Movie: Ishqiya

Khalujaan(Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban(Arshad Warsi) are two petty thieves working for Mushtaq(Salim Shahid). Due to their closness, the duo is fondly referred to as uncle and nephew though they do not share any relationship. At present, Khalujaan and Babban are on the run after stealing money from their boss. Their boss, Mushtaq, is tracking them.

After knocking on several doors, Khalujaan and Babban finally ends up in Gorakhpur in UP. Here, they hope to obtain asylum with an old acquantaince, Vidhyadar Varma(Adil Hussain). To their surprise, they meet Varma’s widow, Krishna(Vidya Balan). Having nowhere to go, Khalujaan and Babban end up staying at Krishna’s house.

Khalujaan gets attracted to Krishna while Babban finds the nearest place where flesh is traded! But their happiness is shortlived as Mushtaq finds them holed up in Krishna’s house. To their surprise, the stolen money is also missing. Mushtaq gives them a month to return money. In this one month, Krishna helps Khalujaan and Babban in raising the money. In doing so, Babban gets smitten by Krishna. The rest of the story traces what happens in their lives.

Abhishek Chaubhey directs this movie based on a script by himself in collaboration with Vishal Bharadwaj and Sabrina Dhawan. This movie bears an unmistakable stamp of his mentor, Vishal Bharadwaj and can be summed as a Tarantinesque tale with Bharadwajish twist. Abhishek has concentrated on telling a tale greed, lust and vengeance. In order to tell his story, he relies on seasoned performers. The songs blend into the movie, helps to take the movie forward and never hampering the tempo.

The photography by Mohana Krishnan is clear and crisp. The rustic backgrounds of Krishna’s house looks like a painting.

Vidya Balan gives a jaw dropping performance as Krishna. Like the script, Vidya never lets out the mystery of Krishna. But with each scene, she reveals enough to suspect that she is more than a demure widow. From the first scene onwards, her sexuality is subtle yet pronounced.

Naseeruddin Shah is perfect as Khalujaan. Using a trace of naughty smile on his lips and eyes surreptitiously following Krishna, Naseeruddin shows us how a fifty year old can turn into a lover when he encounters a woman of substance. He impresses in the scenes after he finds out the truth about Krishna and Babban.

For Arshad Warsi, this is a difficult film as he is pitted against two seasoned performers – Vidya and Naseeruddin. But he holds his ground. The other performance worthy of mention are Rajesh Sharma as KamalKant Kakkar and Gauri Malla as Mamta.

Go for this! The movie has raunchy scenes. So, viewer discretion is advised.

Language: Hindi

Genre: Thriller

Rating: ****

Picture Courtesy: Bollywood Hungama

Tags: Movies,Naseeruddin Shah,Arshad Warsi,Vidya Balan,Abhishek Chaubhey,Vishal Bharadwaj,Thriller