An Unconvincing Love Triangle

The success of Ishqiya is Arshad Warsi to a great extent and Naseruddin Shah to a good extent. The failure of Ishqiya is Vidya Balan. What can you say of a movie in which pretty much everything except the central (female) protagonist came together, where I can imagine the frustration of the perfectly good scriptwriter, editors, cinematographers, etc al, when the central character appears somewhat disinterested in the goings-on. Now to the plot. Arshad Warsi and Naseruddin Shah are “freelance” crooks – needing to repay a large sum on threat of their lives, they flee to a kindred soul’s home in northern UP near Gorakhpur, finding instead his widow. The three hatch a plot to get their required money, while the two men lose no opportunity at one-upmanship in winning Vidya Balan’s attentions. A dramatic and somewhat inconclusive ending wraps up this passable fare, that could have been an Omkara if only the cast cared. For a debutant (Abhishek Chaubey) this is great directorial fare, though Vishal Bharadwaj as producer fails to take the movie to a different plane

10.5/20