Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba movie review: I am a sucker for 'manohar kahaanis', where right and wrong is not easily coded, and which know how to push the right buttons, switching up lust and danger.
The sequel to the 2021 Haseen Dillruba manages to hit all the marks that the original fumbled at: it is atmospheric, deliciously squelchy, overrun with characters who revel in using love, sex and dhokha as means to their dubious ends. It’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun with a Hindi film which goes full-tilt at grown-up, amoral romance territory.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, this time with an extra ‘s’ in ‘Hasseen’, loses no time in telling us just how unsettled our lovers-on-the-lam Rani (Taapsee Pannu) and Rishu (Vikrant Massey) continue to be: their Agra hide-out may be at some distance from the town they ran from, but their nemesis, in the shape of dogged cop (Aditya Srivastava), is still hot on their heels.
And this time around, they have a stronger, smarter foe, in the shape of investigating officer Mrityunjay (Jimmy Sheirgill) who labels himself a ‘kadhphodwa’ (woodpecker) in a terrific scene, making knocking gestures with his hand. He will keep pecking away till he nails the duo, who he knows were responsible for the death of a loved one.
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There are a couple more additions in the cast this time around, and both add flavour. The mild-mannered Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal) is a local compounder whose being smitten with Rani is no secret. What he keeps under wraps are his other skills, which is knowing exactly how deep the waters of the Yamuna run, and how vicious the crocodiles that swarm the river are. The other is a wily woman (Bhumika Dube) who weaponises her disability to get to her target: it matters little that the man she has set her eyes on is patently not into her. She was a stand-out in feminist romp ‘Cheepatakadumka’; here she is as impactful.
Props to writer Kanika Dhillon for infusing the characters with empathy, that quality which is necessary for us to go on rooting for them despite themselves. They can go to any lengths, even murder, to attain the object of their desire, but they are not inherently evil. They do what they do for love, especially as it is depicted in those grubby paperbacks with such titles as ‘Khooni Ishq’ and ‘Pyaar Ka Darinda,’ mention of said ‘upanyaas’, as in the earlier film, adding the right hint of luridness here.
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Niggles do exist. No one but Bollywood units use that exact spot behind the Taj Mahal, or a boat ride on the filthy Yamuna, to exchange sweet nothings. Some deaths are just the most obvious red herrings: we know that the dead will arise. Some dialogues are so on the nose that you wince: why explain when you can nudge and wink? And one scene, featuring a posse of cops landing up at a suspect’s doorstep and meekly having to wait their turn, makes you groan.
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But these kinds of contrivances are an intrinsic part of pulpy, trashy fiction which Hindi fiction writers used to churn out with such felicity in 60s and 70s; the surprises that this film manages to throw out, despite the expected ‘yeh-laash-usski-ho-hi-nahin-sakti’ scenes, are enough to keep us going.
The trio of Taapsee Pannu as the scheming Rani, whose stringy blouses never quite manage to hide a tender beating heart, Vikrant Massey who valiantly stays the course for his one true love, and Sunny Kaushal who makes the well-trodden role of a ‘mar-mitne-wala-aashiq’ his own, are all spot on, the latter stealing every scene he is in. As is Shergill, except you wish he would stay consistent: Rishu or Rissu?
I am a sucker for ‘manohar kahaanis’, where right and wrong is not easily coded, and which know how to push the right buttons, switching up lust and danger. And this one does it right. Can we please have some more?
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba movie cast: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Sunny Kaushal, Bhumika Dube, Jimmy Shergill, Aditya Srivastava
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba movie director: Jayprad Desai
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba movie rating: 3 stars
