Issaq

Manish Tiwary’s previous movie was an offbeat one called Dil Dosti etc.  It was a decent flick.  Worth watching once.  What he got right there was the casting.  What he gets wrong out with Isaaq is one casting error that ensures that the entire movie goes downhill pretty much from frame one.  There is nothing that can save it from absolute deterioration once this person comes onto the screen – PRATEIK BABBAR.

How Prateik Babar can get any role in Bollywood or any wood is just beyond me.  He may have boy next door looks and he may be well built but unlike Salman Khan, he doesn’t have a fan following worth mentioning.  So why would anyone in his or her right mind cast him in an adaptation of the greatest love story ever written? Maybe it was budget constraints.  He probably did the movie for free.

 

To be fair, there is the rest of the cast that is reasonable.  Amyra Dastur shows a lot of potential in the first half but runs out of steam immediately after the interval.  However, she does have hope unlike her screen pairing.  Ravi Kissen uses this opportunity to dominate the screen with whatever time he gets.  Rajeshwari Sachdev is also equally good in her role as the cheating wife of Kashyap (Sudhir Pandey).

 

But the most disappointing aspect in terms of utilization of the cast was the utter waste of a talent who goes by the name of Prashant Narayanan.  It is time that he starts giving himself more credit for his capabilities and demand more than the role of an insignificant maoist rebel whose role may as well have been chopped from the final script.

 

I am not going to spend too much time talking about the story.  It will suffice to say that Issaq is a really weak adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  It is a meek attempt to do what Vishal Bharadwaj successfully achieved with Othello.  Unfortunately, Tiwary is nowhere as talented as Bharadwaj and falls woefully short in creating the intensity that was so brilliantly done in Omkara.

 

Instead, you are found, on many an occasion, holding your head in your hands looking for a solid wall where you can bang your head.  Fortunately, PVR has that angle covered with the soundproofing curtains on the wall.  So you don’t end up with serious injuries.  Issaq lost me about 15 minutes into the movie and if not for the performances mentioned earlier, I would have dozed off.  3 on 10 is what I can give at best.  Avoidable.

 

Watch the movie on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bzaPqbHwNY