Arshad to direct Priyanka

Believes Vidya is not suitable for the action thriller

After turning producer with Hum Tum Aur Ghost, Arshad is all set to turn director next year. His film is titled Akadd and will be a quirky action comedy. He intends to make it as realistic as possible, with all his characters behaving like people we meet in real life. However, Arshad is yet to finalise the actress for the very important female lead role. Priyanka Chopra is leading his shortlist, while his Ishqiya co-star Vidya Balan is not in the running, as he believes she is not suited for the role.

LINK

Arshad to direct Priyanka

Believes Vidya is not suitable for the action thriller

After turning producer with Hum Tum Aur Ghost, Arshad is all set to turn director next year. His film is titled Akadd and will be a quirky action comedy. He intends to make it as realistic as possible, with all his characters behaving like people we meet in real life. However, Arshad is yet to finalise the actress for the very important female lead role. Priyanka Chopra is leading his shortlist, while his Ishqiya co-star Vidya Balan is not in the running, as he believes she is not suited for the role.

LINK

Ishqiya - A fun watch

Like other Vishal Bhardwaj films, Ishqiya too is a very bold film. No surprise, as it is directed by Abhishek Chaubey who used to assist Vishal Bhardwaj in his earlier films. Set in the rural areas of UP, near the border of UP- Nepal, it hardly shows any good thing about UP. Instead UP is shown as a state where most of the criminal and terrorist activities take place like manufacturing guns and selling them.

The narrative of the film is based on multiple story lines coming together in the end. We see two thieves played by Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi trying to escape their boss after stealing money. They take asylum in Vidya Balan’s home, she is a widow after her husband died in a fire explosion in their house. Both Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi fall in love with Vidya Balan. But their boss finds them and to add to their problems, the money too is stolen. Vidya Balan then proposes a plan where they can steal money from a rich person by kidnapping him. And both of them are left with no option but to accept the plan because of their problem and love for Vidya Balan. Once they agree to the plan, the entire thing showed prior to it becomes a MacGuffin. What is a MacGuffin? –

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is “a plot element that catches the viewers’ attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction.”
Sometimes, the specific nature of the MacGuffin is not important to the plot such that anything that serves as a motivation serves its purpose. The MacGuffin can sometimes be ambiguous, completely undefined, generic or left open to interpretation.
The MacGuffin is common in films, especially thrillers. Commonly, though not always, the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and later declines in importance as the struggles and motivations of characters play out. Sometimes the MacGuffin is even forgotten by the end of the film.

It is very much similar to Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock where a girl steals money and tries to run away from the boss, but that is hardly something to do with the basic plot of the film. Similarly in Ishqiya, the two thieves running with the money has hardly anything to do with basic plot.

The problem in Ishqiya is that the plot of the film was very paper thin and is based on one word – ‘TWIST’. The entire film is constructed around that very word. Of course, I can’t reveal the twist here as it would spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it yet. Although a few smart things, like the old woman with a fire torch and every room having a cylinder, that are very significant in the end were added in the film, but overall the plot wasn’t very well handled and I felt the director should have made more effort in developing the plot if twist was the word Abhishek Chaubey had in his mind.

Set in a rural background like Omkara, Ishqiya is yet another very bold film from Vishal Bharadwaj’s camp. Though it isn’t directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, Abhishek Chaubey ensures that just like Vishal Bharadwaj, even Ishqiya doesn’t make any compromise in the language or the scenes to make it a family watch commercial film. However, this time unlike Omkara, the cusswords are added to the film for the purpose of comedy rather than them actually suiting the film and the situations. In Omkara, the abusive words sounded apt according to the situations, but here in Ishqiya, we see them just to add the shock value to the film. It was slightly disappointing to see that happen. But the film had some genuinely good funny moments apart from the abusive humor which they relied on a lot.

Read more from HERE

Ishqiya - A fun watch

Like other Vishal Bhardwaj films, Ishqiya too is a very bold film. No surprise, as it is directed by Abhishek Chaubey who used to assist Vishal Bhardwaj in his earlier films. Set in the rural areas of UP, near the border of UP- Nepal, it hardly shows any good thing about UP. Instead UP is shown as a state where most of the criminal and terrorist activities take place like manufacturing guns and selling them.

The narrative of the film is based on multiple story lines coming together in the end. We see two thieves played by Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi trying to escape their boss after stealing money. They take asylum in Vidya Balan’s home, she is a widow after her husband died in a fire explosion in their house. Both Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi fall in love with Vidya Balan. But their boss finds them and to add to their problems, the money too is stolen. Vidya Balan then proposes a plan where they can steal money from a rich person by kidnapping him. And both of them are left with no option but to accept the plan because of their problem and love for Vidya Balan. Once they agree to the plan, the entire thing showed prior to it becomes a MacGuffin. What is a MacGuffin? –

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is “a plot element that catches the viewers’ attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction.”
Sometimes, the specific nature of the MacGuffin is not important to the plot such that anything that serves as a motivation serves its purpose. The MacGuffin can sometimes be ambiguous, completely undefined, generic or left open to interpretation.
The MacGuffin is common in films, especially thrillers. Commonly, though not always, the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and later declines in importance as the struggles and motivations of characters play out. Sometimes the MacGuffin is even forgotten by the end of the film.

It is very much similar to Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock where a girl steals money and tries to run away from the boss, but that is hardly something to do with the basic plot of the film. Similarly in Ishqiya, the two thieves running with the money has hardly anything to do with basic plot.

The problem in Ishqiya is that the plot of the film was very paper thin and is based on one word – ‘TWIST’. The entire film is constructed around that very word. Of course, I can’t reveal the twist here as it would spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it yet. Although a few smart things, like the old woman with a fire torch and every room having a cylinder, that are very significant in the end were added in the film, but overall the plot wasn’t very well handled and I felt the director should have made more effort in developing the plot if twist was the word Abhishek Chaubey had in his mind.

Set in a rural background like Omkara, Ishqiya is yet another very bold film from Vishal Bharadwaj’s camp. Though it isn’t directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, Abhishek Chaubey ensures that just like Vishal Bharadwaj, even Ishqiya doesn’t make any compromise in the language or the scenes to make it a family watch commercial film. However, this time unlike Omkara, the cusswords are added to the film for the purpose of comedy rather than them actually suiting the film and the situations. In Omkara, the abusive words sounded apt according to the situations, but here in Ishqiya, we see them just to add the shock value to the film. It was slightly disappointing to see that happen. But the film had some genuinely good funny moments apart from the abusive humor which they relied on a lot.

Read more from HERE

Ishqiya Movie Review (Taran Adarsh) 4/5

Get ready for tangy, pungent, sizzling and spicy stuff. Be forewarned, ISHQIYA isn't the fluffy, candyfloss, saccharine sweet story of lovers breaking into songs in mustard fields. In ISHQIYA, you just don't know what turn the story may take next. Not just the story, even the characters here are so impulsive and unpredictable.

You need to have a strong stomach to absorb ISHQIYA. It's high on drama, it's wild, it's real. But it's not dark, it's not sleazy, it's not crass. Frankly, you don't expect debutante director Abhishek Chaubey to make a stereotypical fare thanks to the tutelage by his guru Vishal Bhardwaj, who loves to swim against the tide and undertake risks in film after film.

You could call ISHQIYA a distant cousin of OMKARA. Set in Gorakhpur in North India, the film has a rustic feel, depicts characters that may make you uncomfortable and is laced with saucy lingo. Yet, it's different than OMKARA.

Final word? You can't help but fall in ishq with ISHQIYA. Tired of sherbat? Try this spicy jaljeera for a change!

Two thieves, Khalujaan [Naseeruddin Shah] and Babban [Arshad Warsi], are on the run from their boss, Mushtaq. They seek refuge at a friend's house, but instead meet his widow, Krishna [Vidya Balan]. The time spent together draws the duo to her, Khalu with his tinted vision of old-fashioned love and Babban with his lustful eye. But the past catches up with all three!

There's no denying that the promos had prepared me of the journey ahead, yet it took me a good 15-odd minutes to get into the world of Khalujaan, Babban and Krishna. But once you get sucked into their world, the blurred images start getting clearer and clearer and you become an active participant in their journey.

The first hour passes in a jiffy, but the story actually gets dramatic and volatile in its second hour. It's at this stage that things start getting more and more unpredictable. The story does a somersault every 10 minutes and by the time it reaches its finale, you're curious to know how the debutante director would conclude this saga. The end, of course, will have its share of advocates and adversaries, but the fact remains that it's offbeat.

Abhishek Chaubey is a welcome addition to the ranks of avid storytellers. His choice of the subject and also handling of the material is what makes this film so eminently watchable. Not once do you feel that ISHQIYA has been helmed by a first-timer. Note the change of events in the song 'Dil To Bachcha Hain Ji' or the kidnap drama and the heated argument that follows thereafter. Even the passionate lovemaking sequence between Arshad and Vidya has been dexterously canned.

Read more from HERE

Ishqiya Movie Review (Taran Adarsh) 4/5

Get ready for tangy, pungent, sizzling and spicy stuff. Be forewarned, ISHQIYA isn't the fluffy, candyfloss, saccharine sweet story of lovers breaking into songs in mustard fields. In ISHQIYA, you just don't know what turn the story may take next. Not just the story, even the characters here are so impulsive and unpredictable.

You need to have a strong stomach to absorb ISHQIYA. It's high on drama, it's wild, it's real. But it's not dark, it's not sleazy, it's not crass. Frankly, you don't expect debutante director Abhishek Chaubey to make a stereotypical fare thanks to the tutelage by his guru Vishal Bhardwaj, who loves to swim against the tide and undertake risks in film after film.

You could call ISHQIYA a distant cousin of OMKARA. Set in Gorakhpur in North India, the film has a rustic feel, depicts characters that may make you uncomfortable and is laced with saucy lingo. Yet, it's different than OMKARA.

Final word? You can't help but fall in ishq with ISHQIYA. Tired of sherbat? Try this spicy jaljeera for a change!

Two thieves, Khalujaan [Naseeruddin Shah] and Babban [Arshad Warsi], are on the run from their boss, Mushtaq. They seek refuge at a friend's house, but instead meet his widow, Krishna [Vidya Balan]. The time spent together draws the duo to her, Khalu with his tinted vision of old-fashioned love and Babban with his lustful eye. But the past catches up with all three!

There's no denying that the promos had prepared me of the journey ahead, yet it took me a good 15-odd minutes to get into the world of Khalujaan, Babban and Krishna. But once you get sucked into their world, the blurred images start getting clearer and clearer and you become an active participant in their journey.

The first hour passes in a jiffy, but the story actually gets dramatic and volatile in its second hour. It's at this stage that things start getting more and more unpredictable. The story does a somersault every 10 minutes and by the time it reaches its finale, you're curious to know how the debutante director would conclude this saga. The end, of course, will have its share of advocates and adversaries, but the fact remains that it's offbeat.

Abhishek Chaubey is a welcome addition to the ranks of avid storytellers. His choice of the subject and also handling of the material is what makes this film so eminently watchable. Not once do you feel that ISHQIYA has been helmed by a first-timer. Note the change of events in the song 'Dil To Bachcha Hain Ji' or the kidnap drama and the heated argument that follows thereafter. Even the passionate lovemaking sequence between Arshad and Vidya has been dexterously canned.

Read more from HERE

'Ishqiya' gets 'A' certificate with no cuts

Ishqiya' with all its colourful expletives and sexually charged visuals was passed without any cuts with an 'A' certificate.

Says the film's director Abhishek Choubey: "Frankly, I expected I'd be asked for some kind of an explanation for the language and content and why they were necessary. I had gone prepared with dossiers on every graphic word and shot. To my surprise I wasn't asked for any explanation. I was given an 'Adults' certificate with no cuts at all. I guess it's a sign of how far censorship has come in our country."

The censor board apparently balked at some of the expletives. But finally saw reason. The film was passed by the board Wednesday.

Says the film's director: "I never claimed the film was for children. The content is adult. So I've no problem with the 'A' certificate. I feel the profile of the audience is changing swiftly."

Abhishek also hastens to add that the language is not as strong as people seem to think. "It's not about creating shock value. It's the way these people in the small North Indian towns live their life."

The film, produced by Raman Maroo and Vishal Bharadwaj, stars Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan and Naseeruddin Shah in the lead roles.

SOURCE - MID-DAY

'Ishqiya' gets 'A' certificate with no cuts

Ishqiya' with all its colourful expletives and sexually charged visuals was passed without any cuts with an 'A' certificate.

Says the film's director Abhishek Choubey: "Frankly, I expected I'd be asked for some kind of an explanation for the language and content and why they were necessary. I had gone prepared with dossiers on every graphic word and shot. To my surprise I wasn't asked for any explanation. I was given an 'Adults' certificate with no cuts at all. I guess it's a sign of how far censorship has come in our country."

The censor board apparently balked at some of the expletives. But finally saw reason. The film was passed by the board Wednesday.

Says the film's director: "I never claimed the film was for children. The content is adult. So I've no problem with the 'A' certificate. I feel the profile of the audience is changing swiftly."

Abhishek also hastens to add that the language is not as strong as people seem to think. "It's not about creating shock value. It's the way these people in the small North Indian towns live their life."

The film, produced by Raman Maroo and Vishal Bharadwaj, stars Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan and Naseeruddin Shah in the lead roles.

SOURCE - MID-DAY

Vishal Bharadwaj's reply to Censor Board

Vishal Bharadwaj was upset with the Censor Board of India for having problems with the word 'Sex' in the line 'Tumhara Ishq Ishq and Hamara Ishq Sex' and the Ishqiya team had to replace the word 'Sex' with a beep sound for the promos that were shown on television.

He/They reply back to them by making a contest on that very line. The contest is called "Hamara Ishq Ishq Aur Aap ka Ishq KYA ?" Good one VB.

Vishal Bharadwaj's reply to Censor Board

Vishal Bharadwaj was upset with the Censor Board of India for having problems with the word 'Sex' in the line 'Tumhara Ishq Ishq and Hamara Ishq Sex' and the Ishqiya team had to replace the word 'Sex' with a beep sound for the promos that were shown on television.

He/They reply back to them by making a contest on that very line. The contest is called "Hamara Ishq Ishq Aur Aap ka Ishq KYA ?" Good one VB.

Gulzar makes Ishqiya unforgettable - Raja Sen

Isn't it great to wake up to fantastic music? The last year was a lackluster one for Hindi cinema on the whole, but the last week of December ended with the promos of Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji from Abhishek Chaubey's Ishqiya, and hope was rekindled.

Once again Gulzar [ Images ] and Vishal Bhardwaj [ Images ] have conspired to give us a soundtrack to marvel at, that one intoxicatingly warm song leading the way.

It kicks off the album, it does. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan [ Images ] nails soulful words better than most, and the singer imparts a yearning quality to the phenomenal words. Gulzar's in top form here, speaking of how the heart never ages and masochistically carries on, incorrigible and invulnerable.

'Dil sa koi kameena nahin / koi to roke, koi to toke / Iss umar mein ab khaoge dhokhe' (There isn't a scoundrel like the heart, someone stop him, interrupt him, how can you bear pain at your age.') Magnificent.

Next up is Ibn-E-Batuta, a glorious roadtrippy take on history as the lyrics take on the Moroccan traveller and chronicler before heading into cheerfully morbid territory. Sukhwinder Singh [ Images ] and Mika get a smashing vibe going, and put their heart and soul into the churrrr and phurrrr the song demands, the hook of the song that'll really catch on. A firecracker, this one.

'In the village of the eye, at night dreams come and visit.' Sublime words are turned into goosebumps as Rekha Bhardwaj takes them on in Ab Mujhe Koi, imparting just the right measures of languor and elegy. It's a slow song, one that spirals around the listener, making for a dreamy cocoon. A song, in short, to be listened to on loop.

Read more from HERE

Gulzar makes Ishqiya unforgettable - Raja Sen

Isn't it great to wake up to fantastic music? The last year was a lackluster one for Hindi cinema on the whole, but the last week of December ended with the promos of Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji from Abhishek Chaubey's Ishqiya, and hope was rekindled.

Once again Gulzar [ Images ] and Vishal Bhardwaj [ Images ] have conspired to give us a soundtrack to marvel at, that one intoxicatingly warm song leading the way.

It kicks off the album, it does. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan [ Images ] nails soulful words better than most, and the singer imparts a yearning quality to the phenomenal words. Gulzar's in top form here, speaking of how the heart never ages and masochistically carries on, incorrigible and invulnerable.

'Dil sa koi kameena nahin / koi to roke, koi to toke / Iss umar mein ab khaoge dhokhe' (There isn't a scoundrel like the heart, someone stop him, interrupt him, how can you bear pain at your age.') Magnificent.

Next up is Ibn-E-Batuta, a glorious roadtrippy take on history as the lyrics take on the Moroccan traveller and chronicler before heading into cheerfully morbid territory. Sukhwinder Singh [ Images ] and Mika get a smashing vibe going, and put their heart and soul into the churrrr and phurrrr the song demands, the hook of the song that'll really catch on. A firecracker, this one.

'In the village of the eye, at night dreams come and visit.' Sublime words are turned into goosebumps as Rekha Bhardwaj takes them on in Ab Mujhe Koi, imparting just the right measures of languor and elegy. It's a slow song, one that spirals around the listener, making for a dreamy cocoon. A song, in short, to be listened to on loop.

Read more from HERE

Ishqiya Song Promo - Phurrrrrrrrrr

Ishqiya Song Promo - Phurrrrrrrrrr

Censors, you're here because of sex: Vishal

Vishal Bhardwaj is upset that the promo of his forthcoming film Ishqiya has not been passed by the censor board. The promo was to go on air from December 20. Only if Vishal agrees to beep the word ‘sex’ from a dialogue, will he be allowed to air it. The dialogue is spoken by Arshad Warsi and addressed to Naseeruddin Shah.

Now Vishal has no option but to beep the apparently offensive word from the promo.

Vinayak Azad, Regional Manager, Censor Board says, “We had initially passed the promo with an ‘A’ certificate for a theatrical release. Now they want a U/A certificate as they wanted it to air on television, which we allowed. Since the impact of the promos is higher on television because it is shown repeatedly, we asked for the word ‘sex’ to be beeped out. I believe they are not happy about it and want to approach the revising committee.”

Read more from HERE

Censors, you're here because of sex: Vishal

Vishal Bhardwaj is upset that the promo of his forthcoming film Ishqiya has not been passed by the censor board. The promo was to go on air from December 20. Only if Vishal agrees to beep the word ‘sex’ from a dialogue, will he be allowed to air it. The dialogue is spoken by Arshad Warsi and addressed to Naseeruddin Shah.

Now Vishal has no option but to beep the apparently offensive word from the promo.

Vinayak Azad, Regional Manager, Censor Board says, “We had initially passed the promo with an ‘A’ certificate for a theatrical release. Now they want a U/A certificate as they wanted it to air on television, which we allowed. Since the impact of the promos is higher on television because it is shown repeatedly, we asked for the word ‘sex’ to be beeped out. I believe they are not happy about it and want to approach the revising committee.”

Read more from HERE