Netflix’s Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba is a true continuation of its predecessor, which attempted to blend thriller, romance, and dark humor but fell short of delivering a cohesive narrative. Vinil Mathew, the director of the first edition, managed to create an inconsistent film that mixed dark themes of crime and love into a proper movie. Meanwhile, Jayprad Desai, with the same cast of Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey, has delivered a similarly dark romance with a bit more suspense and mayhem. Beyond the cast, Kanika Dhillon’s writing remains as hard-hitting as in the original.
In the previous edition, in Haseen Dillruba, the plot revolved around a murder investigation where Rani (Pannu) is the prime suspect in her husband Rishu’s (Massey) death. The film unfolded in flashbacks, revealing a turbulent marriage marred by mistrust, infidelity, and passion. While the premise was intriguing, the execution was riddled with problems. The screenplay lacked the sharpness required for a thriller, often meandering through melodrama and forced twists that weaken the suspense.
(Spoilers ahead) In Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, Rani and Rishu find themselves in a new location while the police continue to probe the death of either Rishu or Neel. However, the story takes a different turn, with both Rishu and Rani becoming entangled in new relationships and subplots. The narrative is more engaging and suspenseful in the sequel, and the writer successfully overcomes the viewer’s potential fatigue from already knowing the characters and their past encounters.
Taapsee Pannu repeats her strong performance as Rani, capturing the character’s complexities with conviction. Vikrant Massey, too, brings depth to Rishu, portraying the character’s transformation from a timid lover to a protecting husband effectively.
There are two best additions in Jayprad Desai’s directorial; Jimmy Shergill’s police character who comes to the scene to probe the disappearance of his nephew, Neel, and Sunny Kaushal as Abhimanyu Pandit who holds much bigger criminal mind than of Rani and is inspired from Dinesh Pandit’s novels as Rani. What begins as a lover boy who is trying to steals Rani’s heart, at the end, Abhimanyu becomes more darker than Rani.
The film’s attempt at exploring themes of love, obsession, crime and betrayal has improved in Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba. The humour, which is rare in this edition, is often feels out of place, disrupting the tension rather than complementing the whole flow of the movie. Additionally, the climax, meant to be shocking expecting the makers must have learned something from the drawbacks of the first edition, comes off as more intriguing leaving the audience baffled and surprising – Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba is more cinematic in that sense and make perfect use of the ‘pulp fiction’ narratives from the vernacular literature.
