Over time we go into theaters to watch movies which should entertain as well as enlighten us. Many of us spend lots of money for watching these movies. The spectators expect a honest and entertaining movie to digress from the daily tensions of life. I went to the movie theater yesterday expecting the same.
This movie is a sequel to a movie named ‘Ishqiya’ which was a landmark movie encompassing ‘cheating’ and ‘treachery’ with an umbrella of stellar performances by Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan. It had a decent story line packed with dialogues in crude language of Uttar Pradesh. Needless to say it was a success at the box office.
Coming to the sequel, the movie is perilously slow in the first half. We are not able to get the thick and thin of the story as something seems wrongly placed in the initial part. The necklace which is stolen doesn’t really have any meaning in the whole story even though the writer tries hard to introduce some meaning to it. The movie wriggles in between when the poetry competition is being shown. This should have been fast paced and a bit of humor should have been introduced.
The second half tries to create a plot of kidnapping which again is ruthlessly marred and misses common sense. It seems more humorous than tragic. The climax seems to be derived from a few Hollywood flicks. You can easily make out a Tarantino style of portrayal in the scene. The action scenes are very similar to the ones shown in Desperado. Also, I must admit that there are few scenes which have been inspired by other movies. For instance, the one scene when Huma Qureshi runs to hug Madhuri, Arshad expects that she’ll hug him but as it turns out she goes behind him and hugs Madhuri. I saw this enactment in the Tamil movie Boys which released in 2003.
Legendary actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Madhuri Dixit have been their self in the movie and have given power packed performances. Arshad Warsi plays the vagabond thief but it seems that his potential has been under used. Huma Qureshi has come of age but her role in this movie is very similar to the one she played in ‘The Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2’. Vijay Raaz is good but still lacks the impact he used to create in his earlier movies.
A lot of native profane language has been used in the dialogues but they don’t create an impact and the storyline is unimpressive. A similar movie made by Vishal Bharadwaj in the backdrops of Uttar Pradesh was ‘Omkara’ which derived its story from The Othello is still appreciated even though it had similar kind of dialogues. I liked the use of Urdu language in this movie but better movies have been made which have used the language in more beautiful manner.
The good part in the movie is cinematography. Appropriate lights have been used and give the movie a periodic feel. Editing has been pristine and one can’t easily find glitches. Choreography of Birju Maharaj deserves respect and Madhuri has done justice to the same. Music is impressive as it has always been with Vishal Bharadwaj’s movies.
Overall, I was disappointed with the movie as I expect a decent story with Vishal Bharadwaj’s movies. I think he should get back to making movies based on Shakespeare’s literary works. I hope he is not working on a two and half spoon headache now.
Anand Bora