Ishqiya

Khalujaan ( Shah) and Babban ( Warsi) are a couple of small-time conmen on the run somewhere in Eastern UP,close to the Nepal border. They fetch up in the house of the lovely-looking Krishna ( Balan), whose husband has been blown into smithereens just a while back. They spend their time watching their backs,and making active attempts at consoling the lonely widow. A bag full of money vanishes,and the trio has to get it back,by hook or smart crook.

There’s much that enjoyable about Abhishek Chaubey’s debut film,made under the watchful eye of mentor and producer Vishal Bharadwaj. More than a timid threesome,this is a throbbing ménage-a-trois : Khalujaan’s feelings for Krishna are somewhat appropriate for family audiences ; Babban’s are,shall we just say,lust-heavy. The patois is an earthy mix of Bhopali and Gorakhpuri,so refreshing after the overdose of Bollywood Purabiya. For the very first time,Bharadwaj made a Hindi film hero utter the ‘ch’ word with throwaway aplomb ( Saif in ‘Omkara’). Chaubey does one better,and gets his heroine to use it,with much more charm—’aap to poore ‘chxxxm sulphate hain,’ says a smiling Krishna,slaying the smitten Khalujaan.

The film falters in not getting it together soon enough,and feeling a trifle contrived in the process,but that’s only in the first half. Post-interval,the film is tight and funny,with a right royal twist in the end. For the first time,Balan sheds her practiced dulcet tones to her advantage. Her cheap printed saris are just right for her character,except that blouse,cut expertly and dangerously low in the back,belongs more to fashion magazines than a woman living alone in a Gorakhpur ‘gaon’.

Still,she looks and sounds completely edible,and you do not blame the two men from wanting to gobble her. Which Warsi does with gusto : even more than Shah,who’s clearly enjoying himself more here than in his past few films,it is Warsi who disappears into the role,and emerges as a superb Babban.

Watch ‘Ishqiya’ for an emerging new voice. And for Arshad Warsi,complete actor.