Dedh Ishqiya Movie Review by Sputnik

dedhishqiya Official Synopsis: Taking on from where we left off, Dedh Ishqiya discovers yet another escapade of Khalujan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi), a poetic journey underlined with revenge, drama and deception. The Begum (Madhuri Dixit-Nene) of Mahmudabad is hosting a festival of poetry and music in her mansion. The country’s best poets are in town. Khalujan posing as the Nawaab of Chandpur, is participating as a poet in the festival. He is not there merely to show off his poetic wares but to impress the widowed Begum who, as the grapevine suggests, is scouting for a husband -preferably a poet. Babban (Arshad Warsi) arrives in Mahmudabad to take Khalujan back to their old life but his plans change the moment he sets his eyes on Begum’s maid and confidant, Munira alias Muniya (Huma Qureshi), a brash and sexy young woman. Muniya too has plans of her own. She leaves the palace every now and then in a disguise to meet gangsters in dark alleys. The palace is rife with intrigue. The shayari is dropped for the guns, daring chases and hidden intentions. In the end, love triumphs even if the players of the story do not.

The movie is the sequel to Ishqiya but it actually borrows a lot of Begum Para’s story from Ismat Chugtai’s controversial Lihaaf Link which was published in 1942. Begum Para’s husband being gay (involved in “Laundebaazi”) and the lesbian undertones between Para and Munira are all from Lihaaf. The shadow play scene where Khalu mentions “Lihaaf” can be consired homage/tribute. The movie has not credited Ismat Chugtai or Lihaaf though. The story is credited to Darab Farooqui. Some of Bashir Badr’s poems used in the mvoie are very good.

The movie starts off with a similar scene from the first Ishqiya with Babban telling Mushtaq the joke about the parrots. Then there is a hilarious scene involving Babban’s Gilli. The scenes between Babban and Khalujan are very good with their one liners. Babban’s scenes with Munira are also very good with the one liners. Some of Jaan Mohammed’s scenes are very good specially with Italvi. There is a Sholay homage/tribute with Babban doing the actual shooting while Khalujan pretends to shoot similar to the scene where Jai does the actual shooting while Veeru pretends.

The major problem with the movie is that it seems to be from an earlier time. The Nawabs, poets and all Muslim characters seem anachronistic with its present day setting. The jewelry store scene is supposed to be set at night time with them robbing by turning off the lights off but when they go out of the store its daytime. The train scene in the climax is spoiled by the unnecessary propping up of the Italvi character.

Arshad Warsi is excellent as Babban and Naseer is very good as Khalu. The chemistry between them is excellent. Madhuri with her cheek implants and botoxed forehead looks bad trying to look as pretty as she used to be. Her acting also is not as good as it used to be. May be her character needed better lines than the old school filmy ones. Even her dancing did not seem that good. Huma Qureshi is good. Vijay Raaz is excellent as Jaan Mohammed whether in his goon scenes or his poetry scenes. Manoj Pahwa is good except his final scene.

The movie is fairly entertaining with the witty one liners but it kind of loses steam in the later part with the Naseer Madhuri romantic track. The ending also is kind of underwhelming. Vishal Bharadwaj brings in unnecessary political references like Bofors and so on in his dialogues. The movie is a one time watch but could have been so much more with a better screenplay.

Tags:
25 Comments
  1. Sanket Porwal 10 years ago

    Agreed that romantic plot of Nasser and Madhuri isnt up to the mark. But I disagree abt climax. It was fantastic to say the least.

    I enjoyed the film. A very good entertainer.

    • Author
      sputnik 10 years ago

      Manoj Pahwa’s character entry in the climax scene ruined it for me. He was given unnecessary footage and he is not a actor who can pull off scenes like that.

  2. narad_muni 10 years ago

    Sputnik,
    Great review…

    I will watch this one though it may not be as good as I thought.

    What so you think about Vishal Bharadwaj?
    I think he is a superb music director and a very good director but a bad screenwriter. Many of his movies have interesting plot, lot of promise, some great cinematic moments but uneven pace and fails to hold your interest after some time. Also, I think he creates too many sub-plots/characters which kinda diverts your attention from the main plot and overall drags the movie. I think he should take some good screenwriter for his movies and let him to do the job. Also, a good editor is must.
    I have high hopes from his upcoming movie Haider which is adapatation of Hamlet but I am worried about the screenplay and editing. Let’s hope for the best.

    • Author
      sputnik 10 years ago

      Thanks.

      Agree with you that he is a superb music director and a very good director. I think he is a bit indulgent when it comes to screenplay – he will set it up very well but he will have that final climax scene inspired from Guy Ritchie movies but he is not able to pull it off.

      Also agree that he creates too many sub-plots/characters which kinda diverts your attention from the main plot and overall drags the movie. I liked Kaminet but I think Kaminey it had too many sub-plots/characters.

  3. alfa.one 10 years ago

    Good review Sputnik : agree with every thing you wrote. Watched the movie day before. I found Vijay Raaz (Md. Jaan) the best and then Arshad warsi and Huma qureshi. Both of them were just wonderful. Khhalujaan nasiruddin shah was lust like any other film (I found him more of mirza ghhalib, may be because of similar make up minus long beard and hair). Madhuri dixit was too ordinary contrary to what critics have written about her. And yes in the climax that italvi character was very unnecessary and killed the thrill. Overall enjoyed the movie. Music was not as bad as people/critic have said. I enjoyed that too !!!

    • alfa.one 10 years ago

      For me the movie belong to Vijay Raaz, Arshad Warsi and Huma Qureshi !!!

    • Author
      sputnik 10 years ago

      Thanks @alfa-one

      I forgot to mention about the music in the review. Dil Ka Mizaaj Ishqiya was the best song of the movie for me. Also liked Hamari Atariya Pe.

      The right side of the page getting chopped should be fixed now. Was again because of a comment with just the link.

  4. alfa.one 10 years ago

    @sputnik – Same thing is happening again. The right side of the page is getting chopped off like the other day.

  5. Shalu Dhyani 10 years ago

    Good review but one should never give away the surprise package of the film in a review. It spoils the film for those who haven´t seen it.

  6. Tanqeed Movies 10 years ago

    Shalu Dhyani Are you referring to the climax scene by the surprise package of the film? If you are then I did not know how else to bring up the point that they ruined the climax by that character. I thought I was being subtle but may be I was not.

  7. Shalu Dhyani 10 years ago

    Tanqeed Movies No, I´m talking about the Lihaaf-related plot point. It shouldn´t have been mentioned in the review. I have seen the film but if I hadn´t your review would have spoiled the film for me.

  8. Tanqeed Movies 10 years ago

    Shalu Dhyani How can someone not mention that the movie is basically a modern adaptation of Lihaaf? I think that all reviewers should have mentioned that Lihaaf point. I don´t think that´s a spoiler – they even had one of that scenes in the trailer.

  9. Ipman 10 years ago

    even if this movie were Godfather part 2 , i would skip it due to the cast. will watch yaariyan . if i have to kill time, i can watch a move of youngsters.

    • Anjanpur685Miles 10 years ago

      Agle waqto ke hain yeh log, inhe kuch na kaho
      Jo mai-o-nagma ko andoh rubaa kehte hai

      😉

    • Author
      sputnik 10 years ago

      Heard that Yaariyan is horrible and Taran gave it 4 stars. Some were saying that Yaariyan makes SOTY look like a Classic.

      • Ipman 10 years ago

        soty is not a classic? 😉

      • alfa.one 10 years ago

        This time I didnt book the ticket in advance and went to theater directly. I must be around 10th in the Que and found almost every one was buying ticket for yaariyan.

  10. alfa.one 10 years ago

    “Shalu Dhyani How can someone not mention that the movie is basically a modern adaptation of Lihaaf? I think that all reviewers should have mentioned that Lihaaf point. I don´t think that´s a spoiler – they even had one of that scenes in the trailer.”

    @sputnik/Tanqeed movies – After reading your review and discussions between you and Shalu Dhyani, yesterday evening I have gone through Lihaaf by Ismat Chughtai as i didnt know about it before. I feel even if I knew it beforehand that the movie is adapted from Lihaaf, it would have been same for me. I dont feel it was a spoiler as Shalu Dhyani has pointed out.

    And today in the “First Post” got to know the the same (detailed article on the same by Deepanjana Pal).

    • Author
      sputnik 10 years ago

      I found out the Lihaaf adaptation part from moifightclub and I gave a link in my review where I mentioned it and I read the Lihaaf story from their link. First Post seems to have found out from that moifightclub article and wrote a more detailed article with no credit to them.

  11. Gautam Khaduja 10 years ago

    Sputnik I agree with you. This movie had so much potential with Lihaaf under current in turn it became one confused mess.
    found movie to be one nawabi mess. What era is it set in? When there were Nawabs? then why Arshad endorses iphone 5? The movie does not define anything clearly. is Begam Para royal or a nautch girl? If she gives up dance for her marriage which causes her so much anguish then all it takes for her is a pep talk from a stranger to revive that passion? Apart from shadow play, the scenes on screen do no ,in any way, spell out the real relationship between Begam Para and Munira. In fact the way Madhuri play it ,seems like Begam Para is protective of Munira as any mother would be of her young daughter. The character of Begam Para is a lost opportunity. Tabu would have played it with so much gusto. Not to mention the climax is just one big mess. I am so disappointed by it that I doubt any of reviewers actually watched the movie or is Vishal Bharadwaj above all cinematic sins that nobody dare write real review?
    R

    • Author
      sputnik 10 years ago

      Thanks @gautam-khaduja

      Yeah you made a very good point about whether Begam Para was a royal or a nautch girl. I don’t think any Nawabs would have allowed their daughter to dance when dancing was considered by them to be associated with nautch girls.

      I think they are some dialogues where Para hints at the lesbian relationship with Munira but it is subtle and not explicit. She says Munira is her friend, sister and “Jaan”. In the standout scene in the climax she refuses to go without her and the ending and the final scenes also give similar hints. Yeah Tabu would have been way better in that role. Madhuri played that role in a very goody goody almost Huma’s mother/elder sister kind of way.

  12. Author
    sputnik 10 years ago

    I saw this old Dilip Kumar link on TQ getting lot of hits today from twitter and turns out that Mihir Fadnavis had tweeted it.

    “If you’ve seen Dedh Ishqiya, here’s a link b/w the real Begum Para, Ismat Chugtai and Dilip Kumar” Link

    I had posted that Stardust Article/Interview on Dilip Kumar but I had forgot that it had quotes from the writer Ismat Chugtai and that it also had a Begum Para who was wife of Dilip’s brother Nasir Khan. Not sure if the Begum Jan in Lihaaf is same as this Begum Para.

    Blast from the Past: The Terrible Truths about the Thespian Dilip Kumar

    • alfa.one 10 years ago

      @sputnik I dont think that the begum Jan of lihaf is the same begum para of DK’s family (Mrs. Nasir Khan)!

      And all these allegations on Dilip Kumar cannot be believed as these are only from people who could not get the favors from Dilip Kumar. The outburst of Saira Banu is understandable as she is his wife and any woman in her situation would have behaved in similar way (just see Mrs. Tharoor’s tweets in today’s news).

      • Author
        sputnik 10 years ago

        Yeah I don’t think Begum Para (Mrs Nasir Khan) is Begum Jan either. Begum Para was an actress.

        Its a Stardust article/interview so it should be taken with a pinch of salt.

  13. Author
    sputnik 10 years ago

    Shahid Kapoor in Abhishek Chaubey’s next
    By Bollywood Hungama News Network, June 12, 2014 – 13:02 hrs IST

    Recently, rumours had it that Abhishek Chaubey has been looking out for new leads for his next and that he had signed Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra for his film. However, the director recently announced that though Shahid is on board for the film, Priyanka isn’t.

    Abhishek stated that he happened to meet Shahid and had discussed the script after which an excited Shahid agreed to do the film. Moreover, it was also being said that Abhishek’s yet to be titled film will be a science fiction, however, Abhishek denied this story. The director maintained that the other details including actress and the rest of the cast is yet to be finalized.

    Abhishek Chaubey however plans to finish the shoot schedule of this untitled film by the end of February 2015.

    Link

Leave a reply to Anjanpur685Miles Click here to cancel the reply

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?