Dangerous Ishhq

About the film

Dangerous Ishhq (transl. Dangerous love) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language supernatural thriller film directed by Vikram Bhatt and starring Karisma Kapoor in the lead role. The filming began on 7 September 2010. The film was released on 11 May 2012. According to BoxOfficeIndia.com, the film was a box office flop. Critics praised Kapoor for her sincere and earnest portrayal, but criticized the film overall.

Plot

The film's story spans four centuries and tells four different stories set in different time periods. Supermodel Sanjana and Rohan, son of one of the nation's foremost business tycoons, are a famous couple on the social circuit. When Sanjana decides against flying to Paris at the last minute for a lucrative modelling assignment, she does so, not just because she cannot bear to stay away from Rohan, but more importantly, because her instincts push her against going. Rohan gets abducted, and the high-profile kidnapping creates chaos in Sanjana's life. The kidnappers demand ₹ 500 million. The police, however, believe that even paying the ransom will not bring Rohan back. Shortly after, Sanjana starts hearing strange noises. She has visions of Rohan calling her Geeta. Meanwhile, Sanjana realises that she can read Urdu even though she has never learnt it. She informs her friend Dr. Neetu about it, who in turn refers her to a psychiatrist.

The latter informs Sanjana that Rohan's kidnapping is somehow linked to their past lives. Sanjana undergoes a past life regression where she sees herself as Geeta, a young Hindu girl in love with Iqbal, a Muslim boy. Her entire family, including her sister Chanda (who is none other than Neetu), has been killed by her uncle. Iqbal suggests that the only way Geeta can escape her death is by leaving Landi Kotal and settling down in Amritsar. Later, it is revealed that Iqbal's friend Aarif is the antagonist. His purpose is to separate the two lovers because he is a reincarnation of Durgam Sah, who decided to split the two many centuries ago.

Sanjana's next life is that of a Muslim girl, Salma, who loves a young man named Ali. The latter leaves for war with his companion Rashid. When the war is over, everyone returns except for Ali. Rashid informs Salma that her lover has been killed. It is later revealed by a tawaif (Neetu's first birth) that Ali is alive and that Rashid planned to separate the two lovers. With this particular regression, it is also revealed that Rohan's younger brother Rahul is involved in his brother's kidnapping.

Production

This film marked the comeback of Karisma Kapoor after a break of six years.

Reception

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the movie 1.5 stars out of 5, noting that "Ambitious but seriously flawed, the film smacks of laziness in virtually all departments, and even Karisma Kapoor's earnest performance can't save the day. I'm going with one-and-a-half out of five for director Vikram Bhatt's 'Dangerous Ishq'. Plodding on for close to two hours and thirty minutes, this film will make you wish you'd knocked back a stiff one before taking your seat."

Kathika Kandpal of Filmfare gave the movie 2 stars out of 5, concluding that "Watch this and you might feel Karisma's Baaz – A Bird in Danger (2003) was a classic." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 1.5 stars out of 5, commenting that "On the whole, Dangerous Ishqq is no patch on Vikram Bhatt's earlier achievements. This fantasy-driven film is an epic disappointment!" Mansha Rastogi of Now Running gave the movie 1 star out of 5, quoting that "Dangerous Ishhq is definitely very dangerous... to your sensibilities! Beware!" Blessy Chettiar of DNA India gave the movie 1 star out of 5, writing that "Dangerous Ishhq is like watching a Dr Brian Weiss book in 3D, after about 30 pages, it gets monotonous and uninteresting. There's only so much curiosity you can have in somebody else's life. By the end of the ordeal you wish to be treated to a past life regression theory to find out what was it that drew you to it. Go curse your karma now." Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the movie 0.5 stars out of 5, noting that "Karisma looks unbelievably trim for a 'do-bachchon-ki-amma', but that doesn't stop her from sliding all the way back into her familiar 90s style acting, where everything was over the top, from arch expressions to clothes to make-up. This is a terrible film, with not one redeeming factor."

It had opening day collections of ₹11 million (US$120,000). The second day collections were ₹12 million (US$130,000), taking the two-day total to ₹23 million (US$240,000).

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Himesh Reshammiya and the lyrics were penned by Sameer and Shabbir Ahmed. One remix was by Kary Arora.

Key details