Haseen Dilruba Movie Review | Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Harshvardhan Rane | Netflix | 2021

a jilted lover a lonely unsatisfied housewife and 
unwanted distraction in the form of a handsome  
hunk haseen dilruba starts off with a bang quite 
literally the plot involves a small town called  
dwalapur where a delhi-based girl finds it hard 
to adjust to the rhythms of a household chores  
and a husband who’s a meek docile nerd things 
come to a boil when his hunk of a cousin enters  
the scene and makes advances towards rani kashyap 
who does not hesitate to reciprocate his feelings  
like the fictitious hindi pulp novelist 
quoted in the film tinesh pandit this is  
a film that reads like a pulp novel that’s 
just hard to put down once you get started  
the film owes its title to the song 
jawani chanaman haseem tilruba from  
the film shan and the lyrics of that song aptly 
described this film meledo del jama nisar hoga
without revealing too much i’m just going to 
say you have to trust me on this one kani kaldo  
who has written haseen till rupa also wrote man 
marzia another story about a girl torn between  
a sober well-educated man and a cool dude who’s 
impossible to resist but haseem dilruba is a story  
of two halves the second half being an ode to 
grisham a suspense thriller that has paved the way  
for films like haseem dilruba to exist also in the 
way of inspiration one has to look back at classic  
hollywood film noirs films with dark pessimistic 
themes and signature motifs

such as alienated
anti-heroes dark shadows and seductive femme
fatales there’s also another older film that comes
to mind sam peckinpah’s violent psychological
thriller straw dogs which also was about a nerd
inflicting revenge on his tormentors the police
procedural sequences also remind us of the
recently released rath akeli another film about
mysterious deaths in small town northern india
as i’ve mentioned earlier there are two halves to
talk about in haseendir river in its comedic first
half kanikazo takes ample jabs at the concept
of arranged marriages we meet a cantankerous
mother-in-law and her docile husband their small
town expectations come in the form of wanting a
homely pride for their son who needs to know how
to cook and to cook well taapsi’s rani kashyap
a delhi born and brought up girl meanwhile
has draupadi-like expectations of a husband
inspired in part by reading and fantasizing
about heroes found in cheap hindi pulp novels
in a hilarious scene rishu played by vikrant
masih chides her by saying requirements to
there are also a plethora of awkward and funny
moments between the newlywed couple which i
thought worked quite well rishu also seeks advice
on how to tame his wife from his best friend
highlighting and in a way critiquing the
patriarchal mindset found in small town india but
social commentary aside when it comes
to analyzing the two halves of the movie
i’d say that both parts are equally enjoyable
the second half is completely dominated by the
suspense and mystery elements though as far as
performances are concerned the entire supporting
cast in haseem dilruba deserves a round of
applause from aditya srivastava’s role as a
weary and cynical police officer who investigates
the crime committed in the opening act of the film
to yamanee das who plays tapsi pannu’s hard to
please mother-in-law the ashankar pandey who plays
vikrant massey’s father and ashish varma who plays
his best friend afsa are also quite good in their
respective roles harshvardhan rani who plays the
cool dude who entices tabsi pannu is unfortunately
just about okay tapsi herself is not so impressive
either now we can agree that it’s a difficult
double act that she has to perform playing a
femme fatale and also a reformed loving wife but
tarpsi doesn’t quite get all the nuances right
she is fine in the first half of the film but
comes across as entirely predictable in the second
it doesn’t help that her stock mannerisms are on
full display during the more dramatic scenes of
the film manmerzia directed by amarath kashyap
and also written by kanika dhillon still remains
her best performance to date and this brings me
to vikrant marseille who’s just brilliant and
masterful in his portrayal of rishu a character
that goes from being a meek and submissive
one at the beginning of the story to being
cunning and also quite vengeful towards the end he
certainly deserves full marks for portraying this
amazing transformation what i also like about
the film are its dialogues they not only help
create a great atmosphere but also work wonders
on multiple levels some of the lines are caustic
and funny but more often than not they are laced
with the bitter truth and harsh realities of
life in small town india i should also compliment
veneer matthew for his direction which is mostly
subtle and non-intrusive in nature among the
many scenes that i enjoyed i can still recall
one particular scene where vikrant marseille
looks at the figure of a sleeping tabsi panu
filled with rage and uncontrollable jealousy
fennel matthew lights up the scene with hues
of red to signify the passionate nature of the
scene this is just one example of small but def
touches that middle matthew has incorporated into
this film i found the music and songs of the film
to be a bit underwhelming maybe it’s just because
i haven’t given them time to grow given that amit
vedi has composed the entire soundtrack of arsene
delgrava i certainly expect it a little bit more
so what are my concluding thoughts on hating
dilruba i think the film deserves a big thumbs
up it’s a welcome addition to the desi film
noir genre and it certainly deserves a watch
for its unpredictable twists and turns its genuine
attempts at finding humor in a small town setting
for its crisp and funny dialogues the excellent
supporting cast vikrant martial’s performance
and so much more so that’s a wrap guys and i
hope you’ve enjoyed listening to my review of
hasine dilruba i’m sure some of you will have
your disagreements with me as well let me know
in the comments below what are your thoughts on
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