Rough & Tough Charms - Ishaqzaade Article!

So here's one more star kid hitting the screen. You can't fight the onslaught, so why not sit back and hope to enjoy it? Debutant Arjun Kapoor, son of producer Boney Kapoor and nephew of actor Anil Kapoor, is getting the kind of launch vehicle few can dream of.

On paper at least, "Ishaqzaade" seems to have everything going for it. It's produced and marketed by Yash Raj films, directed by Habib Faisal (who gave us the delightful National Award-winning "Do Dooni Char" and wrote the dialogue for "Band Baaja Baraat" and "Ladies vs Ricky Behl"), its cinematographer is Hemant Chaturvedi ("Company", "Maqbool", "Kurbaan") and its music director is the uber-talented Amit Trivedi, whose tunes for the film have already caught on. So chances are good that this film will be well written and directed, shot beautifully and have some good music.

Acting, did anyone ask? Well, Kapoor's co-star is the effervescent Parineeti Chopra (Priyanka Chopra's cousin if you didn't know), who has an undeniable screen presence and acquitted herself well in "Ladies vs Ricky Behl". So that leaves the young Kapoor. Trailers can sometimes be terribly misleading, but in the little we've seen of him, he looks credible enough as the trigger-happy, hot-headed small-town lover.

Habib Faisal, who captured lower middle-class dreams and mores so sensitively in "Do Dooni Char", has an ear for non-bombastic, everyday dialogue and this kind of milieu. Here he's shifted his canvas to small-town rural India for a story about two lovers caught in the middle of clan wars, revenge and hate. Expect a hail of bullets, a dusty, earthy feel and lots of north Indian dialect.

Most of the film was shot on location at Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh, the new hunting ground for a string of recent movies. Though glossy romcoms are still the staple, Bollywood majors have now rediscovered the rough 'n' tough charms of rural India against the backdrop of political turbulence, as evidenced in a number of interesting movies like Omkara, Ishqiya, Peepli [Live] and Paan Singh Tomar. Such a refreshing shift from those ornate mansions, perfectly appointed rooms, designer threads and loads of lip gloss. Let's welcome the change.

Bottomline: Expect a hail of bullets, a dusty, earthy feel and lots of north Indian dialect.

Ishaqzaade; Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra

Directed by: Habib Faisal

Releases: May 11, 2012