Who payed the critics

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Ishqiya directed by Abhishek Chaubey is an amazing watch.What I liked mainly was the style of direction.The style of direction by Chaubey is similar to that of Quentin Tarantino.For a first-timer it needs so much effort to direct a movie in the style of Tarantino and Chaubey does that flawlessly.The story is very good.The screenplay is water-tight.The music is another thing that I liked.Ibn Battuta is foot-tapping,while Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji is melodious.Kudos to Vishal Bharadwaj.The dialogs add spice to the movie.Performances-Each and every cast deserves applause.Naseeruddin Shah is fantastic.Arshad Warsi is simply mind-blowing.Vidya Balan is superb.Salman Shahid is funny.On the whole,Ishqiya is a must watch!

Bihar and UP has always been the favorite among film makers specially for Prakash Jha and Vishal Bhardwaj. Story of two small time goons who are hiding from their boss whom they owe some money decides to take refuge in Vidya Balan's house. Both of them gets attracted to Vidya Balan who in turn uses them to kidnap a rich man for ransom. But hey hold on, this is just the beginning of the conspiracy.Ishqiya is a very simple story nicely told. The screen play, the music, the make up, cinematography, director all deserves 10 out of 10. The most touching song "Dil to bacha hei ji" is still the chart buster.Performance of each of the character is highly appreciated from all sections of the society. Naseeruddin Shah has played a big character after a long long time and it was a pleasure to see him in this movie.

Ishqiya 9/10 After a long time an Indian movie achieves the status of a perfect thriller. This is a milestone history of Hindi cinema.The story is very twisted and with every scene it opens up a bit more. You'll be guessing a lot of things but I can bet that till the end of movie you will still be guessing what and why are all these happening.Let me tell you, all events, actions, scenes, dialogs are important in this movie. If you miss even one frame your questions will be unanswered. Really this is a piece of art. I'm still clueless about a few things.Screenplay: 9/10. Good. If told in any other format, it would have looked so predictable that you could write the whole story from the beginning scene.Cinematography: Beautiful, captures a few good frames on village life. No unnecessary top shots, close ups, framing etc. Every scene is so well rehearsed, well prepared that they stand alone for praise.Dialogs: Whoa. This is the real asset of this movie. In your face dialog. No mercy, no hiding, total raw emotions comes out through dialog. Hats off to whoever wrote it.Acting: Vidya Balan has just washed out all others. Wow!!! She reminded me the actress from "Straw Dogs", doing something, telling something, thinking something and wishing something else...all at same time. Kudos to this girl. She simply rocked. Then comes Naseeruddin and Arshad, marvelous in their part. I want to say that everyone acted brilliantly, even that "nani" Directing: Man, bringing out this kind of believable acting from each and everyone of your crew is not easy. You need to have a clear idea about what exactly you want from this scene, what this frame should look like. Even if you are disgusted how you show your emotions....hats off to Abhishek Chaubey. Really looking forward to more from him.Songs: Now, what more should I tell. Everyone is singing "Dil to bachha hai ji", its a gr8 romantic track in recent times. All other songs are so nicely blended in the movie that you won't feel their presence at all.IMO, I rate it better than Kaminey. Kaminey became very predictable at the last hour. But this is way above all. Very very recommended to all

"In our village, kids learn how to operate a firearm much before they could how to wipe their butts", a matter-of-the-fact verbal bullet from a 15-year old boy, with thrice the maturity for his age. Ishqiya's essence is captured in its telling it like it is portrayal of some lawless badland in Eastern Uttar Pradesh where you really have to project outward toughness to avert an untimely death. This ruthlessness is reinforced by several shady characters, mentions of caste warfare, a local warlord who wrote the script of his own accidental death to get rid of a clingy wife, a steel businessman who also smuggles firearms in the covers, and two small-time city crooks who enter this paradise of aberrant, untrustworthy people and blend in quite easily with their slightly urbanized brand of deceitfulness. There's also plenty of symbolism here with depiction of gas cylinders and the absence of any real protagonist in the entire story. Each individual character has shades of grey and has been given adequate space to develop in sync with the plot. To say that the film's screenplay is brilliant would be an understatement, in fact it's after so many days I recall having seen a screenplay that actually outdoes the script. Ifthiqar and Babban Hussain are two petty thieves who're hiding for cover after running foul with Mushtaq-a big gangster. With some quick thinking, the two manage to contrive an escape and enter this village where they seek refuge with the widow of an old friend, called Krishna. Sparks fly and both men (an uncle and his nephew) take turns to seduce the woman. The younger one, Babban wins this affair much to the anger of the older suitor who hasn't lost his touch with gentle romance. Krishna, however, turns out to be the one who can play both of them for her own interest. Together, they plot a kidnapping sequence which goes awry and leads the plot to a climax. There's plenty of raw sexual chemistry in the film - Vidya Balan as the widow Krishna does quite well in this department. I was a bit surprised to find an element of sado-masochism in quite a few scenes, this has rarely been explored by Indian cinema in the past. The love-making scene between Krishna and her husband was on the theme of slave concubine (bandi) with her Emperor (Jahanpanah). In another scene, you have an adulterer male character in the blindfolds, tied to the bedpost with a cat-eyed dominatrix whipping him gently.Overall, Ishqiya is a must-watch thanks to its huge amount of unpredictability. Even though you don't really feel sympathy for any of the characters because of their antagonizing ways, you'd love the eventual outcome.