Dedh Ishqiya Review

Starring: ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ Naseeruddin Shah, Madhuri Dixit, Huma Qureshi, Arshad Warsi

Watch: Love, lust and deception in 'Dedh Ishqiya'

Rating : 2.5/5 Stars 

Much Better than Previous "Ishqiya"

Director Abhishek Chaubey tells a story very tact and artfully, but with little impact. The real chemistry between Madhuri Dixit and Naseeruddin Shah, not for the actor’s incompetence, but for writer and director’s lack in building it up in the screenplay. More palpable are the vibes between Arshad Warsi and Huma Qureshi. 

The songs (Vishal Bhardwaj) keep popping in at regular intervals without bothering one much.

Dedh Ishqiya is a story about goes on between a love-struck Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah), a lust-struck Babban (Arshad Warsi), a mystical Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit) and her sly sidekick Muniya (Huma Qureshi). 

The consummate scoundrel Babban is out to retrieve a stolen necklace, Khalujan out to steal the Begum’s heart, and the nominal Begum has more skeletons than gems in her cupboard.

Throw in a smitten gunda disguising himself as Nawab (Vijay Raaz) to win the Begum’s love and you have a tale of intrigue within intrigue, wheels within wheels, honking its way through mushairas, run-down havelis, crowded baazars, all the way to a desolate railway station for a culmination into gunplay where not a single bullet finds its target.

It’s the dark humour and the performances by the entire ensemble that make Dedh Ishqiya eminently watchable. Madhuri Dixit is still a heart-stopper, particularly when she shows those wonderful dance moves of hers. Naseeruddin Shah is a master actor who knows well not to overplay his hand, shaking or firm. He keeps switching from the decorous, poetic Nawab Iftikhar to the scheming Khalujan with the ease of a veteran. Arshad Warsi is clearly the scene stealer here, given the funniest lines that he cracks with aplomb. Huma Qureshi is the cunning seductress who strings Arshad along and then tosses him aside like ash off a cigarette. Vijay Raaz is verily loathsome (as intended) as the cocky Nawab with the manners of a lout.

Dedh Ishqiya takes the viewer into poetic reverie with some thoughtful couplets from Bashir Badr and with equal flourish it smacks in the obscene expletives.