Issaq

Rating : Not Rated
Release Date : 26th July, 2013
Time : 153 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Manish Tiwary; Co-Writers : Padmaja Thakore, Pawan Sony; Music : Various
Starring : Prateik Babbar, Amyra Dastur, Ravi Kissen, Prashant Narayanan, Makarand Deshpande, Yuri Suri, Amit Sial

We walked out midway through the second half, though not because it was terrible but more because we weren’t in the mood for the bloodshed and death we were sure would follow.

It’s a remake of Romeo and Juliet, set in Banaras. There is something wrong with the film, though, if you feel more sadness at the passing away of ancillary characters than the angst and later, separation of its lead pair.

The Banaras setting is excellent, with the colours, the riverside and the fire capturing the beauty of the place. The Hindi is of a level above what most cinemagoers would undertsand, the scene in a college where Amyra has to recite a Hindi love poem while talking to Prateik, one of the highlights of the movie. The Naxalite angle is too forced, doesn’t fit in with the rest of the film.

One of its major flaws, one which is common to most Hindi films, is the ‘ease’ with which love happens, complete with the angst which follows. Prateik doesn’t look like he fits in the environment and is definitely the weakest link in the chain, acting chops wise. Amyra looks vacuously pretty, more baby doll than someone who will feel and sense her way through the predicament she finds herself in. Its Rajeshwari Sachdev and Ravi Kissen, who grab the eyeballs more than anyone else throughout the first half, along with Yuri Suri and Amit Sial…

The movie just tries too much, without a lead pair to match its ambition….I liked Manish Tiwary’s direction, the style quotient of the film – he can easily move on to bigger, better things…