Sanket’s review: “Daawat-e-Ishq” has unusual charm.

Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Anupam Kher.

Director: Habib Faisal

Length: 2hr and 3 mins

There is always something more than what you have in your mind while watching a Habib Faisal film. His “Do Dooni Char” sprung nice surprise and then his “Ishaqzaade” that turned out to be even better surprise in terms of writing, direction and acting. DAAWAT-E-ISHQ, his third outing takes you by surprise in other way. If you though it was all mush romance and simple comedy, which was easily presumed from the promos, you’re at mistake. This film is more of drama, a con-drama and little bit of comedy.

The film starts on freshening note. We have a middle class father-daughter facing dowry issues and they both have conflict of philosophies among themselves. The story is linear and goes off extremely well without any subplots anywhere. Infact the film coasts along breezily for first hour. There are few laughs and nice drama all around.

But it falls considerably in second half especially when the film is trying to cook romance. The film is so much into its original plot that we want the film to fasten its romantic plot so that it can come back to where it started. The love story feels unreal because of abruptness and dicey writing. But the film picks up once the film leaves aside whole romance portion.

The songs don’t really take the film ahead. In-fact, only the title song is there with you thanks to nice presentation of the food items. Watch out for some exclusive focussed shots on food items. Anyways, the film captures Hyderabad and Lucknow in usual way and giving it nice authentic factor. Faisal wrote a simple film but handled it with utmost care and without letting the film going wrong way.

The film covers most of its lapses thanks to its terrific leading lady. Parineeti shows yet again how effective she can get when she is in her comfort zone. Yes, one might argue she is playing the roles of same context repeatedly, but she lends enough fire in her role. Aditya Roy kapoor, who is more like a character of the film than the lead hero, gets the accent bang on but cannot really exploit his strengths due to limited presence. Anupam Kher then plays or rather, underplays his part with zeal and brings the connective angle with ease.

At the end, it’s a film that may not hook you throughout, like Habib’s earlier works, but has got its own charm intact. Yes, the plot meanders in second half, but for most of the parts, it’s a nice satisfying watch.

Rating- 3/5