Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba meets ideal requirement of a sequel

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It is an ideal that is not often followed: a sequel should be better, if not bigger. Happily, this hasseen dillruba returns with a follow-up that is leagues ahead of the former Vinil Mathew-directed original. Jayprad Desai, director of the decent Kaun Pravin Tambe? and co-director of the passable Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy, spins this interesting romantic thriller of two obsessed lovers—obsessed with each other, that is.

It is the classic hate-turns-to-intense-selfless-love saga with a twist: Rani (Taapsee Pannu) and Rishabh (Vikrant Massey), who have run away from their hometown after Rishabh staged his own death when Rani killed her lover Neel (Harshvardhan Rane), now live in Agra—separately to avoid suspicion. The cops are after them as they suspect that Rishabh is alive, the charred body they found with ‘identification marks’ is not his but someone else’s, and that either is the murderer.

Rishabh works as a delivery boy and Rani in a ladies’ parlor. A chance discovery of Rani by ACP Kishore Rawat (Aditya Srivastava) there makes the cops reopen the chase—not that they have really closed it. This time Mrityunjay Paswan a.k.a. Monty (Jimmy Sheirgill) is the cop assigned to head the investigation, as he has a personal agenda: Neel was his nephew.

Meanwhile, Rishabh’s goal is to move off to Thailand with Rani and preparations are on with a travel agent (Pramod Rana). Rani is summoned to the police station for questioning, and Monty announces his intention to find Neel’s murderer. He creates obstacles in their idea to move to foreign shores and Rani has to confess that Neel is alive.

This is also because complications have arisen in their individual lives, even as Rani and Rishabh continue to meet clandestinely. Rishabh’s landlady (Bhumika Dube) has the hots for him, but he resists her lust till the cops come to her house to enquire about him. She then blackmails him, as he calls himself Ravi there.

And even messier is the fact that a relative of Rani’s landlady, Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal), is smitten by her. And now, Rani spins a plot to ward off the cops’ suspicions—she will marry Abhimanyu, who has no family. Things then spin out of control with plots, twists and captured CCTV footage adding to the thrills as Monty and ACP Kishore try to unravel facts and find the culprits for Neel’s murder.

A key background role is played by a pulp fiction author, Dinesh Pandit (not shown in the film) who has been a disgraced cop. He writes thrillers in all of which the cops are the losers, and Rani, his writings’ hardcore devotee, and Rishabh execute many of his plotlines to hoodwink the police, as does Abhimanyu when Rani acquaints him with the author’s writing. And there is a twist there too.

Honestly speaking, this is Kanika Dhillon’s first script after Rashmi Rocket that I have really liked. The screenplay is crisp, racy and focused, even if some elements are predictable. Jayprad Desai’s direction is lucid and gripping, The technical aspects are par for the course, with Agra’s small-town earthiness coming up trumps in the production design (Nikhil S. Kovale and Kamlesh Kalsulkar) and camerawork (Vishal Sinha). I liked Hemal Kothari’s brisk editing too. The music, as overwhelmingly frequent nowadays, is nothing to hum about. The background score is unobtrusive and thus effective.

Taapsee Paanu, looking glamorous to the hilt as a small-town beautician, brings out both the vulnerability and determination of a character besieged by cops as well as circumstances. This ranks among her best performances. Vikrant Massey is alright, nothing more. Sunny Kaushal impresses as the docile and ‘sacrificing’ Abhimanyu. Jimmy Sheirgill is also his usual self as Monty. So is Aditya Shrivastava. But Bhumika Dube is brilliant as the lusty landlady.

The film works as a thriller and a love story as well and even those who found the earlier Haseen (with a single ‘S’) Dillruba mediocre (like I did) will enjoy this one. This is a rare case where the sequel appealed to me even when the original did not.

Rating: ***1/2

Netflix presents Colour Yellow Productions’ and T-Series Films’ Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba  Produced by: Aanand L. Rai, Himanshu Sharma, Bhushan Kumar & Krishan Kumar  Directed by: Jayprad Desai Written by: Kanika Dhillon Music: Sachet-Parampara & Anurag Saikia  Starring: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Sunny Kaushal, Jimmy Sheirgill, Bhumika Dube, Aditya Shrivastava, Saanand Verma, Gautam Shanathappa Gadaballi, Sahela Raza, Ambrish Kumar Saxena, Sapana Paritosh Sand & others