‘Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba’ movie review: Taapsee Pannu returns with a wilted rose

Taapsee Pannu in ‘Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba’ | Photo Credit: Netflix

Three years after Vinil Mathew’s romantic thriller brought some cheer during the Covid-19 pandemic, Haseen Dilruba Rani Kashyap has returned to take advantage of the charm and goodwill of the director. Promising to be a thrilling sequel to bring the rainy season alive, it, however, turns out to be a dull cracker. The makers once again try to give Netflix viewers a desi dose of pulp fantasy, but Manohar fails to turn the story into a romantic noir.

Part of the problem is that apart from the police’s goofiness at the end, there was nothing left to add to the bland story of a small-town beautician who takes time to make up her mind about the kind of man she wants in her life. As a result, in the sequel directed by Jayapradha Desai, the build-up feels a bit forced, and then writer Kanika Dhillon’s purple prose leaves you feeling bored as the shallow dialogue-baazi takes too long to turn into action. Despite being set in Agra, the romance lacks soul and the crime lacks passion. Going back and forth to maintain the suspense becomes more of an editing gimmick than an organic exercise.

A scene from ‘Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba’

After dodging the police, Rani Kashyap (Taapsee Pannu) and Rishu Saxena (Vikrant Massey) plan to flee abroad. To foil their plans, Jimmy Shergill as police officer Mrityunjay Prasad comes in. He has a personal connection to the case and is keen to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of Neel Tripathi (Harshvardhan Rane), who is the third angle in the original.

Meanwhile, another crazy Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal) enters Rani’s life and she finds a way to engage the police in a cat and mouse game. Making matters even more complicated, one-armed Rishu also has a differently-abled fan. The premise of the story seems purposeful on paper and the possibilities are immense, but the thriller fails to bring one to the edge of the seat. The mood simmers for some time but never really boils over.

Rani’s dilemma in the original film is what made it funny. She marries a mild-mannered man, but becomes enamored with the husband’s reckless cousin. When the devoted husband develops muscles, Rani’s confusion leads to a chaos that is not merely superficial. After three summers, the deceptions and threats become one-dimensional and the supposed gotcha moment haunts us.

The self-awareness of presenting a fictional pulp fiction writer whose novels inspire everyone in the film as a tribute to the genre comes across as a bit too obvious, and his pearls of wisdom on relationships lose their sheen pretty quickly.

The only time my heart really thumps in anticipation is when Ek Haseena Thi, Ek Deewana Tha plays in the background. That a 1980 song from Subhash Ghai’s Karz is borrowed to give goosebumps in 2024 says something about the state of originality and creativity in Bollywood. However, the writing doesn’t keep pace with the moral ambiguity of the iconic song as the makers play safe with the actor’s image in the second version. The parlour conversations are cast in dirty and salacious shades of red that don’t seem to fit the story. Also, the defining line of the film—”If love doesn’t push you to the brink of insanity, it’s not true love—is reduced to a trite remark in the sequel.

The sexual tension between Taapsee and Harshvardhan Rane’s characters that made us restless in the middle overs of the first part is missing here as the bond between Rani and Abhimanyu lacks coquettish charge. Sunny is a good actor but the role required a little more charisma. With a toothless character, Jimmy fails to keep pace with the proceedings and appears completely disinterested in the matter. Vikrant who brought the story alive in the first chapter has little to play with and Taapsee needs to press the reset button to come out of this rut. Like the film, it is efficient without being exciting.

Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba is streaming on Netflix