New Delhi: A scene towards the end of 'Dedh Ishqiya' has Naseeruddin Shah sitting with his hands tied at the back at an empty warehouse while the shadows of the film's two leading ladies Madhuri Dixit and Huma Qureshi engulf the wall behind him. The ladies are at a distance drinking and regaling in joy, falling over each other while Shah looks on. Two individual shadows are seen swirling and giggling till they merge into one. The image stays with you for a long time simply because you are curious to know what happens to Begum Para and Munia's story.
While bromance on Hindi commercial cinema has been explored many a times, Abhishek Chaubey explores the friendship and closeness of two leading ladies on screen, perhaps a first in Bollywood. Nothing is clearly stated, but so much is hinted at Para and Munia's story simply by a mere touch, a hug and some caressing. 'Dedh Ishqiya' treads a path of bonding between two women, where they want to escape and live a good life together even though they have men falling all over them, willing to take each other's life just to be with the women, but the film stops short of dwelling too much into their story.
The highlight of 'Dedh Ishqiya' is actually the amazing chemistry that Madhuri Dixit and Huma Qureshi share with each other. Sure, we have two brilliant actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi reprising the role of Khalujan and Babban with absolute ease and creating the quirky tale of two small time thieves on screen yet again after three years, but it is the ladies that steal the show with their elegant performance.
The film points out at two very important aspects. One that India is changing and now even in films a woman does not need a man to dream of a perfect future. She can happily walk into the sunset with a woman who could be her partner or sister or a friend and live a good life. A happily ever after need not always involve two people of the opposite sex spending a life together. That sisterhood can be a thing of permanence and is now acceptable even to a regular Hindi film viewer.
The second aspect of 'Dedh Ishqiya' is that contrary to popular belief, two actresses can share great camaraderie and make for a good pair onscreen. Both Huma Qureshi and Madhuri Dixit look at ease in their respective roles and compliment each other's performance. Their body language is more comfortable with each other that with their respective heroes and they completely dominated the screen together. Clearly one has to be assured in one's own space to depict such camaraderie on screen which looks natural and not forced.
'Dedh Ishqiya' also celebrates womanhood in its absolute sense. The lead protagonist is Begum Para, who allows men to charm her, who knows that men hang on to her every word but in the time of despair she looks for comfort from another woman not a man. It celebrates the new age woman who knows how to use her charm to convince a man to kidnap a begum and also knows how to say a strict 'no' to his advances even after spending the night with him. And most importantly, 'Dedh Ishqiya' reiterates the rise and rise of the Hindi film heroine. That given a meaty role, the actress can shine on her own and make the film hers.
The film ends with Khalujan and Babban surrounded by Mushtaq Bhai's men at a graveyard with Mushtaq asking them their last wish before they are killed. We all know it leaves much scope for another sequel (which I assume will be as enjoyable as this one) which I am sure the makers are already writing as I write this one, but I am more keen on what happens to Munia and Para. Who else they con together? That would make for an interesting and a very different kind of 'Ishqiya'.
####
Comments
0 comment