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Haseen Dillruba
Official release poster
Directed by	Vinil Mathew
Written by	Kanika Dhillon
Produced by	Eros International Aanand L. Rai Himanshu Sharma Bhushan Kumar Krishan Kumar
Starring	Taapsee Pannu Vikrant Massey Harshvardhan Rane
Cinematography	Jaya Krishna Gummadi
Edited by	Shweta Venkat Matthew
Music by	Songs: Amit Trivedi Score: Amar Mangrulkar
Production companies	Colour Yellow Productions T-Series Eros International
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	2 July 2021 (2021-07-02)
Running time	136 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Haseen Dillruba (transl. Beautiful Beloved) is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film directed by Vinil Mathew and written by Kanika Dhillon. It stars Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane.

The film premiered on 2 July 2021 on Netflix. It received mixed reviews from critics. Haseen Dilruba emerged as the most-watched Hindi film on Netflix of that year, reaching top 10 in 22 countries. A sequel titled Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba premiered on Netflix on 9 August 2024.

Plot

Rani Kashyap Saxena, a housewife, is outside her home, feeding dogs, when her house suddenly explodes, presumably killing her husband, Rishab "Rishu" Saxena. The police find a body charred-beyond-recognition, with a severed hand which Rani identifies as Rishu's. The movie alternates between the past (narrated in flashback) and the present; the reality of the explosion is interwoven with the police investigation going on in the present-day.

A flashback reveals the arranged marriage between the two, where Rishu fell for Rani instantly, while she married him only because her boyfriend had abandoned her. There remain tensions and awkwardness between her, Rishu, and his family after the marriage. To add to the tense atmosphere, a nervous Rishu fails to consummate. The next day, he overhears her telling her mother and aunt about his failure to have sex. Hurt, he stops acknowledging her completely and their relation deteriorates. His well-built and charming cousin Neel Tripathi comes over to visit, and Rani gets attracted to him. They subsequently begin a passionate affair. Rani falls in love and even learns how to cook mutton, despite being a vegetarian. Some time later, she tells Neel that she would like to marry him. Afraid of commitment, Neel panics and flees. Hurt, Rani blurts out the truth to Rishu. He develops a dislike of her but still protects her from others who chastise her actions.

Meanwhile, in present-day, the police, aware of the history between Rani and Rishu, are convinced that she and Neel planned and killed Rishu. They use polygraphs and various methods to find out her motive. They find footage where Neel is escaping from the house moments before the explosion. They also catch Rani cheating during one of the polygraph tests by manipulating her blood pressure.

In the past, after Rani tells Rishu the truth about her and Neel, Rishu transforms into a sadist and deliberately causes physical harm to Rani multiple times while also trying to kill Neel, who knocks Rishu out when he tries to kill him. Having fallen in love with Rishu, Rani endures it all as repentance. Over time though, they reconcile and genuinely fall in love, becoming intimate.

Narrating the events of the day-of-explosion, Rani tells the police that Neel came over to visit and got into an argument with them. Rishu, subsequently, wanting to settle things with him, asked Rani to wait outside. The explosion occurred soon after. The police know that she is lying but fail to find any evidence or misdoing in her polygraph. Rani is subsequently acquitted and leaves the police station smirking.

It is revealed that when Neel came over, he tried to blackmail them using Rani's Sex tapes. Angered by this, Rishu attacked him and both men got into a physical fight. Rani hit Neel over the head with a mutton leg when he had the upper hand and was strangling him. Not wanting to be jailed, they dress the crime-scene with Rishu cutting off his own hand and placing it next to Neel's body. They rig the gas stove to blow up and Rishu leaves through the backdoor, dressed as Neel. Rani goes out and gets the mutton leg chopped, which she later feeds to the dogs. The explosion occurs and covers up their evidence of murder.

Five years later, the police inspector, while leaving town, buys a copy of a murder-thriller book that Rani had talked about multiple times in her statement. Reading the book, he realises the real story but can no longer do anything about it. The ending shows the couple reuniting, Rishu without his left hand.

Cast

• Taapsee Pannu as Rani Kashyap Saxena
• Vikrant Massey as Rishabh "Rishu" Saxena
• Harshvardhan Rane as Neel Tripathi
• Ashish Verma as Afzar
• Yamini Das as Lata Saxena
• Dayashankar Pandey as Brijraj Saxena
• Aditya Srivastava as Inspector Kishore Rawat
• Siddhant Ghegadmal as Ajit
• Alka Kaushal as Mrs. Kashyap
• Amit Singh Thakur as Mr. Kashyap
• Puja Sarup as Beena Masi
• Atul Tiwari as Senior Inspector
• Deepesh Jagdish as Navrangi
• Aashiq Hussein as Rastogi
• Alok Chatterjee as Gandhi
• Akash G as Policeman
• Preeti Singh as Bindiya
• Shyaam Kishore as Misra
• Shivaji Satam as Ajinkya

Production

Screenwriter Kanika Dhillon approached director Vinil Mathew to make a film based on the script she had written. Vinil, whose last film, the romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee released in 2014, was eager to make a film based on a different genre. He agreed to direct the film due to the dark nature of human relationships explored in the script. Actress Taapsee Pannu agreed to the film as she liked the blend of the thriller and romance genres in the script.

Principal photography began on 18 January 2020 in Haridwar. In March 2020, the shooting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The shooting wrapped up on 29 October 2020 in Mumbai.

Soundtrack

The film score was composed by Amar Mangrulkar who previously composed the score for the director's feature debut Hasee Toh Phasee, besides having composed for most of his television commercials. Mangrulkar's score earned him a Filmfare nomination for best background score . The songs featured in the film were composed by Amit Trivedi with lyrics written by Varun Grover, Kshitij Patwardhan and Sidhant Mago. Trivedi also earned a Filmfare nomination for the songs.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 58% of 12 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10.

Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and called it "a delectably dark and defiant love story with a thrilling twist", while praising Pannu's "pitch-perfect expressions". Stutee Ghosh of The Quint awarded 3.5 stars out of 5 and praised and added that "the only way Haseen Dillruba truly works is if we unequivocally surrender to its pulpy universe". The Statesman review wrote that "it’s smart in the way it invests 135 minutes of storytelling to mix suspense and wry humour." Manisha Lakhe of Moneycontrol compared the film to the Billie Eilish song All the Good Girls Go to Hell and found it to be "delightful and different from the usual ‘Indian Originals’ fare we get to see on OTT platforms like Netflix". Devesh Sharma of Filmfare was pleased by the use of film noir tropes by Mathew and Dhillon and concluded, "Watch it for its dark take on love and for the brilliant performances by the entire ensemble cast."

In a mixed review, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV called the film "sometimes good, sometimes not" like the relationship between the central characters, and considered Massey's performance to be the best in it. Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave a rating of 1/5 describing it as an "illogical crime saga wrapped in a clichéd ode to violent, frenzied love". She criticized the writing of the film, "the pallid writing explains Pannu’s deadpan performance in the film whereas Massey who has been consistently superb in his work so far is only marginally interesting" but praised Rane's performance and wrote, "Harshvardhan Rane plays the only attention-grabbing character in Haseen Dillruba". Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave Haseen Dilruba a rating of 2/5 and wrote, "The film has sex, lies and a smutty video, but no frisson". She praised Massey's performance by stating, "Pannu’s delivery is exactly the same in all her films, only the costumes change; Rane is appropriately heavy-lidded; The only one who tries valiantly to rise, and succeeds in most places is Vikrant Massey". Tanul Thakur of The Wire called the film “is a collection of obvious tropes and recycled characters” adding that “ Haseen Dillruba is afflicted by familiar flaws tainting mainstream Bollywood. The film wants to reach a certain point, but its journey is devoid of convincing reasons or considered nuance.”

Rohan Naahar from Hindustan Times called Haseen Dilruba a "hot mess" and described it as an "illogical" and "ill-conceived" film. Criticizing the performances he wrote, "Pannu’s performance as a bored housewife named Rani is all over the place", "Massey is a good actor, but severely let down by a script" and described Tripathi, "a complete waste of Rane's considerable screen presence". Mugdha Kapoor Safaya from DNA India gave Haseen Dilruba a rating of 3/5 and described the film as an "not-so-nail-biting whodunit". She praised the performance of Massey and called him the "saving grace" of the film but criticized others by stating, "Taapsee on the other hand does not bring anything new to the table; From her dialogue delivery to her expressions, it's like watching her in any of her previous films. The supporting characters and Rane aren't great either; They deserve better". Srivatsan S from The Hindu wrote, "Haseen Dilruba has the aesthetics of a raunchy B-Grade movie, and has a crime-thriller premise at the centre, resulting in something that looks cluttered and inconsequential".

Accolades

Sequel

A sequel titled Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba was announced in January 2023, starring Pannu and Massey alongside Sunny Kaushal, with a release scheduled for 9 August 2024 on Netflix.

References

1. "Haseen Dillruba (2021)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
2. "Haseen Dillruba: Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey come together for a murder mystery". India Today. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
3. "Taapsee Pannu And Vikrant Massey To Co-Star In Murder Mystery Haseen Dillruba". NDTV. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
4. "Haseen Dillruba to release on Netflix on July 2. Taapsee Pannu announces with teaser". India Today. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
5. "Taapsee Pannu's Haseen Dillruba, Kapil Sharma's comedy special, Madhuri Dixit's Finding Anamika and other titles announced by Netflix India". Bollywood Hungama. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
6. ^ "Disappointed with negative reviews of Haseen Dilruba, Taapsee Pannu hits out at critics". 5 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
7. "Taapsee Pannu's Haseen Dillruba beats Akshay Kumar's Sooryavanshi to become most-watched film on Netflix in 2021". Bollywood Hungama. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
8. "Taapsee Pannu reacts as Netflix co-CEO says Haseen Dillruba reached top 10 in 22 countries: 'From the horse's mouth'". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
9. ^ "Vinil Mathew and Taapsee Pannu on the universal appeal of thrillers, collaborating for Haseen Dillruba, and their OTT debut". Vogue. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
10. "Taapsee Pannu juggles between the shooting schedule of 'Haseen Dillruba' and 'Rashmi Rocket's' prep". The Times of India. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
11. "Taapsee Pannu-Vikrant Massey's Haseen Dillruba Goes on Floors, Former Shares Clips From Haridwar". India.com. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
12. "Taapsee Pannu's Haseen Dillruba cancelled amid coronavirus outbreak, actor returns to Mumbai". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
13. "It's a wrap for Taapsee Pannu-Vikrant Massey's 'Haseen Dilruba'!". Daily News & Analysis. 29 October 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
14. "TAAPSEE PANNU WRAPS SHOOT OF HASEEN DILRUBA, SHARES BTS PICTURE". Mumbai Mirror. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
15. "Taapsee Pannu wraps up the shooting of Haseen Dillruba with Vikrant Massey, says film has probably experienced all seasons and emotions". Bollywood Hungama. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
16. "Haseen Dillruba – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jio Saavn. 2 July 2021.
17. https://www.filmfare.com/awards/filmfare-awards-2022/nominations/best-background-score/amar-mangrulkar
18. "Taapsee's Haseen Dillruba gets thumbs down". 2 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
19. "Haseen Dilruba review: Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey's thriller gets mixed response from critics". 2 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
20. "Haseen Dillruba". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
21. "Haseen Dillruba Review". The Times of India. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
22. "Haseen Dillruba' Review: Taapsee, Vikrant's Film Is Problematic Yet Engrossing". The Quint. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
23. "Haseen Dillruba Review: Wild, wicked but with warts". The Statesman. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
24. "'Haseen Dillruba': It's like the Billie Eilish Song, 'All the good girls go to hell'". Money Control. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
25. "Haseen Dillruba Movie Review". Filmfare. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
26. "Haseen Dillruba Review: Sometimes Good, Sometimes Not - Like Protagonists Rani-Rishabh's Marriage". NDTV. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
27. "Haseen Dillruba movie review: Illogical crime saga wrapped in a clichéd ode to violent, frenzied love". Firstpost. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
28. "Haseen Dillruba movie review: Taapsee Pannu film has sex, lies and a smutty video, but no frisson". The Indian Express. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
29. "Review: Haseen Dilruba is a Collection of Obvious Tropes and Recycled Characters". The Wire. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
30. "Haseen Dillruba movie review: Taapsee Pannu's new Netflix film is a hot mess; illogical and ill-conceived". Hindustan Times. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
31. "'Haseen Dillruba' movie review: Vikrant Massey outshines Taapsee Pannu in the not-so-nail-biting whodunnit". DNA. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
32. "'Haseen Dillruba' movie review: A 'Gone Girl' gone wrong". The Hindu. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
33. "Filmfare Awards 2022: Nominations Of The 67th Filmfare Awards, See The Full List Here". The National Bulletin. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
34. "Vikrant Massey confirms Haseen Dillruba sequel with Taapsee Pannu, says 'it's another crazy experience'". India Today. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
35. "Taapsee Pannu announces Haseen Dillruba's sequel, has a fun banter with Aanand L Rai". The Indian Express. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
36. "Taapsee Pannu, Aanand L Rai, Kanika Dhillon begin the shoot for Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, tease poster reveal". Bollywood Hungama. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.

External links

• Haseen Dillruba at IMDb
• Haseen Dillruba at Bollywood Hungama

• 2021 films
• 2020s Hindi-language films
• Indian mystery thriller films
• 2020s Indian films
• Netflix original films
• Indian direct-to-video films
• 2021 direct-to-video films
• 2021 thriller films
• Indian black comedy films
• Indian romantic thriller films
• Murder mystery films
• Films shot in Uttarakhand
• Films set in Uttarakhand
• Fictional portrayals of police departments in India
• Films shot in Mumbai
• Police detective films
• Indian detective films
• Indian nonlinear narrative films
• Indian crime drama films
• Films about dysfunctional families
• Fiction about mariticide
• Films about social realism
• Fiction with unreliable narrators
• Films about adultery in India
• Films about missing people
• Domestic violence in fiction
• Indian psychological thriller films
• Films about murderers