'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba'—which dropped on Netflix on August 9, three years after the first 'Haseen Dillruba' film introduced us to Rishu (Vikrant Massey) and Rani's (Taapsee Pannu) combustive love story—spotlights two new characters in addition to Rishu and Rani. First, there's Montu Chacha (Jimmy Shergill) whose nephew Neel was the murder victim in the first 'Haseen Dillruba' and whose catchphrase "gajab" could prove to have high meme-worthiness in the days to come. Second, Abhimanyu Bhardwaj played by a riveting Sunny Kaushal. Ek Haseena Thi, Ek Deewana Tha, the iconic song from the 1980 film 'Karz', threads through 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' as a pulpy reminder of what's at play in the movie: a love so corrosive that it twists everyone it touches.
For those who haven't seen Part 1, it saw a tame Rishabh Saxena getting married to a Hindi crime novels-fanatic Rani Kashyap. Rani can't handle the simple domesticity Rishu has to offer, and Rishu can't imagine life without his too-hot-to-handle wife. A torrid affair and an accidental murder follow, and the husband-wife plan an elaborate cover-up with help from Rani's favourite crime novelist Dinesh Pandit's book 'Kasauli ka Keher'.
'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' takes off from where 'Haseen Dillruba' left off. Rishu and Rani are still on the run. An indefinite amount of time has passed. And as they're forced to maintain distance to keep up the charade of her being a widow, they fall even more deeply in love with each other. They are based somewhere in Agra and are hard at work to pool enough money for an escape to a foreign shore to avoid jail for the murder and cover-up they committed in Part 1. That, roughly, is the premise.
As with part 1 directed by Vinil Mathew and written by Kanika Dhillon, director Jayprad Desai's 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' (written again by Kanika Dhillon) is unapologetically pulpy.
The idea that a whirlwind romance that works as a powerful destructive force is the only kind of love worth having, permeates the frames here too. If part 1 offered a slow buildup from an arranged marriage-gone-sour to a dangerous love that demands its pound of flesh (literally), in 'Hasseen Dillruba 2' the tension mounts as the sources of threat multiply. There's no let-up, and that is part of the fun.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba review
The addition of Sunny Kaushal as the boy-next-door compounder Abhimanyu is the new plot twist in this ode to Hindi pulp fiction. He's in love with our heroine - Rani. The kind of obsessive love that she might have loved before she married Rishu. Abhimanyu has seen more than his fair share of tragedies in life, and falling for Rani precipitates more drama in his life.
'Hasseen Dillruba 2' builds on the robust pulp-fiction skeleton of 'Haseen Dillruba' (2021). There's a continuity in the story, and those who come to part 2 directly may not be able to appreciate the full force of Rishu and Rani's love story and what he has willingly given up for her—even if they are able to enjoy the second film as a standalone.
To be fair, 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' tries to recap what happened in Part 1. "Pehle hamare mein pyaar nahi tha, pyaar hua toh timing nahi thi, timing hui toh saath rehne ki permission nahi thi kyunki illegal ho gaye the hum dono, aur sab kuchh ho gaya, hum yahaan se nikalne lagey, tumhare Montu Chacha (Jimmy Shergill) aa dhamke yahaan pe. Rishu (Vikrant Massey), humare pyar ki timing tel lene gayi hai, kuchh nahi ho sakta hamara," Rani Kashyap rants to her husband Rishabh Saxena in a moment of desperation as the husband-wife turned lovers via a murder and elaborate cover-up think about how to get away with that murder—yet again.
(To translate the dialogue loosely for non-Hindi speakers, Rani says: At first, we weren't in love. When we started to fall in love, the timing was all wrong. When the timing fell into place, we couldn't be together because we had become criminals by then. And when we managed to get away from all that to make our big break towards freedom, Montu Chacha landed up here. It's just never going to work out for us, because our timing is all off.)
From the story to the frames and the costume and makeup, 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' is unapologetically pulpy. Director of photography Vishal Sinha shows us Agra saturated in the colours of pulp fiction - building a sense of intimacy and at times, even newness amid the historic landscape.
Early in the first 'Haseen Dillruba' film, Rani tells Rishabh that her favourite Dinesh Pandit is such an accomplished crime writer that he can situate the most outrageous crimes in the smallest, most unremarkable towns with great facility in his Hindi stories (chhote chhote shehron mein bade bade katal [murder] karva detey hain, aur pataa bhi nahi chalta). 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' tries to follow that same blueprint, with outrageous crimes followed by even more outrageous attempts at getting away with them.
Dinesh Pandit, a fictional writer who nevertheless embodies a very rich Hindi pulp tradition, gets even more avid followers in 'Hasseen Dillruba 2'. More plots from his books inform more dangerous attempts to kill and to survive.
The result is a film that owns its kitschiness, and moves quickly and cohesively despite its many detours.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba performances
Sunny Kaushal steals the show in a film helmed by some stellar actors. He plays Abhimanyu, a compounder who becomes obsessed with Rani. As he gets more entangled in Rani and Rishu's story, his own moorings and motivations become clearer.
Jimmy Shergill plays Montu Chacha, a dogged policeman with skin in the game - the man Rishu and Rani killed in the first film was his nephew. He has a short role in the film, but it's pivotal.
On the technical side, the costume (by Varsha Chandanani and Shilpa Makhija) and makeup in 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' are central - especially to showing us what Rani cares about. Her blouses are flimsier here and there's always a flower or two in her hair. Almost always dolled-up, she looks the part of the femme fatale who's sometimes surprised by her own powers of seduction.
The writing by Dhillon is edgier here than in the first film. Case in point: As the fugitive lovers start to feel cornered, they find newer, pulpier ways to communicate. They leave each other messages in plain sight, even using the ubiquitous writing on the wall in Indian towns.
Editors Hemal Kothari and Abhishek Shetty, too, have done a great job stitching together a complex film complete with plot twists, CGI and much high-pitched drama.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba trailer
Launched two weeks prior to the Hasseen Dillruba 2 release date, the 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' trailer had been viewed over 3.3 crore times by the time the film dropped on OTT. Watch it here:
Both 'Haseen Dillruba' and 'Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba' released direct-to-digital. Yet one can't help but wonder what it might have been like on the big screen.
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