Ishqiya

Two conmen, Khalujaan and Babban, on the run from their boss, take shelter in a town in Uttar Pradesh. The house they go to belongs to an old acquaintance, but the man is dead and his widow Krishna is living there. Both of them fall for her, and when Krishna's own plan surfaces, both find themselves inside it. Abhishek Chaubey directs, in his first film. Vishal Bhardwaj produces, co-writes and scores. Naseeruddin Shah plays Khalujaan, Arshad Warsi plays Babban and Vidya Balan plays Krishna. The striking thing is Krishna. Where the widow in Indian cinema is usually written as a suffering figure, here she is the one running the story, and both men misread the situation right to the end. The language and the location matter too. The film uses the speech of Uttar Pradesh rather than Bombay Hindi and softens nothing, swearing included, which was not usual in mainstream production at the time. Dil To Bachcha Hai, with Gulzar's lyrics and Bhardwaj's music, became a hit independently of the film. A sequel, Dedh Ishqiya, followed in 2014. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian crime films with black humour, and Vidya Balan in strong parts. Who it is not for: the pace is slow and the genre promise is not kept. It starts like a caper and goes somewhere else.