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Haseen Dillruba Movie Review: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane's film is illogical & boring
Is this latest Aanand L Rai production featuring Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane worth your time this weekend? Read Pinkvilla review
Director: Vinil Mathew
Star Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Harshvardhan Rane
Platform: Netflix
Rating: 2/5
Haseen Dillruba is a twisted love story of internally flawed characters portrayed by Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane. Set in the small town of India, an element of thrill is weaved into the plot as the female protagonist is entangled in murder situation. The entire conflict of murder in Haseen Dillruba is silly from the word go and would certainly not exist in the first place if the lead used the weapon of “self-defence” to get out of the alleged scenario.
Director, Vinil Mathew, sets up the plot well in the first 45 minutes, wherein he establishes the tender relationship of Rani (Taapsee) and Rishabh (Vikrant), however, it all goes for a toss when Neel (Harshvardhan) comes into the picture. The sweet moments with undertones of humour are taken over by unwarranted dark scenarios, conflicts, and complexities. The characters of Kanika Dhillon are flawed, but, surprisingly, it’s the female protagonist, established as a free-spirited woman, that eventually comes across as helpless and regressive. There’s actually a disturbing sub-plot when Rishabh goes violent and abusive towards Rani, with the latter bearing it all by herself in the name of love.
While the first half is breezy, things start to get bizarre with every passing scene in the second half, with the worst being reserved for the climax. Till 2018, Aanand L Rai was the pioneer of small-town cinema in Bollywood, and one looked up to him to come up with some heart warming stories from the heartland of India. But the producer has suddenly shifted tides towards the dark world, losing his innocence to back characters that were in search of goodness. The producer belongs to the positive world of Tanu Weds Manu franchise, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Happy Bhaag Jayegi and Nil Battey Sannata, and it’s time to get back to the roots.
It’s the niceness in the first 45 minutes of the film that scores and not the dark, grey, edgy elements that unfold eventually in the journey. The positives for Haseen Dillruba include the cinematography, as the location brings in the inherent grandeur to the spectacle. The background score has the pulp fiction vibe, whereas the songs too blend well into the narrative by taking the story forward. The dialogues are fine, with some brilliant one-liners for Inspector Kishore Rawat (Aditya Srivastava). However, all the technical soundness is let down by poor screenplay and confused direction.
Talking of performances, Taapsee Pannu is fine as she gets to explore various facets of human emotions through Rani, however, there’s nothing that we have not seen her do before. Vikrant Massey is actually the show stealer here, as he switches from being the boy next door to a violent self-centred human to finally a possessive lover - all with utmost conviction. Harshvardhan Rane has a rather small role, acting as the catalyst of the story. He is sincere, however, is let down by the poorly sketched character. Aditya Srivastava is fantastic as a cop, and one expected a lot more from this character in a film that’s positioned as a murder mystery. The rest of the ensemble is cast well for the respective roles.
All said and done, Haseen Dillruba is disappointing, primarily let down by the illogical turn of events in the second half. There’s no real conflict in the narrative, due to which the film ends up being a drag. The cast puts up a sincere attempt, but the film is plain bad.
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