Taapsee, Vikrant Massey, Harshvardhan Rane’s Bollywood movie, Haseen Dillruba’s streaming rights are bagged by popular digital platform Netflix. Directed by Vinil Mathew, the film is released online today. Let’s check how it is.
Story: A young lady named Rani ( Taapsee Pannu) who gets married to Rishu( Vikrant Massey) attracts Rishnu’s cousin Neel( Harshavardhan Rane) with her looks and gets into a passionate affair with him. But the twist in the tale raises when Rishu dies in a gas explosion at the house. Later, Rani will be suspected as the prime culprit for her husband’s death by the police inspector Kishor( Aditya Srivastava). Did Rani really plan her husband’s murder or she is cornered in it? Is there any conspiracy behind the entire Rishnu’s death? What is the role of Neel in the entire episode? To know that, you have to watch the film.
Performances: Undoubtedly, Vikrant Massey’s performance is the main highlight of the film. His acting in family drama scenes and the comical side in his character clearly dominates the proceedings in the first half. His settled acting in conveying emotions like love, heartbreak is a treat to watch for the viewers.
The lead lady Taapsee Pannu’s performance is not so engaging in the movie. In fact, her over-the-top acting in key scenes is a minus for this mysterious drama. After watching Haseen Dillruba one can easily say that it is her worst film in terms of acting.
Harshavardhan Rane is charming on the screen and gave a decent performance despite portraying a poorly written characterization. Aditya Srivastava as a cop, actress Yamini Das as Rani’s mother-in-law gave a convincing performance.
Technicalities: Music by Amit Trivedi is okay but would have been even better. Except for Phisal Ja Tu, the rest of the songs are boring and come as a speed breaker in the narration. Background by Amar Mangrulkar is decent at parts.
Editing work by Shweta Venkat Mathew is underwhelming and would have been much better. The cinematography by Jayakrishna Gummadi is fascinating as the colour texture he used while showcasing various moods in the movie is done perfectly.
Production design by Madhur Madhav and Swapnil Bhalerao brings some authenticity to the plotline. Production values for this limited budget film are okay.
Analysis: Haseen Dillruba is one film that lacks a proper script and a gripping screenplay. The basic premise created by director Vinil Mathew has nothing new to offers and remains us of watching a family thriller from the 90s. The same is the case with the screenplay version done by Kanika Dhillon which lacks a racy narration and becomes unengaging with awful scenes in the second half.
The poor direction added with the shoddy screenplay literally overshadows the arresting performance by Vikrant Massey and dilutes the viewers’ interest. Though the team has tried hard to make the film an edge of the seat thriller, sadly it ends up as a dud with some illogical presentation in the crucial second half. The climax portion is something one can easily forget as it is filled with unexciting and silly scenes.
In one word, Haseen Dillruba has a passable first half but falls short due to aimless and poor proceedings in the latter part. The only positive point for the film is the neat and composed performance by Vikrant Massey.
Verdict: Half-baked thriller!!!
Rating: 2/5
