Dedh Ishqiya Review

One Line Review: Kaabil-E-Taarif cinematic marvel with an aroma of royalty and romance, paving the way to be a crowd pleaser.

Positive Points: Excellent direction, Enthralling performances by Madhuri Dixit and Naseeruddin Shah, Elegant cinematography, Mighty and witty dialogues.

Negative Points: Unnecessarily dragged second half, Unwanted adult content.

Plot: The story takes off from Babban (Arshad Warsi), a rugged man with guts rolled up on his sleeves, who steals an expensive necklace from a jewellery shop along with his aged partner Khalujan (Naseeruddin Shah). Suddenly, Khalujan disappears with the necklace and Babban lands in a mess. Babban leaves no stone unturned to search Khalujan and eventually, finds him in the attire of the Nawab of Chandpur, Iftekhar Hussain, who is in Mehmudabad for a purpose. In order to gain quick and easy money, Khalujan dons the hat of a Nawab this time. Wasting no time, Babban lands in Mehmudabad and catches the hold of Khalujan to ask him the location where he has kept the stolen necklace. Trying to escape from Babban initially, Khalujan reveals his new plan to Babban of earning huge moolah. Apparently, Begum Para Mirzada (Madhuri Dixit) from Mehmudabad is a middle-aged gorgeous widow from a royal family, who is to get married and an Urdu poetry competition is held among Nawabs. The winner from this competition will become the Nawab of Mehmudabad, as Begum Para will select him as her life partner.

Nawab Iftekhar Hussain aka the conman Khalujan participates in this poetry competition to win the heart of Begum Para and Babban introduces himself as the butler of Nawab Iftekhar Hussain. In this competition, Nawab Jaan Mohammad (Vijay Raaz) locks horns with Nawab Iftekhar Hussain, as both of them share a common dream, which is to become the Nawab of Mehmudabad. In this story, Begum Para's fox-minded close friend cum care-taker Muniya Aslam Zia-Ul-Bano (Huma Qureshi) plays a vital part, as she cooks a plan with Babban of kidnapping Begum Para for the reasons best known to her. While performing tasks of competition, the conman Iftekhar Hussain aka Khalujan actually falls in love with Begum Para unknowingly and so does Begum Para with Iftekhar Hussain. One day, Khalujan attempts to tell the truth to Begum Para that he is a crook and not any Nawab, but soon the romance starts budding between the two that sidelines the bitter truth of Khalujan. Finally, the competition of Nawabs for being the soulmate of Begum Para ends and the time of declaring the winner arrives. With confidence in mind that Begum Para will choose him as the winner and will tie the knot with him, Iftekhar Hussain comes at her mansion. Shockingly, Begum Para announces Nawab Jaan Mohammad as her to-be-husband and Nawab of Mehmudabad. Khalujan finds it hard to digest this shock and loses emotional control. The further unwinds some unthinkable moments!

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: The director Abhishek Chaubey offered the sequel of 2010 release 'Ishqiya' and titled it as 'Dedh Ishqiya' rather than naming it as 'Ishqiya 2'. With such wordplay, the film was bound to present something really entertaining and never-seen-before stuff. This time, the prime attraction was the iconic Madhuri Dixit's dazzling comeback on the silver screen and seeing her enlivening the magic once again. 'Dedh Ishqiya' outshined its predecessor in terms of the way it is executed and presented. Although the film takes one on the flight of fantasy, it certainly deserves applause as even the humour is dished out in an artistic style and confidence.

A royal beautiful widow, a mystery, two conmen and of course the money, form the four key elements of the film. The movie has a world of its own, which is filled up with love, greed of money, a hidden truth, pricey ornaments, entangled emotions and friendship. Urdu shayaris and elegant royal lifestyle of characters endows an aristocratic touch to the flick and form the soul of the film. A major portion of the film is occupied by Urdu language, which sounds soothing to hear and gives an extra edge to the story. The presentation of gentle romance between Naseeruddin Shah and Madhuri Dixit is certainly worth praising, while Arshad Warsi looks cool as the lover boy with a wild side. The drawback can be mentioned as some unwanted songs seem as the complete no-no while the story fuels up the viewers' interest. Also, the first half takes a little longer for the story to get established and it would have been much better if the second half would have been cut shorter. This unnecessarily stuffed adult content disqualifies the film from being a complete family entertainer.

The handling of tender moments like Begum Para experiencing some emotional problems after the death of her husband and Muniya helping her to come out of it, Muniya playing her secrete game by keeping her image intact and a soft corner in the heart of Begum Para for Nawab Iftekhar Hussain, definitely takes the film to the intellectual thriller category. Khalujan teaching Babban the seven stages of love sprinkle humour, as both of them keep on relating various complex events in their life to the seven stages of love. The direction and screenplay are the ones that deserve appreciation. Background score is good. Cinematography steals the show.

Performance: The veteran star Naseeruddin Shah presented his sheer class with ceaseless versatility. The actor has retained his golden streak and leaves a thumping impact with his brilliant acting skills. The stunning Madhuri Dixit wonderfully went under the skin of a character, which was challenging. Madhuri covered the entire spectrum with her "adakaari" and obviously her utterly graceful, captivating dance moves. The quicksilver Madhuri was in her element and allured eyeballs by showcasing diverse shades of her character. It seemed that Madhuri was keen to break her own record by essaying a secretive Begum Para.

Arshad Warsi portrayed a rugged conman and he suited well in it. The witty one liners and perfect comic timing earned him some brownie points. The energy of the actor was worth praising. Huma Qureshi looked confident as the seductive mystifying woman. Sometimes she is like all spice with a tinge of tart and sometimes she is vanilla with the right dash of spice.

Vijay Raaz was great in his role as usual. He rendered a superb antagonist with a logic behind it. Raaz deserves to bag applause with his impeccable portrayal of fake Nawab. Manoj Pahwa, Salman Shahid and other actors lent a good support in their respective roles.

Music: Being a love story, music plays an utmost significant role in the flick and when the film features Madhuri Dixit, it is bound to have some spectacular song videos! The music composed by Vishal Bhardwaj somewhat fails to capture audience interest. The tracks like 'Zabaan Jale Hai', 'Dil Ka Mijaaz' and 'Jagaave Saari Raina' sound good to hear along with the story flow, but otherwise would have sounded pale.

The song 'Horn OK Please' try to bring some fun, but fails to do so. The song 'Hamari Atariya Pe' boasts of stunning visuals, as Madhuri Dixit and Huma Qureshi flaunt their elegant dancing skills. The tune of the song makes it best from the other tracks of the film.

Final Verdict: This spicy, brainy thriller is a tempting cake decorated with a slice of placid romance and aristocratic storytelling. The film is worth watching for the dazzling Madhuri Dixit comeback on the celluloid, razor-sharp dialogues and enthralling cinematography. In all, the film takes the leaf out of the book and moulds it in a delicate unseen way.