Dedh Ishqiya

Pick the same director - check

Pick the same lead cast - check

Add 2-3 brilliant actors as seasoning – check

Retain some of the "characters" from the first edition – check

Pick yet another rustic premise / story – check

Add flavour with the tongue of The Nawabs – check

Make sure that the music is acceptable if not brilliant – check

Get a great cinematographer to create some gorgeous shots  - check

Get a location that connects with both rural and urban India – check

Hire a set designer who can make that location look even more beautiful - check

That would have been Vishal Bharadwaj's check list for Dedh Ishqiya. And boy has this check list been executed to perfection!!! However, this isn't the complete check list for a brilliant sequel. That list is probably stored away in a place safer than 7X - in Christopher Nolan's Brain. It will suffice to say @ this stage that Dedh Ishqiya is a movie as good as its predecessor - but definitely not better.

It starts off with that corny joke about 2 male parrots and a female parrot to a black screen with subtitles and our familiar friend Mushtaq Bhai (Salman Shahid). Thankfully that is one of the few low points of the movie - probably the lowest. Thankfully it is all uphill from thereon. The rest of the movie is strongly set on a good story with superb performances and some really solid direction.

The thieving pair of Khalu (Nasseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi) take off with one of Mushtaq Bhai's prized possessions. Khalu is quick to dump Babban. Many moons later, Babban catches up with our man @ Mahamudabad, Avadh. He is now, the Nawab of Chandgar at the annual poetry festival hosted by Begum Para Mirza (Madhuri Dixit Nene) and her confidante Munniya (Huma Qureshi). The rest of the story is best kept under wraps lest I slip out any spoilers.

A special thank you is due from my side to Arshad Warsi for reaffirming the audience's faith with a brilliant performance. It was much needed after Joe B whatever.  Nasseeruddin Shah and Huma Qureshi are as brilliant but that was expected. The only sore point, if any, could be the performance of one Madhuri Dixit Nene who, I'm certain, was severely limited with a fresh and heavy infusion of botox (please enquire about the said clinic and ensure you don't visit).

The music has Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzar Saab all over it and a couple of songs stand out - Dil Ka Mizaaz Ishqiya and Dil Ka Diya. Also stay back for the Rahat Fateh Ali Khan version of Zabaan jale hain. While some of the dialogues are corny, VB is quick to recover with several classy dialogues in Urdu. For those unfamiliar with the language, PVR Mulund had the subtitled version which helped immensely - I assume it will be the same all around.

Some great camera work and grand sets (not as grand as SLB) round up a good sequel. It could have been much better - as always - if there was some fine tuning. For e.g. Nasseer Bhai sings Zabaan jale hain with a playback. It would have been much better if narrated. In all, do watch it over the weekend. Definitely a 7 on 10. It was expected to be good and it lived upto its expectations.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J3fkfUDkx8