Dedh Ishqiya – Hindi Film Review

Starring:

·         Madhuri Dixit as Begum Para

·         Arshad Warsi as Razzaakh Hussain alias Babban

·         Naseeruddin Shah as Ifthekhar alias Khalujan

·         Huma Qureshi as Muniya

·         Vijay Raaz as Jaan Mohammad

·         Shraddha Kapoor (Special appearance)

Whenever I saw the teasers or saw the photos on net, I was of the opinion that this film is going to be like other films of this genre – with full of gali – galoj and cheap sexual advances etc.,

But after the film started it turned out to be a total surprise to me.

This film proves once again that Naseeruddin Shah is undisputedly a great versatile actor. Arshad Warsi played his role very easily with his village type slang language. Huma Qureshi is proving herself as a very versatile actor with good looks. She looked very beautiful particularly,whenever she smiled. From Gangs of Wasseypur she has become my favourite actress.

The saddest part is to watch the aged looking Madhuri in the lead role. Of course the story line suits her appearance. She plays the role of a widowed begum of a lesser known Nawab in Uttar Pradesh. Just to remind you I was an ardent fan of Madhuri in her hey days. Shraddha Kapoor looked very beautiful and sweet as younger Madhuri in a flash back song sequence. Shraddha played a special appearance guest role. Vijay Raaz played the role of the villain. He acted very well and his performance is one of the noteworthy points of the film.

The film was full of authentic Lucknowi Muslim culture. My heart filled with such happiness while listening to the dialogues of the film. The dialogues are laced with pure Urdu words. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to those dialogues. I wish I could repeat them extempore.

After reading the above, please do not think that, this film is something similar like Umrao Jaan. Nooo except pure Urdu and Lucknowi style adab, there is no similarity what so ever with Umrao Jaan. This film was set up with a back drop of mild criminal plot laced with situational comedy.

Contrary to the people’s expectations, there are no romantic scenes between Naseeruddin Shah & Madhuri, though Huma Qureshi and Arshad Warsi snatched a couple of kisses.

Music by Vishal Bhardwaj was very good and all songs come and go without interrupting the story line or scenes. The rendition of Naseeruddin at the Mushaira was very good; I think somebody else would have given the voice in that clip.

Worth going to the theatre and watching once, you will not be disappointed I guess.