Ishqiya - Review

Ishqiya has all the trademarks of a “Vishal Bhardwaj” movie, yet it’s a big disappointment. Vishal Bhardwaj has built his own genre. Just like his last few movies Kaminey and Omkara, this one too is very raw. Shot in the rural backdrops of Gorakhpur, a Eastern UP town famous for gang wars and mafia, the movie captures the lingo and feel accurately. Like all his previous movies, this one too starts with a bang, moves at a swift pace and builds the tempo and expectations quite high. But where it fails is the end. It ends with a whimper. The entire pace fizzles out in the ending. It appears as if after shooting the movie for 1.5 hrs, the director suddenly forgets the core plot and decides to end it abruptly. It loses the sheen to such an extent that you really feel sorry for a good product turn bad.

The biggest plus going for the movie is the performance of its 3 central characters (Naseer, Arshad and Vidya Balan). There has never been a doubt of Naseer’s performance. He looks apt in both the con part as well as the aged person falling in love with the tantalizing Vidya. Vidya too carries out her role with ease. Though the storyline for her character definitely needed improvement. Through out the movie, she has been shown as some mysterious woman with dark secrets which in the end just doesn’t match up. The best one-liners and witty remarks have been kept in Arshad’s accounts. They are clever, sharp and keep the audience hoping for more. Even some of the other characters like Naseer’s Brother-in-law and the kiddo Nandu engages you.

The dialogues are raw and crude and sometimes border on the edge but that’s something that you now expect out of Vishal’s movie.

The music has been good and has been on the charts for quite some time especially “Ibn e batuta” and “dil to bachcha hai ji”. Apart from the movie songs, the old songs have also been woven very well with the chemistry between the characters.

While the movie has the darkness of Omkara and wittiness of Kaminey, it lacks the punch and edginees that most of Vishal’s movies are famous of. The movie can still be a one-time watch with low expectations.

By the way, I believe this movie might have broken the “longest kissing scene” in Bollywood. It definitely seems longer than the one in ‘Raja Hindustani’ between Aamir and Karishma.