Haseen Dilruba review; Tapsee leaves you rivetted in intriguing mystery 

By Rajesh Ahuja


It is a film that has aroused a lot of expectations ahead of its release with its posters and trailer  generating lot of buzz among viewers.  Trailer of the film raised promise of an engrossing mystery.

True to its expectations,  Vinil Mathew's Haseen Dilruba  turns out to be an engaging mystery which keeps you intrigued with its elements of love, lies and betrayal.

Haseen Dilruba is an intriguing mystery which keeps you hooked with elements of love, lies and betrayal 

Nice and unassuming small town boy Rishabh Malhotra (Vikrant Massey) married a big city girl Rani (Tapsee Pannu) . Though Rani had dreamt of a humorous, tall, handsome and adventurous boy as her husband, she gives in to pressure from her mother to marry the nice boy Rishi.

Rishi, who is excited on getting married to the beautiful and stylish Rani, however, is unable to satisfy her on the first night of marriage. The next day, Rani , in a telephone call to her mother, laments about her misfortune of being married to a small town boy.  Feeling a sense of betrayal, Rishi starts drifting apart from Rani. A chance visit by Rishi's distant cousin Neel, an adventurous, street smart young man, sees sparks flowing between him and Rani and she succumbs to his charms.

However she soon realises her mistake and tries to make amends, striving to become the ideal wife. Amid all this, a blast in Rishi's house leads to his death. The finger of suspicion points to Rani.

Her affair with Neel and schism between her and Rishi make her an obvious suspect. However, as a saying goes there are always two sides of the same coin. The rest of the story is about the investigation into the murder and unraveling of laters of mystery in lives of Rishi, Rani and Neel.

The story by Kanika Dhillon has an interesting premise for an engrossing mystery. For most part of the film, the screenplay is engrossing and maintains an element of intrigue in the proceedings. Lending an element of intrigue to the film is the fiction novelist Dinesh Pandit whose books form an integral part of the plot. The writer has woven an interesting plot around the lives of Rishabh and Rani.

However, use of platitudes like Rani showing her cleavage every time Rishi asks her to do some house work like preparing tea, at many points in the film seems unnecessary and  incongruous to the ground realities notwithstanding the fact that the film in set in background of a small town.

These small flaws notwithstanding,  Haseen Dilruba comes across as a taut and engaging mystery which keeps the viewers entertained throughout the length of the film. 

The highlight of the film is Tapsee who plays Rani, a stylish big city girl who has a mysterious aura about her, with elan. As Rani,Tapsee manages to convey a wide range of emotions,  from a  sense of betrayal and helplessness and resignation to a feeling of repentence to  passionate love.  She keeps you rivetted with her performance in the film.

Vikrant Massey is impressive as the nice and unassuming small town boy Rishi,  who will do anything to impress his love and who is driven to the path of self destruction after unraveling of the affair of his wife.

Harshvardhan Rane leaves an impact as the street smart , adventurous and cunning neel who has no qualms in having an affair with his brother's wife.

Aditya Srivastava also makes his presence felt as the cop who is investigating the murder .

The rest of the cast lends able support.

In a nutshell,  Haseen Dilruba is an intriguing mystery which keeps you hooked with elements of love, lies and betrayal  and rivetting performance by Tapsee Pannu.

My ratting; 3/5- one for the story,  one for the screenplay  and one for performance by Tapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey.