Ishqiya

About the film

Ishqiya (transl. Passionate) is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language slapstick black comedy film directed by debutante Abhishek Chaubey and produced by Raman Maroo and Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi. The film was released on 29 January 2010.

The film opened to positive critical reception and performed moderately well at the box office. It was selected for screening at the 34th Cairo International Film Festival. A sequel Dedh Ishqiya was released in January 2014 with the same cast and crew, sans Vidya Balan, who was substituted by Madhuri Dixit and Huma Qureshi.

Plot

Ishqiya starts with Krishna Verma trying to convince her husband, Vidyadhar Verma, a local gang-lord, that he should surrender. He agrees but is soon killed in a gas explosion. Two criminals, Iftikhar aka Khalujan and Razzak Hussain aka Babban, botch a job and escape from their boss, Mushtaq, who intends to bury them alive. They travel to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to seek refuge in Vidhyadhar Verma's house.

However, they meet his widow, Krishna, who provides them shelter and attempts to seduce them to achieve her secret goal. She proposes kidnapping Kamalkant Kakkar, aka KK, a small businessman. The duo reluctantly agrees, as they want to escape Mushtaq. Meanwhile, Khalujan and Babban realize they are falling for Krishna but do not confess their feelings to each other. Babban eventually seduces Krishna, and they have sex. Khalujan decides to confess his feelings to Krishna, but is shocked to see Krishna and Babban dancing together after their encounter. Khalujan is angry but keeps quiet. However, when the kidnapping plan goes awry, Khalujan and Babban begin to fight.

Meanwhile, Krishna tortures KK and asks him where her husband is hiding, revealing that Verma might be alive. KK finally calls Verma. Babban and Khalujan realise that Krishna was just using them. They confront her, whereupon she reveals that KK and Verma were partners in the illegal business and that Verma is still alive. The duo reaches KK's factory and is shocked to find Verma. Verma's goons blindfold the duo and take them to a deserted spot. When they take off their blindfolds, Babban sees Nandu (Alok Kumar), a boy he had previously met, pointing a gun at them. Nandu leaves them alive and explains the whole story. He says that Verma had no plans to leave his criminal life, so he faked his death in front of the world, to get two benefits: getting rid of his wife by killing her in an explosion and faking his death so he could start a new life with a new identity since the police were after him. Khalujan and Babban race back to Krishna's house, where they have left her tied to a chair.

Production

Initially Pankaj Tripathi was supposed to play the role of Khalujan which later went to Naseeruddin Shah. Preity Zinta and Irrfan Khan were approached to play Krishna Verma and Babban. Zinta liked the script, yet she walked out of the project as she believed that casting Irrfan Khan would demean the commercial value of the film. Lara Dutta and Vidya Balan were then approached to play the role. Balan gave her nod and she was finalised.

Khan, on the other hand felt that the script was not in favour of the role he was offered and he also walked out of the project. Arshad Warsi was then finalised to portray Babban.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and the lyrics are penned by Gulzar. The music was released on 1 January 2010. The reception to the music has been positive, with "Dil To Bachcha Hai" and "Ibn-E-Batuta" being instant chartbusters. The track "Badi Dheere Jali", based on an Indian classical raaga "Lalit" and the ghazal "Ab Mujhe Koi" are sung by Rekha Bhardwaj.

Reception

Anupama Chopra of NDTV wrote, "Ishqiya would have faltered if the performances had not matched the writing but all three leads are absolutely terrific," while giving the movie 3.5 stars out of 5. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN while giving it 3.5 on a 5-star rating, called it, "a delicious little film that teeters dangerously between saucy comedy and suspenseful noir....the film sparkles for its inspired writing and uncompromised direction." Pratim D. Gupta of The Telegraph called Ishqiya "a rollercoaster rustic ride through ishq aaj kal" and praised director Abhishek Chaubey calling his "one of the most assured debuts in recent Hindi cinema." Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL gave 4 out of 5 stars and said, "Ishqiya could have been an average film had it not been for the screenplay." The Indiatimes review also gave 3.5 stars out of 5. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama while giving the film 4 on a 5 star rating scale, said "You can't help but fall in ishq with Ishqiya. Tired of sherbat? Try this spicy jaljeera for a change!"

Sequel

At a private party, the producers of Ishqiya, Shemaroo and Vishal Bhardwaj, announced the sequel, Dedh Ishqiya, with the same cast and crew.

In April 2012, Madhuri Dixit signed on for the sequel of Ishqiya, her first film after moving back to the country in November 2011 to play a grey character called Shahi Begum. The two male leads Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi were retained from the original. The role of supporting actress first was offered to Asin Thottumkal but, she refused to work in a supporting role in Dedh Ishqiya and in one interview she said that she thought that her role is not very attractive so, she left the project. Kangana Ranaut then signed Dedh Ishqiya and said she was going to start shooting soon. But in December 2012 she opted out due to date issues. Huma Qureshi replaced Kangna Ranaut. Arshad Warsi stated that he was paired with Huma and Madhuri was paired opposite Naseeruddin Shah.

Key details