Directed by: Abhishek Chaubey
Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad
Warsi, Vidya Balan, Adil Hussain
Released: 2010
My rating: destroy
every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed
but enjoyable - good – great
– amazing
It would be a blatant lie if I denied
that the impuls for revisiting Ishqiya was the coming of its
successor in the form of Dedh Ishqiya (which has been watched and
immensely loved and will be reviewed at LENGTH so just prepare
yourselves), but at the same time I can claim with a clear conscience
that the first film was definitely one of my favourite films of 2010,
long before any news about a sequel. Because it was quite different,
yet somewhere along the line it still didn´t feel like a
wannabe-artsy film. And mostly because the characters created within
the Ishqiya world range from extremely entertaining to quite
fascinating. What Abhishek Chaubey managed to do in his debut movie,
many more experienced directors sturggle to achieve after years of
work. And put me in an awkward position, because I have started
writing a review and yet I still don´t know how to write about the
film. Or what really..... Ishqiya is one of the films I genuinely
enjoyed.... but don´t have that much to say about (seriously wait
for my word-diorrhea that will come once I get to Dedh....)
A sun slowly rises above the hills,
enough to colour everything in hues of beige and brown, but not yet
enough to reveal the true colours of a village landscape somewhere in
Uttar Pradesh, where the story takes place. The visuals throughout
refrain from using too much colour, settling instead for very earthy
tones, in which a wild flower or Vidya Balan´s white choli stand out
and draw even more attention than they would otherwise. The
attention given to a detail is wonderful. And the overal atmosphere
created quite unique. As is Krishna, with her glorious braid and
drool-worthy sarees.
Now, Vidya Balan is possibly the
sexiest (as well as stunningly gorgeous) actress Bollywood has on its
hands these days and she is thus perfectly cast as the female
protagonist of the story. A great feminist figure she is – going
afer what she wants, manipulating others without a blink of an eye
and using all that has nature endowed her with, from wit and swift
thinking to sinful seduction. And she is so good in that art that no
wonder she has two uncouth crooks wrapped around her finger. Played
by Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi, the uncle-nephew thieving duo
Khalujaan-Babban, have made a sure entry into the golden book of
Bollywood bromance. Excellent actors with wonderful chemistry, they
essay characters who believe themselves to be a lot more cunning than
they actually are, and that together with them both being easily
swayed by a promise of love (which they are willing to follow with
devoted puppy-eyes) makes them utterly endearing. In many way they
are the soul of the film, even if Vidya is the center of it. There
can be no complaints about performances, music or visuals.
How do you not love them? |
The story seems to be going one way for
most part and in the last 30 minutes takes a very unexpected turn (at
least silly me did NOT see that coming). It takes quite a while
before it picks up a decent pace, and the build-up is good,
unfortunatelly the very end feels somehow incomplete. As if the
writer didn´t really know what to do with the characters once the
issue is dealt with and over. At times the viewer grows impatient for
story to move on. And if this review so far feels rather incoherent,
it is because the film too is incoherent to a certain extent. It
takes patience to „get there“ and good will to believe it will be
worth it in the end.
I hope we get more films like Ishqiya.
More „tight“, but with the same precision and care placed into
the characters. With more even pace but with equal importance given
to little details and touches. With similarly impressive twists and
even more women, who actually are people. Ishqiya world is very
feminist-friendly, with men being part of it (and being loveable with
their shortcomings) but never really catching a drift of what is
really going on. Ishqiya world is a great space to be.
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