Three years again once I watched Netflix’s Haseen Dillruba, regardless of not being a fan of romantic crime thrillers, I used to be surprisingly invested. The movie was well-written, considerate, had a number of layers, and was completely pleasing. So, naturally, when the sequel was introduced, I used to be prepared with my popcorn tub, soda can, and excessive hopes. To say that Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba dissatisfied, could be an understatement. Jayprad Desai’s sequel looks like a determined try and money in on the unique’s success, with no care or thought given to the brand new story. Whereas Desai makes an attempt to recreate the expertise of the primary movie, he appears to have missed the issues that made Haseen Dillruba work.
Final time we have been in Dillruba world, Vikrant Massey’s Rishabh had reduce off his hand and staged his personal loss of life to save lots of his disloyal spouse Rani (Taapsee Pannu) from going to jail for murdering her former lover. This dramatic ending offered an ideal springboard for the director to construct onto one thing rather more significant for a sequel. As an alternative, Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba suffers from painful pacing, an overstretched screenplay, cringey dialogue, an illogical plot, and no actual hook to maintain you caught in its story.
Jimmy Shergill has a sporadic function within the movie
The movie opens in Agra, the place Rani resides as a small-time make-up artist, whereas Rishabh is hiding in disguise, attempting his finest to get the preparations made for the couple to maneuver overseas and begin afresh. With the Uttar Pradesh police one way or the other nonetheless hung up on the case, the 2 poisonous lovebirds can’t be seen collectively. They now change coy glances like forbidden highschool lovers throughout the road, discuss on hours-long cellphone calls, and meet in secret.
And oh, like at all times, they communicate fluent Dinesh Pandit – the crime novelist whose works gave them the right exit plan final time. You will see the loopy couple portray quotes from his books on partitions and even rubbish vans to ship messages to one another. Okay, admittedly, nevertheless painful the remainder of the movie could be, this laureate change is kind of spectacular. It may not have an oz of practicality, however the virtually Sherlocky thought is in alignment with the type of insanity that had taken over our protagonists in direction of the tip of the primary movie.
We even have a brand new primary character now: Abhimanyu, a medical compounder who’s passionate about Rani – reminding us of Rishabh’s pre-disaster section. He’s perpetually within the hope of wooing the widow, unaware of her criminally insane and really a lot alive useless husband and their disturbing historical past. Whereas Sunny Kaushal is fabulous in sure scenes that handle to convey the eeriness of the circumstances – particularly in his first scene with Massey on a carnival journey – the character feels underwritten.
Sunny Kaushal’s character provides a slight trace of Massey’s obsessive lover within the authentic movie
Different main characters, together with the leads Pannu and Massey, and Jimmy Shergill’s Monty, face related fates. In contrast to the primary movie, the underwhelming script leaves little to no room for the characters to shine and lay naked a darker side of their psyche. To see such a proficient pool of actors being criminally underutilized is unpardonable.
There’s a scene during which Shergill, enjoying a cop and the uncle of the sufferer within the movie, tells his senior officer that “this case is like indigestion.” Umm… to take artistic liberty and have theatrical dialogue is ok, however this was completely misplaced, Jimmy. His sporadic presence is marred by overacting and fails to painting the ache of somebody who just lately misplaced their nephew and now has blood of their eyes.
Taapsee Pannu’s Rani Kashyap once more finds herself on the police’s radar on this sequel
The movie additionally suffers from irrationality. A bunch of issues are occurring simply because the filmmaker desires them to occur that method. Whereas some illogical plot factors may very well be chalked all the way down to luck and coincidence, the movie’s story overstretches its reliance on comfort and begins bordering on incredulity. Characters are assembly and getting married within the span of three days; individuals are having a gala time boating in a crocodile-infested river; leaping off cliffs is not inflicting as a lot as a scratch; and individuals are inexplicably bumping into one another! Even when the makers wished to provide the story the vibe of gossip journal column, a little bit of rationality would have completed the trick.
That stated, the movie has fortunately completed a good job with visible metaphors. All through the movie, we discover many intelligent poetic cues. Rani’s hand-shaped cellphone stand was probably the most fascinating of all of them. The movie’s inclusion of “Ek Haseena Thi” from Rishi Kapoor’s Karz (1980) makes for one more attention-grabbing alternative. The music is itself a story of a girl’s betrayal and provides simply the precise observe wanted to maintain issues playful. Sadly, Kapoor’s medley cannot solely carry the burden of the movie.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba lacks the essence of the unique movie
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba fails to create the type of curiosity that fuels such thrillers. Even the stunning revelations will not take you by full shock. The storyline falls flat and there are hardly any thrills. On condition that the characters had turned virtually cynical in direction of the tip of the unique film, extra depth was wanted to maintain the momentum going. The movie barely scratches on that floor, delivering a superficial circulate of occasions. Regardless that the characters scream, yell, cry and do every part of their energy to convey their helplessness, the movie fails to make you’re feeling for them, in contrast to the primary movie.
The one motivation to proceed watching this two-hour disappointment is the faint hope that the unique film’s attraction will resurface. And certainly, it does, however solely sporadically and in fleeting moments. For followers like me, these transient glimpses are a merciless tease, hinting at what may have been if the sequel had lived as much as its predecessor’s requirements. When you’re new to the twisted romance of Rani and Rishu, you would possibly have the ability to look previous its flaws. However in case you’re aware of the unique movie, the frustration could be an excessive amount of to bear.
Score: 6/10
