They barge their way into an extraordinarily
ordinary college chemistry lab after being harried through the bylanes. They
are minutes away from being surrounded by goons hell-bent on gunning them down.
And the girl can still think of her chemistry exam scores. The raffish, unkempt
boy looks on silently as the girl goes on to brag about how she scored full
marks in previous occasions and how she is all set to win a gold medal from her
college.
It is a fantastic moment in Habib Faisal’s latest
film ‘Ishaqzaade’ and it sums up the blistering wit and poignancy in the entire
film. One has to marvel at how Faisal keeps the focus balanced on his two leads
while they fire off crackling, rapid-fire liners at each other while the clear
and present danger persists. And there is some razor-sharp wit to be seen. The
spunky heroine, obviously spurned by her own
father, is close to tears but she excuses herself, saying that the
chemicals in the lab are irritating her.
Obviously, we all saw it coming. Faisal’s flair for
ratcheting up a sparky, fiery chemistry between romantic leads is best seen in
‘Band Bajaa Baraat’, a film he scripted. And as in that film, ‘Ishaqzaade’
rumbles and crackles with red-hot chemistry between its two leads so much that
we forget that they are hardly a conventional romantic pair but we end up
rooting for them to go blazing. And boy, they do.
Radically different as it is from Faisal’s fantastic
debut, the heartwarming ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, ‘Ishaqzaade’ still manages to
fascinate mainly by Faisal’s hallmarks- his flair for meticulous detail and
nuance, his smart-ass writing and his ability to elicit standout performances
from his leads while infusing enough character development and detail in the
backdrop.
Consider the first scene itself. After the thrilling
opening credits scene, the film unfolds in elaborate leisure and compelling
ease. In a scene reminiscent of a Sergio Leone western, we see a Willys Jeep
emerging out of the barren, sunbaked landscape. The camera cuts to a man and a
woman in charge of a wayside diesel stop. They get up as the jeep comes.
Clearly, the sense of paranoia and fear is present in the frame and the way it
unexpectedly ends is a knockout.
The rest of the film is rich in detail. Habib Faisal
sets up the milieu with tremendous energy and skill. The harsh, raw and
hot-blooded world of the film, set in the UP ganglands, is a world populated by
Willys jeeps, handmade locally bought handguns and gunning motorcycle engines.
The small town political atmosphere is dominated by political rivals the
Qureshis and Chauhans. There are domineering patriarchs on each side who wish
to stay clear from chaos so as to make it to the throne.
You can make it out that our two leads are the real
trouble-makers. By the time, we are introduced to our eponymous wild couple,
you know that they are as rustic as the chunky steel revolvers they carry. And
like these revolvers, they are deadly.
Parma Chauhan is a brash youth, constantly
reprimanded by his tough father for his errant ways. On the other hand is Zoya,
a girl who is like dynamite ready to explode but she is not taken seriously by
her elders.
And Faisal ratchets up the tension between this
unlikely pair. The romance kicks off sure but not before rivalry explodes on
the screen. However, as the romance progresses, then ends and is renewed again,
it is clear that two rival families have little time or mercy for forgiving
them….
Clearly, Faisal’s biggest strength is again his
writing. Here, he is working on a premise often explored in the past. But
Faisal cleverly keeps the pace going while building a script that glides by
with speed and style. But Faisal also infuses a startling incisiveness and
realism into the proceedings. The film’s plot is layered with a sharp
complexity which allows Faisal to comment on the social atmosphere it depicts.
The film has several undercurrents of social strife and this ends up making the
film even more intelligent.
There is for instance Parma’s household. It is named
by the aging grandfather as Mardon Ki Haveli and there cannot be a better
description. There is Parma’s widowed mother, usually found confined to her
room. Still, she is Parma’s voice of conscience and she wishes to rear him as a
worthy citizen. Then, in the Qureshi household, Zoya is often sidelined by her
elder brothers and her father. Faisal explores such a social undertone briskly
without digressing into social commentary and this makes the film realistic in
its narrative.
And then there are the lines to marvel at. There are
whole wonderful pieces and chunks of dialogue to lavish over. Rapid fire
one-liners mashed with profanity, the angst-ridden reprimands, humorous
situations, sarcastic replies and others are packed with realism, wit and local
dialect. A character is obsessed with the word ‘Samadhi’ and uses the same word
in different contexts in different situations. Then, a teacher reprimands a
student by saying ‘Argumenting Mat Karo’. Really clever!
But for most time, Faisal devotes his energies in
getting his leads to hit off a terrific chemistry. As Parma, Arjun Kapoor gives
a stellar debut performance. His presence exudes confidences right from the
word Go and he impresses right till the end. It is the role of a scoundrel who
has a change of heart for the girl he betrays and Arjun does it quite
flawlessly, making his evil side genuinely unsettling and his transformation
believable as well.
Parineeti Chopra, fresh from her knockout turn in
‘Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl’, is in the leading role now and as Zoya she proves
herself a super-capable actress. Blending her girl-next-door looks with a
spontaneity rarely seen nowadays, she breathes energy, soul and spunk into her
character. And as for her lines, she gets them all right.
Moreover, the romance between the two blossoms
unexpectedly and vividly. Zoya falls inevitably for Parma’s gruff and gritty
essence and her ecstasy is wonderfully captured in the song ‘Pareshaan’, where
Faisal indulges his eye for detail and wonderfully heartwarming nuance. On the
other hand, Parma falls for Zoya as she reveals her affectionate side as she
nurses him when the two are seeking sanctuary in a brothel. It is simply
poignant stuff.
‘Ishaqzaade’ is also a film that looks beautiful in
its gritty realism. Hemant Chaturvedi’s thrilling, urgent camerawork with Sham
Kaushal’s action choreography nails the chases with exciting effect. And Amit
Trivedi’s songs are vividly pictured on the screen with color, energy and pomp.
‘Ishaqzaade’ is a film with a story that is old wine
in a new bottle. However, Faisal spices up the cocktail to make a film that is
entertaining, exhilarating and definitely charming with the fantastic rapport
between its leads. And that is what eventually entertains while Faisal’s finely
nuanced direction is a marvel.
Movies of this kind are rare; think of Butch Cassidy
and The Sundance Kid or maybe the more familiar ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. Both are
movies with a loveable pair at the lead and there is terrific spark between the
two, while the background is authentic. ‘Ishaqzaade’ is a cerebral film that
ends up being remarkably close.
