the middle of the road, is quite exciting. There are many moments in the movie that have you root for the characters at some point.
Complementing the movie is the music by Vishal Bharadwaj that has some great scores that would linger in your mind well after you have left the cinema hall. The cinematography by Mohana Krishna Agapu offers a pleasant experience and editing by Namrata Rao offers the streaming narrative some crisp time management .
However, it does take a while to warm up to the situations and characters of this two hour flick that is possibly attributed to the unpredictability of situations and the effort of the director to tie all of them together into what makes Ishqiya, an enjoyable piece of entertainment and storytelling that is here to stay and hence scales 3.5 out of 5 for its attempt to be different and successful at that!!
Heres to Ishqiya for making popcorn the best accompaniment at the movies.
Signing Off.....
Eashwar
No comments:
Post a Comment