Dangerous Ishq 3D

Director: Vikram Bhatt

Cast: Karisma Kapoor, Rajneesh Duggal

Thrillers always carry a level of curiosity for the audience. Dangerous Ishhq made news as Karisma Kapoor’s big comeback and for being a unique thriller based on past life regression. But the film doesn’t give Karisma a chance to make an impact, nor does it manage to tell a compelling story.

It begins with Sanjana (Karisma), a super model walking the ramp for designer Manish Malhotra. Her fiancé and Mr Propah, Rohan (Rajneish Duggal) cheers her from the audience but is sad and yet smiles lovingly when he learns through a public announcement that Sanjana is heading to Paris the same night for a year-long modelling assignment. They part amidst unimaginable melodrama but on her way to the airport, Sanjana realises she can’t live without her beau and that she may not see him ever again. She leaves the opportunity and runs back to Rohan to marry him.

The next morning, after a combat with an army of masked men, Rohan is kidnapped while Sanjana collapses due to a head injury. When she wakes up in a hospital, she starts to remember her past life. And it’s in the memories of four different past lives that Sanjana discovers the reason why her fiancé is kidnapped and the identity of the kidnapper. As the first 20 minutes unfold, the unique premise grips you but the film gradually loses steam.

Karisma is good and meets the demands of the film but what spoils the party for her performance is abysmally bad dialogue. The make-up department deserves a big whack on the wrist too. The usually radiant Karisma (refer to her recent TV advertisements) is made to look like a corroded wall painted in a hurry. No marks for the film’s production efforts either. The heroine is wearing Eiffel Tower heels in action sequences where she’s running to save her life. Also, her wardrobe looked nothing like that of a model’s. In fact, it was more up to date for a mother of two.

Full marks to Karisma for her conviction though. She’s as powerful and confident as any of her earlier performances. But her lead Rajneish Duggal is poker-faced all the time. Jimmy Shergill as always shows some promise but fizzles in the climax. Divya Dutta and Ravi Kissen leave an impression as usual.

The sound of gunshots and explosions add some cheap thrills to the proceedings. But that’s not enough. Director Vikram Bhatt can’t pull off the complex storyline. In sequences of Sanjana’s past life where she’s a Rajasthani, Karisma looks as yellow as a sunflower. As if that wasn’t enough of an eyesore, the horrible 3D effects add to the pain. The film does make you jump out of your seat on a couple of occasions. Especially the scene where Ravi Kissen is introduced as a Marwari king.

Usually just having Himesh Reshammiya’s compositions gives a film a pro point. But nothing of that sort happens with Dangerous Ishhq. The songs of the film are as flat as its thrills. Watch this and you might feel Karisma’s Baaz – A Bird In Danger (2003) was a classic.