Daawat-E-Ishq Review

One-line Review: Half-cooked story spoils the flavour of 'Daawat-E-Ishq'

Positive points: Unison of Hyderabadi and Lucknowi culture, Social message to deliver

Negative points: Predictable plot, average album

Plot: Hyderabad ki Tez Gulrez (Parineeti Chopra) stays in a lower middle class family. She is an outspoken girl who wants a bride who is intelligent, educated and most importantly should be fluent in English. But her dreams are crashing as her father Bhooji (Anupam Kher) can't afford the demanded dowry. She gets rejected by many families and also heart-broken in a relationship. Therefore, she decides to bounce back by conning a rich guy and in turn making him only pay her alimony under the charge of Section 498(A) Dowry Act.

With the fake identity of Sania Habibullah, Gulrez heads to the Nawab city with her father. Here she targets Lucknow ka aashiq Tariq (Aditya Roy Kapur) for her master plan. He wins her heart with his charming personality and crispy Kebabs.

Thus, poor Gulrez is left with a confused situation, as she has to choose either her money-making plan that will launch her career in America or else marry good-hearted Tariq who genuinely loves her.

Direction and other technical aspects: It is said that director Habib Faisal took the inspiration from a real-life con story which came in news sometime back. But sadly, how much he got amazed by that news article that much he didn't delivered when it came to projecting it on reel. Further, film's predictable plot spoilt the show.

Cinematographer Himman Dhamija has captured the spicy cities of Hyderabad and Lucknow very well. One peculiar thing about his work is that he has given equal importance to actors and delicious food keeping in note the flavor of 'Daawat-E-Ishq'.

Performances: Parineeti Chopra as Gulrez is simply awesome. Like always she plays an outspoken character, but this time for a change she is voicing in Hyderabadi dialect. In her fake identity of Dubai-returned Sania Habibullah, she is looking amazingly gorgeous in the long hairs.

Aditya Roy Kapur as Tariq Haidari is a happy-go-lucky man. His Lucknowi dialect with his weird dressing style makes him perfectly sink in his small-town-big-hotelier's role. When it comes to the love chemistry, Parineeti and Aditya appeared more like friends than lovers.

Anupam Kher as Bhooji, Gulrez's father is a delight to watch. He perfectly portrays the mindset of a middle-class father who wants to get his daughter married.

Music: Music by Sajid-Wajid is strictly average. Out of all the songs in 'Daawat-E-Ishq' album, only the title track "Daawat-E-Ishq" and "Mannat" sustains a hold in the listeners' mind, rest all perish.

Final Verdict: As promising it's title and trailer was, film 'Daawat-E-Ishq' didn't live up to that expectation. Even though, the film has got a social message to tell with the tale of love, conning and delicacies, everything has got mixed up delivering the predictable plot.