Sunday, 04 July 2021 | Shalini Saksena
Haseen Dillruba : Netflix
*ing: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Harshvardhan Rane, Aditya Srivatava
Movies around whodunit are a bit tricky to make especially when the person involved is a woman. We love to jump to the conclusions that she is guilty. More so when she has an extramarital affair. It is like driving the final nail in the coffin. But once in a while comes a film which makes you sit and watch; not because there is sex, lies and dhoka but because of the way the story has been told and it unfolds. Kudos to director Vinil Mathew. He has walked the thin line rather brilliantly and the cast has done their job rather well as well.
Taapsee Pannu, who plays a not so homely and docile wife, plays the role of Rani, beautifully. Despite her outwardly demeanor in trying to be docile, she is in fact just the opposite. Her Day 1 after marriage and the conversation with the mother-in-law does border on being rude and badtameez but the way she delivers her dialogue and body language makes you want to stand up and applaud her brazenness.
Vikrant Massey, who plays Rani’s husband, is not your usual hero who runs around trees and sings songs or beats up the bad guy. In fact, he gets beaten not once but twice! As Rishabh, he does a good job of playing the doormat to his wife until he decides to no longer toe the line.
What makes Haseen Dillruba engaging is its many twists and turns — a husband who’s love borders on obsession, an extramarital affair and finally a murder. But most importantly is the story that is told how Rishabh finally died or was murdered. Because everyone including the police know that it was murder and who murdered him. All they want is a confession. What is interesting is also the anecdotes that come from a fiction writer of murder mysteries — Dinesh Pandit.
Sadly, there are a few pitfalls as well. The way the characters do a U-turn gives you a whiplash. Also, there is no mystery here. It is obvious who did murder. However, who gets murdered is the twist and makes it interesting to watch — if only in parts.
