Can Kangna Ranaut take on Madhuri Dixit?

By Subhash K Jha

It isn’t going to be easy for Kangna Ranaut to match steps with the nimble-footed Madhuri Dixit in Dedh Ishqiya. Madhuri, we hear, will be doing plenty of dancing for the Ishqiya sequel. And Kangna playing her pyari saheli would have to join in. Director Abhishek Choubey has apparently asked the junior actress to brush up her dancing.

Luckily Madhuri and and Kangna get along like a house on fire. It’s going to be a blast from the past for Madhuri Dixit and Kangna Ranaut in Dedh Ishqiya, the sequel to the successful 2010 black comedy Ishqiya about an uncle-nephew pair, played by Naseruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi, and their adventures when they landed at the doorstep of a wily widow in rural Uttar Pradesh.


The sequel takes the maama-bhanja to Lucknow into a highly cultured Muslim family where the two ladies Madhuri Dixit and Kangna Ranaut, would be romanced by the Uncle and Nephew, respectively.

Director Abhishek Choubey says the idea was to place the Naseer and Arshad characters in a completely different milieu

Says Choubey, “Repetition is death for me. I was against doing a sequel in the first place, because no matter how one looks at it, a sequel is an extension of the first film. But then when I finally decided on doing Dedh Ishqiya I decided to put the characters in a totally different ambience. ”




Choubey this time takes his Ishqiya heroes to Lucknow, and into the near-extinct genre known as the Muslim Social.

Says the director, “I want to revive that old-world Nabobi charm of ornate architecture, the tehzeeb and the adaas that we saw in Muslim Socials like Mere Mehboob, Mere Huzoor, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Nikaah.

Of course the genre would be contemporized. But the essence of the genre, the flavour of the period, its essence and grace and most important the decadence of that Nabobi culture, would remain. ”

Apparently Madhuri and Kangna would be playing two friends. Madhuri being a natural-born classical dancer would be seen doing a lot of singing and dancing.

Says Choubey, “Music was very important to Ishqiya and so it will remain in Dedh Ishqiya, though this time the songs and music would be very different. Yes, Madhuri would be doing a lot of singing and dancing. ”santabanta.com