Review of Dedh Ishqiya (2014) by Jasrick J — 10 Jan 2014

An interesting tale the story begins with Begum Para (madhuri) who hosts a festival of music and poetry in her palace. In that comes Khalujaan (naseer) as a Prince but his real motive is to woo the widowed Begum and settle in the palace. But his accomplice Babban (arshad) wants to return to their stealing profession. However, he also is struck by love looking at Muniya (huma), the confidante of Begum Para. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

The director has come up with a romantic storyline and while the presentation was rich, the narrative was quite absorbing. The dialogues were well written. The script was above average and the screenplay made it lot better. The background score was melodious and three songs were worth watching. Cinematography was the main strength to this film. Editing was crisp. Costumes were well designed to suit the royalty while the art department was majestic. In performances, Naseeruddin Shah was exceptional and equally competent was Madhuri Dixit, she has not lost her beauty yet. Arshad Warsi was versatile as ever and Huma did well as the rough but raw and sexy girl. Vijay Raaz was impressive, Ravi Gosain was neat, Shraddha sizzled in her item song. Others did their bit as required and added value.

The film happens to be the sequel to the super hit movie Ishqiya and this time the concept and plot gets more complicated and intense. The first half goes on an entertaining mode with elements of romance and other light emotions but the second half gets serious with the various twists and turns. Overall, the film strikes due to some impact creating performances, tempting sexuality and the rich technical values.