Haseen Dillruba, released in 2021 on Netflix, was a tweaked Sahib Biwi aur Gangster template that was ultimately a passable watch. When it comes to the sequel, rather than focusing on the grayness of the characters and the possible dilemma because of the morality associated with the main character, the storytelling goes for a very on-your-face nature with contrived twists and excessively cheesy lines. If you were a fan of the first part, then this sequel, Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, would feel like a middling, passable thriller. For me, it was more like Kanika Dhillon going after an Abbas-Mustan-ish treatment for the movie.
Post the events in the first part, Rishu and Rani have moved to Agra, and they are planning to leave the country at the earliest. Things took a drastic turn when Police Officer Kishore Rawat happened to meet Rani at Agra. The Neel murder case was now being handled by Mr. Monty, Neel’s uncle, and he was watching every move of Rani. The steps taken by Rani and Rishu to execute their plans to flee and how it all goes is what we see in Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba.
What the makers are trying to do here is a repetition of the first film in terms of how it ends. It’s like putting more challenges on Rishu and Rani to test their endurance. But like how the dramatic twist in the last one was a bit too much to digest, here there are too many twist events that feel too illogical. So, in the film, Rishu and Rani’s secret meetings are happening by writing clues on walls, which are basically quotes from the author whose books inspire Rani to do all the crazy stuff. In one scene, the message on the wall happened so quickly that I was like, when did Rani get the time to write that whole stuff? Similarly, the crocodile evading plan in the climax also sounded too ridiculous.
The loud acting style was there in the first part as well, but it was used mostly in the humorous portions. Here, even when Rani is in a very prepared mindset, you can see Taapsee Pannu being extremely over-expressive. On the other hand, Vikrant Massey was able to perform according to the pitch of the narration. Sunny Kaushal’s character has dual shades, and the naive shade looks like a facade from the beginning. Hence, the twist in the tale never had that surprising feel to its credit. Jimmy Sheirgill enters the franchise as Monty Chacha, and it almost feels like if he is associating with Anand L Rai in a project, his character will end up being the loser.
In terms of staging of sequences, one could see Jayprad Desai trying to add some drama to the visual. But the writing is not trying to make things compelling for the viewer, and the twists in the tale are extremely jarring. Some of them are so over the top that it felt like one of those mediocre daily soaps. The bumper sticker dialogues are not helping the film since the foundation is quite flimsy. And what they are eventually showing as some sort of meticulous planning of the characters is too hard to buy.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba has a trajectory that looks interesting since the story is already in a tense space. But the writing is taking the audience for granted a little too much, and we are showered with twists that are kind of old school and over the top at regular intervals. As I already mentioned, if you were a fan of the first part (which I wasn’t), then this one might feel like a passable one.
The writing is taking the audience for granted a little too much, and we are showered with twists that are kind of old school and over the top at regular intervals.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
