Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba, despite the efforts of its cast, borders on bearable and barely bearable
Director: Jayprasad Desai
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Sunny Kaushal, Jimmy Sheirgill, Aditya Srivastava
Where to watch: Netflix
Rating: 2 stars
There is a scene in Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba where Jimmy Sheirgill’s zealous cop asks his subordinates to station the entire Agra police force within a two-kilometer radius behind a woman to catch her. He is portrayed as smart, wily and some sort of unstoppable force. In the next montage, the said woman is seen repeatedly encountering her supposedly dead husband under the gaze of the said force. And nobody bats an eyelid. That is the problem with Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba. The characters are built up as passionate, dangerous, compassionate and many other adjectives. But it does this with the help of dialogues and it never manages to back this up with plot. It comes across as a hollow story with no logic, emotion, thrill or passion.
Jayprasad Desai’s film continues the story of Rishu and Rani from Haseen Dilruba. After killing Neil, they are now on the run, only the world believes Rishu is dead and Rani is a widow. Both live in Agra and plan to elope. But their plans are disrupted when a policeman – Montu (Jimmy Sheirgill) – is hot on their heels. He is Neil’s uncle and therefore has his sights set on Rani. With nowhere else to go, Rani seeks help from a simple real estate agent named Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal) and marries him to throw off the cops. But then things get even worse.
Phir Aayi Haseen Dilruba is built on the premise that no one has loved like Rishu and Rani. They are the epitome of romance, as passionate as they are mad. The problem is that the lead pairs have no chemistry to speak of. Vikrant and Taapsee come across as two awkward teenagers with a crush on each other, without the spark that made the first film so entertaining. The whole dialogue about their supposed passion for each other is therefore more comical than effective. In fact, Taapsee’s Rani has more chemistry with Sunny Kaushal’s Abhimanyu, which makes the plot quite convoluted.
Taapsee Pannu’s saris made quite a splash in Haseen Dillruba and her sensuous desi looks are seen again in this film. But here Desai overdoes it while selling Rani’s glamour. The film degenerates into an almost voyeuristic portrayal of Rani for a while. It starts off sensual but ends up too direct. The art of subtlety is not taken seriously at all in the film.
But beyond that, there is the criminal portrayal of the Agra police that the film delivers (pun intended). While Phir Aayi Haseen Dilruba sets them up as smart, relentless investigators, it portrays them as bumbling idiots who don’t follow procedures, don’t know where to look for clues, and take weeks to even look for CCTV footage. Allowing wanted fugitives to roam the city undetected for so long should be an indictment, not a plot point.
The film is both a love story and a thriller. Haseen Dilruba worked because it brought the low-key crime atmosphere of Indian pulp fiction to Hindi cinema, including the twists. But the sequel is too predictable in comparison. Every twist is miles predictable and every twist is so drawn out that you get bored by the time you get to it.
Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba has wasted its actors. Taapsee Pannu here is not the one we saw in Pink or Rashmi Rocket. Some of her scenes are difficult to endure. It takes special talent to make an actress of her calibre appear clueless in scenes. Vikrant Massey is criminally underused, the script relegating him to a supporting role in this love story. Sunny Kaushal does his best to light up the screen and he actually does his best to keep the film alive. Jimmy Sheirgill is the saving grace of a lackluster acting performance by the team. His panache and style lift the film to a higher level but cannot save it.
Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba gets lost in its own ambitions. The film tries too much without translating any of it on screen. The stories are ambitious, but the premise is sloppy. And on top of that, the film just goes on far too long for anyone would have liked.
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