Review of "ISHQIYA"

Vishal Bahradwaj places Ishqiya in the rustic hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh, that shows the promise of a Quintine Terantino in the making. Debutant director Abhishek Choubey has seamlessly juxtaposed two diverse world of criminality and compassion within one frame where it is difficult to distinguish between lust and love, trust and betrayal. The music is equally lilting with "Dil to baccha hain ji" throwing us back to the 70s. One will be tempted not to ascribe any value judgements to "Ishqiya". Its an attempt to display the complex emotions of love and hate, in an atmosphere which reeks of  crime and violence.

The setting is Gorakhpur; dusty, parched, arid, unpredictable and Vidya Balan as Krishna Verma emerges as the by-product of that very unpredictable "Gorakhhpuri" landscape. She presents an unmixable mix, of the infinite tenderness of a coy bride, when she romances with Naseeruddin Shah (as Khalujaan), in contrast to the perilous contours that Arsad Warsi (as Babban) traverses, as he tries to tame a women whose eyes display the reckless rage of a suicide bomber, if provoked.

Vidya Balan has delivered with intense finesse a role which is not the cliched, stereotyped "abla nari" of yesteryears, the subservient women of indian cinema, the "bechari" who would fall for the false promise of the males only to collect the sullied  aspersions from the "samaj" in the end. With every passing frame she glitters as the bundle of contradictions.There is more to her than meets the eye. She loves, she lusts, she schemes, she is faithful, kind-hearted and at the same time does not think twice to wield a pistol at the same person she has shared a passionate moment, minutes earlier. 

The complexity of Krishna Verma in Ishqiya draws a parallel to the lyrics written by an anonymous poet centuries ago.

                                         When I am sitting 

                                         at the door of a tavern.

                                         I ,Ishtar, the goddess

                                         Am, prostitute, mother, wife, divinity.

                                         I am what people call life,  

                                         Although you call it death.

                                        I am what people call law, 

                                        Although you call it Delinquency.

                                       I am what you seek 

                                       And what you find

                                      I am what you scattered, 

                                      and the pieces you now gather up.

Khalujaan and Babban are tossed into the tavern of widow Krishna Verma, triggering an intense firework of sexual innunedos; for Khalujaan Krishna Verma represents "life", the ultimate epitome of love, whereas Babbaan pictures a fountain of "oozing sex" in her eyes which he plans to relish. As the three characters interact and are thrown against each other in a tale where there are no loyalties, no promises which stand a chance of getting fulfilled, the audience is made to slide into a plot that pulsates with the flavor of love, lust, intrigue, trust, betrayal and humor. 

"Krishna" is the women that a die-hard romantic would crave for, she is also the "slutty whore" a lusty eye would die for. She promises to be what the male psyche wants her to become. Krishna Verma is the commodity that Khalujaan, Babban, and her supposedly deceased husband scatter. She is the "primordial sludge" that the characters turn her into. See "Ishqiya" if you want to swim in that "primordial sludge". Read the missing verses in the eyes of Krishna Verma, like that of a mystery novel where the plot meanders like a glacier catapulted out of control.