Recently released on Netflix, we have Jayprad Desai directorial written by Kanika Dhillon, a romantic thriller whodunit film ‘Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba’, starring Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, and Sunny Kaushal.

A straight-up sequel to the 2021 film ‘Haseen Dillruba’, the events of this film take place two months after the first one. On the run after a murder, Rani has been living as a widow and running her beauty parlor in Agra. Rishu (alias Ravi)’s life has been quite low-key as he works as a pizza delivery boy, living separately from Rani to avoid detection. They do meet secretly and the plan is to get out of the town as soon as possible but to create conflict in the story and havoc in their lives a police inspector Mrityunjay Paswan (Jimmy Shergil) and an amoral lover Abhimanyu Pandit (Sunny Kaushal) show up at the right cue.

Characters and Performances

Let’s first discuss the new additions to the film.

Jimmy Shergil as Mrityunjay Paswan does a decent job but we don’t get to see the police doing more police work and that’s where the thrill of a cat-and-mouse chase fades away.

Sunny Kaushal as Abhimanyu Pandit has the creepiest smile I have seen recently. His character has a very ‘person next door’ feel in the first half but changes drastically as the narrative progresses. Abhimanyu’s character is the only one that has some arc and a little bit of depth to it.

Vikrant Massey as Rishabh is not given much chance to explore the new arc of his character which we saw develop in the first part of the film and it is because of the film’s writing to be precise.

Taapsee Pannu as Rani Kashyap feels toned down compared to the previous film. The same might have been done because now, she is living in Agra and trying to build a new life for herself and Rishabh. The two-shot between her and Mrityunjay is where she feels Rani-like the most. Overall, Taapsee’s performance as Rani Kashyap holds the film together.

Cinematography

From the very first shot, the film commits itself to a specific visual style that is of a cheap railway station novel or a story similar to the ones written by Dinesh Pandit, comprising of rain sequences, red and blue umbrellas, slow motion shots, and a recap montage of the previous film accompanied by the song ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ from the movie Karz.

The film opens with a scene of Rani running towards a police station, drenched in rain, and being chased by dogs. The sequence comprises static long shots and close-ups that hook the audience to the screen and leave them pondering ‘why?’ at the appropriate time.

At times, frame-in-frames, rule of thirds, and reverse shots have been incorporated to provide the audience with a sense of voyeurism but most of the film plays out in a series of two-shots. The whole gondola swing ride sequence at the local fair is one of my favorites from the film.

Music

Despite the film having only three songs, Sachet-Parampara and Anurag Saikia successfully create some sort of magic that stays with you. ‘Azaad’ deserves a special mention here, while listening to it one can’t imagine that this song belongs to the album of a romantic-thriller film.

Overall, the film does have a vibe of a cheap railway station novel or a typical pulpy Indian thriller but you need to watch it with a good amount of suspension of disbelief. The twists and turns keep the audience hooked to the screen yet it leaves them craving for that ultimate wow factor at the climax.