Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah are back in the second installment of Ishqiya, interestingly titled Dedh Ishqiya. The soul of the film remains the same but the characters have a different avatar. While the scintillating Madhuri Dixit replaces Vidya Balan, Huma Qureshi, too, finds space in this one. Deebashree mohanty chats up some of the stars
The best part about Dedh Ishqiya is the fact that there is not much expectation linked with it. That is the main reason why the first version did well. Even now, we don’t want to get bogged down with performance pressure. We will go in with zero expectations and hope to come out with flying colours,” veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah says. The actor, who has spent more than a decade in Bollywood, is now busy wrapping up his upcoming film Sona Spa where he plays the owner of a spa in a nook of New Delhi.
But it is Dedh Ishqiya, scheduled for a 2014 release, that has him smiling all the way. “I don’t know why I am so excited about it. Arshad and my characters are more or less the same as in the original version. The leading ladies have changed and so has the script. There is a surprising twist to the tale too. But I am not going to spill the more beans,” he tells you, adding that the inclusion of Madhuri Dixit will only make the box office buzz.
“She is a very people’s actress. Madhuri has a charm like none other and I am sure she will do justice to the role. We are good friends so I am sure we will be comfortable with scenes that the script will demand,” Shah says about the steamy scenes he will be doing in this sequel.
But will Vidya Balan be missedIJ “Of course she will be sorely missed. We had become the three musketeers during the shoot of Ishqiya. Vidya is a talented actress but she is also a humble person. She can make any conversation sexy,” Shah says. For him, no one could have performed the role of Silk better than Vidya in The Dirty Picture.
Shah is not the only one who is going to miss Balan. Arshad Warsi admits he was quite sad when he learnt that Balan would not be a part of the sequel. “Only one of us would have got the chance to romance Vidya. The other would have had to be content as her brother. This way, we are both happy that Vidya kisi ki bhi nahin bani,” Warsi says, laughing. The 35-year-old actor is happy to be part of Dedh Ishqiya, which he says he was dying to do.
“Till the time you sign on the dotted line, you can never be sure of a role in any film. I was nervous about not getting the call but when I did, I was on cloud nine,” Warsi tells you. He is also excited about being paired opposite Huma Qureshi.
“I loved her work in Gangs of Wasseypur. When I was told that she would be a part of DI, I was pretty nervous. Qureshi looks like a pretty tough actress,” he adds.
For Dixit, Dedh Ishqiya is a special film, something that happened by the way. “I was very impressed with Ishqiya and had congratulated the team on the success of the film. I had no idea that I would be asked to replace Vidya,” Dixit says about her role as a naach-gane wali in the sequel.