Haseen Dillruba Review: A Treacherous Mistress That’s Morally Ambiguous But Absolutely Engrossing
I love a film that will have you discussing and debating its many twists and turns. And upon watching the trailer for Haseen Dillruba, I was sure this would be one of those films, not just because it a whodunnit that everyone has plenty of theories about. But also because the relationships at the crux of the film seems to be one of those toxic love triangles that always end up with everyone getting hurt. The romantic drama thriller is directed by Vinil Matthew and stars Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Harshvardhan Rane, and Aditya Srivastava. The story, screenplay and dialogues are by Kanika Dhillon. The music is by Amit Trivedi.
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Clearly, that’s quite talent pool that you can expect great things from. And as far as first impressions go, Haseen Dillruba does make a great one. Right off the bat, it is the oozing sexiness of Taapsee character, Rani Kashyap, who is the chief suspect in the murder of a husband who loved her very much, Rishu, played to incredible perfection by Vikrant Massey. Rani is Delhi girl, and her idea of the ideal man is your typical Delhi hunk who can make her laugh, cry and come, if you know what I mean. In fact, as Rishu remarks, what she wants as a package is actually the qualities of 5-6 different men in one.
Unfortunately, Rishu is nothing like the guys Rani wanted. He loves her unconditionally, works diligently to take on every responsibility to make Rani;s life as effortless as possible in the small town of Jwalapur. He even begins reading the Hindi pulp fiction novels that she loves so much, named ‘Kasauli Ka Keher’ and what not. And he even happily blurs the patriarchal lines that separate men from household work, just for her love, against his mother’s wishes. Because all’s fair in love and war.
Despite playing a married couple struggling to make their new marriage work, Taapsee and Vikrant have sizzling chemistry. And it’s credit due to both actors for this, particularly Vikrant, for making us intently fall for their character and root for the couple to work out their issues. Alas, enter Neel, a distant cousin, and exactly the guy Rani is looking for. What happens next is implied. There is an extra-marital affair, and then someone ends up dead.
The film begins with this death which the cops ascertain is of Rishu, because they find his severed hand with Rani’s name tattooed on it. And even though it is a cylinder blast, they suspect a murder, because of pre-mortem wounds on his skull. And the flashback is Rani telling cops what’s what.
Also Read: Haseen Dillruba Trailer: Tapsee Pannu Starrer Shows Promise But Desi Twitter Is Unimpressed, Declares Kangana Is Better
Haseen Dillruba is engrossing at all times, even if you might’ve figured out the twist
Haseen Dillruba isn’t a very complex whodunnit that will have you racking your brains about who the killer is. The suspects aren’t that many, after all. If you’ve been paying attention, it becomes pretty evident. And yet, the film keeps you engrossed until the very end. I didn’t feel that the film was wasting any time, but I do believe the first act could’ve been trimmed a little, just so that we could see more of the second, where we see Rani’s interactions with the cop. I loved how the police station setup, which was refreshingly normal and devoid of the usual drama, where you’ve got a bad cop, a good cap, brutality, and toxic cop traits. The cops aren’t foolish either.
But on second thought, I understand why the film spends more time on fleshing out the dynamics of the relationship between the characters because that is what anchors your attention. You forget that the film began with murder, because we swiftly move into love story territory. It’s a very treacherous Kabir Singh zone, where problematic love is going to make people do some very dubious things. But even in that phase of the film, the performances of the actors and the need to know what happens next in their life reels you in.
The deciding factor on whether you like the film or not is how you come to terms with its ambiguous morality
Okay, so hear me out, because if I don’t explain it right, it would make me look like a hypocrite for trashing films like Kabir Singh and enjoying Haseen Dillruba.
When I heard Taapsee utter a dialogue in the promos that love isn’t love if it isn’t coloured in the shades of blood, I knew that this was going into a very dark zone. And obviously, there’s no such thing is righteous murder or affair. So to expect the film to be ‘woke’ or ‘right’ or ‘white’ would be wrong. The film’s ideology is kaafi complicated, and delving deep into it would invite spoilers. The morals are ambiguous—is this intensely passionate toxic love that believes in crossing unspeakable lines in the name of love healthy? Is the murder justified? Was there another option? Should one person have walked out of that relationship and avoided all this? The same questions that we would ask a Preeti about being with Kabir, you’d wanna ask Rani about the guy she is with.
But what redeems Haseen Dillruba is that it’s love story itself does not have problematic origins. It’s about a bunch of very twisted people who end up together and just make the best of their circumstances. In fact, if you ask me, this is very reflective of how most of our country’s youth loves and thinks love ought to be. That’s how violent love, toxic dependency and thinking that loves equals pain… these ideas are so popular in our films.
The film has its woke moments too. I love how Taapsee’s Rani is unapologetically herself, and how through her you understand the nuances of an arranged marriage and the “thode acche, thode bure” aspects of that relationship. The in-laws are fascinating and hilarious too!
The film’s ending is another dubious element, not exactly open, but definitely one that will leave you debating the character’s actions.
Verdict
I still am not sure how I feel about Haseen Dillruba. Yep, even after writing a whole-ass review! The performances are pretty great, and this is easily Vikrant Massey’s show through and through. He is cute, hot, and there’s no way you wouldn’t fall for him, even when he starts getting problematic. I dig this and Taapsee’s chemistry a lot! And despite me not agreeing completely with the ideology of writer Kanika Dhillon here, I actually enjoyed watching it.
And if you can separate the morality from entertainment, then you can too!
