Review: 'Ishqiya'

Get ready for tangy, pungent, sizzling and spicy stuff. Be forewarned, 'Ishqiya' isn't the fluffy, candyfloss, saccharine sweet story of lovers breaking into songs in mustard fields. In 'Ishqiya', you just don't know what turn the story may take next. Not just the story, even the characters here are so impulsive and unpredictable.

You need to have a strong stomach to absorb 'Ishqiya'. It's high on drama, it's wild, it's real. But it's not dark, it's not sleazy, it's not crass. Frankly, you don't expect debutante director Abhishek Chaubey to make a stereotypical fare thanks to the tutelage by his guru Vishal Bhardwaj, who loves to swim against the tide and undertake risks in film after film.

You could call 'Ishqiya' a distant cousin of 'Omkara'. Set in Gorakhpur in North India, the film has a rustic feel, depicts characters that may make you uncomfortable and is laced with saucy lingo. Yet, it's different than 'Omkara'.

The first hour passes in a jiffy, but the story actually gets dramatic and volatile in its second hour. It's at this stage that things start getting more and more unpredictable. The story does a somersault every 10 minutes and by the time it reaches its finale, you're curious to know how the debutante director would conclude this saga. The end, of course, will have its share of advocates and adversaries, but the fact remains that it's offbeat.