Ishqiya Movie Review Rating By Taran Adarsh

Ishqiya Movie Review Rating By Taran Adarsh


Movie : Ishqiya
Director : Abhishek Chaubhey
Cast : Naseruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan

Get ready for tangy, pungent, sizzling and spicy stuff. Be forewarned, Ishqiya isn't the fluffy, candyfloss, saccharine sweet story of lovers breaking into songs in mustard fields. In Ishqiya, you just don't know what turn the story may take next. Not just the story, even the characters here are so impulsive and unpredictable.

Rating : Four stars

You need to have a strong stomach to absorb Ishqiya. It's high on drama, it's wild, it's real. But it's not dark, it's not sleazy, it's not crass. Frankly, you don't expect debutante director Abhishek Chaubey to make a stereotypical fare thanks to the tutelage by his guru Vishal Bhardwaj, who loves to swim against the tide and undertake risks in film after film.

You could call Ishqiya a distant cousin of Omkara. Set in Gorakhpur in North India, the film has a rustic feel, depicts characters that may make you uncomfortable and is laced with saucy lingo. Yet, it's different than Ishqiya.

Final word? You can't help but fall in ishq with Ishqiya. Tired of sherbat? Try this spicy jaljeera for a change!

Two thieves, Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi), are on the run from their boss, Mushtaq. They seek refuge at a friend's house, but instead meet his widow, Krishna (Vidya Balan). The time spent together draws the duo to her, Khalu with his tinted vision of old-fashioned love and Babban with his lustful eye. But the past catches up with all three!

There's no denying that the promos had prepared me of the journey ahead, yet it took us a good 15-odd minutes to get into the world of Khalujaan, Babban and Krishna. But once you get sucked into their world, the blurred images start getting clearer and clearer and you become an active participant in their journey.

The first hour passes in a jiffy, but the story actually gets dramatic and volatile in its second hour. It's at this stage that things start getting more and more unpredictable. The story does a somersault every 10 minutes and by the time it reaches its finale, you're curious to know how the debutante director would conclude this saga. The end, of course, will have its share of advocates and adversaries, but the fact remains that it's offbeat.

Abhishek Chaubey is a welcome addition to the ranks of avid storytellers. His choice of the subject and also handling of the material is what makes this film so eminently watchable. Not once do you feel that Ishqiya has been helmed by a first-timer. Note the change of events in the song Dil To Bachcha Hain Ji or the kidnap drama and the heated argument that follows thereafter. Even the passionate lovemaking sequence between Arshad and Vidya has been dexterously canned.

However, Chaubey and his team of writers could've kept the writing simplistic towards the finale. It's complex and also lacks clarity. Yet, all said and done, screenplay writers Vishal Bhardwaj, Sabrina Dhawan and Abhishek Chaubey deserve kudos for coming up with a film that keeps you hooked for most parts.

Vishal Bhardwaj's musical score has his unmistakable stamp all over. The film is embellished with two lilting gems - Ibne Batuta and Dil To Bachcha Hain Ji - which are a rage with listeners already and have been juxtaposed beautifully in the plot. Mohana Krishna's cinematography is first-rate. Dialogues (Vishal Bhardwaj) are acidic and a few lines are indeed startling.

Ishqiya explores human emotions

Every actor in Ishqiya delivers a sparkling performance! Naseeruddin Shah is superb as a romantic. He is matchless in the sequence when he learns the truth about Vidya and Arshad. Arshad packs in a bravura performance yet again. Post Munnabhai films, Arshad should be liked in this one the maximum. Vidya continues to surprise. It's a dynamic performance undoubtedly. Paa and Ishqiya are two landmarks in her career.

The actors enacting the role of Jijaji, the kidnapped victim and Vidya's husband are all perfect. The child, who interacts with Arshad, is natural. In fact, every performance in Ishqiya is worthy of mention.

On the whole, Ishqiya is definitely worth a watch. The film has a riveting plot, great performances, soulful music, an absorbing story and skilful direction to make the viewer fall in ishq with it. It should appeal to the hardcore masses as also the multiplex junta.

Aamir Khan Replace Sanjay Dutt In Munnabhai

Aamir is new Munnabhai?

Trustworthy sources inform us that Rajkumar Hirani has decided to embrace the biggest challenge of his career. Reportedly, the director of MUNNABHAI MBBS, LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI and 3 IDIOTS has decided to cast Aamir Khan as Munna and Sharman Joshi as Circuit, in place of Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi, respectively, for his new film MUNNABHAI CHALE AMREEKA.

The news was received with shock and astonishment by the loyal fans of the Munnabhai franchise.

Aamir Khan, who never reacts to gossip, did clarify on this issue to this writer, before leaving for the U.S. "I am shocked. I wish to clarify that there's not an iota of truth to it. Yes, I would love to work with Rajkumar Hirani again and again, since I enjoyed working with him in 3 IDIOTS, but the truth is we haven't discussed any new project yet," Aamir tells me.

But didn't he express his willingness to portray Munnabhai when he heard the one-line story of MUNNABHAI CHALE AMREEKA? "That's completely untrue! I have no clue what it's all about, nor has Raju [Hirani] narrated me its one-liner. I distinctly recall, I hugged Sanju after I watched MUNNABHAI MBBS. He was incredible in that film. When I think of Munna, I can't think of anyone except Sanju. For me, Sanju is Munna," Aamir states.

Meanwhile, Aamir has clarified that he hasn't signed any new film yet. What about Anurag Kashyap's next film? "I haven't signed any film. Not Anurag's film either. Right now, I would like to focus on my three home-productions before I start shooting any film. PEEPLI LIVE will arrive first, followed by DELHI BELLY and then Kiran's DHOBI GHAAT, which stars Prateek Babbar and me. This film would release towards the end of the year. But I plan to listen to new scripts after three months," Aamir sets the record straight.

Will DHOBI GHAAT have a Christmas release like TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, GHAJINI and 3 IDIOTS? Aamir smiles, "I haven't decided on that yet. But DHOBI GHAAT wouldn't have a wide release like GHAJINI or 3 IDIOTS, that's for sure."

Movie Review: Chance Pe Dance is annoying

Movie Review: Chance Pe Dance is annoying

Chance Pe Dance - Hindi Movie Trailer
Chance Pe Dance - Music Review
Chance Pe Dance - Cast and Crew

 

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Genelia Dsouza and Arshad Warsi

Director: Ken Ghosh

There are three moments in Chance Pe Dance that I can't get out of my head. The first involves a small kid, digging his nose furiously, followed by a tight close-up of his booger. The second is that of a Parsi gentleman in a sudreh, scratching his hairy chest and armpits incessantly. The third is a scene in which Shahid Kapoor scrapes his nails against a blackboard, the shrill sound of which is deafening.

Evidently each of these scenes is intended to make you turn away, to be repulsed even. The thing is, director Ken Ghosh needn't have tried so hard. Chance Pe Dance is an annoying, exhausting film that entirely fails to entertain. ((pause)) Shahid Kapoor stars as Sameer Behl, a struggling actor chasing the Bollywood dream. He faces rejection every day, until finally his killer dance moves get a prominent film director to notice him and subsequently sign him up as the lead in his next film. Not much later, he is dropped from the film.

Sameer has no money for rent and finds himself living out of his car. He has no money for meals, and must take up a dance-teacher's job at a school. It doesn't take a genius to predict that he will lead his oddball students to victory in an inter-school dance championship, and depite all odds, he will become a movie-star after all.

Chance Pe Dance doesn't work because you feel no empathy for its protagonist. The film's writers -- if you can call them that, considering there is no script to speak of -- fail to invest even a hint of vulnerability in Sameer. Moreso, Shahid Kapoor's surface-level performance doesn't help convey the desperation his character's supposedly feeling.

The obligatory romantic track between Sameer and an upcoming choreographer (played by Genelia D'souza) is so random, it adds no dimension to the central plot. This is a film without any character arcs, or plot progression. To be honest, Chance Pe Dance is a film that probably started shooting before a script was ever written; a one-line idea that never developed into a complete story.

The dance portions here are impressively performed by Shahid Kapoor, but you could interchange each of the sequences and it would make no difference to the final film. Much of the blame for that must by shared by composer Adnan Sami who delivers an uninspired soundtrack of indifferent tunes.

Chance Pe Dance is only a little over two hours in running time, but feels much longer because the screenplay limps lethargically in no particular direction.

Of the cast, Genelia D'souza saddled with a half-baked role and left pretty much to her own devices, screeches through her scenes and strums up none of that buoyant energy one has come to expect from her. Shahid Kapoor for his part, makes too many faces throughout the film, and lets his chiselled abs and his nimble feet do the talking. Unfortunately, that's not enough.

I'm going with one out of five and a thumbs down for director Ken Ghosh's Chance Pe Dance; he borrows liberally from such Hollywood films as School of Rock and the Jessica Alba-starrer Honey. But with it's theme of a struggling actor's ultimate vindication, in the end I suppose Chance Pe Dance could be described as "Luck By Chance-For-Dummies". Although it would be a crime to mention the two films in the same breath!

Rating: 1 / 5