Aafat-e-Ishq Movie Review: Indrajit Nattoji's second directorial, Aafat-e-Ishq, has a very different story to tell. It is the official remake of the acclaimed Hungarian film, Liza the Fox-Fairy about a lonely woman whose attempts to seek love always end up in fatalities. She begins to believe she is the accursed fox fairy, which in the Hindi remake becomes Lal Pari, with Neha Sharma taking on the lead role of the unfortunate protagonist. However, the curse is not just on her, but also on its screenplay that refuses to take the flight of fancy needed to making this a memorable watch. Neha Sharma & Deepak Dobriyal Talk About Their 'Aafat-E-Ishq'.

So Neha Sharma plays Lalo, an orphaned woman who is a caretaker for a bedridden lady (Ila Arun). Her only constant companion is the ghost of a singer (Namit Das) whose mobile she came across in her teens. On her 30th birthday, when Lalo is out celebrating her special occasion, the old lady dies in in a freak incident. Lalo gets her house, but she is accused by the lady's relatives of orchestrating her death. The police send their local 'Byomkesh Bakshi' Vikram (Deepak Dobriyal) to investigate her.

Meanwhile a lonely Lalo comes across a book on Lal Pari, a mythical figure cursed of killing those who gets intimate with her. When the men she tries to date also end up dying, she starts believing that she is a Lal Pari now, and she isn't very happy about it.

Watch the Trailer:

Aafat-e-Ishq's unusual storyline is, of course, its major highlight, along with a roster of talented actors in the cast like Sharma, Dobriyal, Ila Arun (also serving as the narrator), Darshan Jariwala, Amit Sial, Namit Das among others. While a fantasy tale with elements of murder mystery, Aafat-e-Ishq should also have been about the desperation of solitude and the perversity of the opposite sex.

While the movie does explore those themes and all the actor are fine in their roles, Aafat-e-Ishq never gets the tone right. It has quirky elements from a mute ghost who always sways in to one song, to localised names of popular brands ("McNow"!) to the whole Black Widow plotline, to even a dwarf assassin (!). One another positive for the movie would be the production and set design that manages to capture the whimsicalities of the protagonist's town. Aafat-E-Ishq: Neha Sharma Opens Up About Her Character in the Upcoming Film, Calls It ‘Unique’.

Yet, something don't alway add up. Aafat-e-Ishq doesn't revel in its black comedy elements, despite the setup and the actors giving their best. We never get to feel the pain of Lalo's situation, because the movie never gets its tone right, while certain scenes go unexplained, like why would the police allow an investigating official to stay at the accused's house. Or how Lalo manages to stay away from legal entanglements despite the dubious ways in which her dates manage to die.

That said, I loved the portions between Lalo and Vikram, even though the idea of making him into some Inspector Clouseau wannabe doesn't register much of an impact. Hower, Namit Das' ghost track felt silly and weak, and makes little sense especially considering how crucial it is in the climax, though by the time we reach the third act, Lalo's misadventures had already overstayed the fascination for its different premise.

Yay!

- The Actors

- Unusual Storyline

Nay!

- The Screenplay is Weak

Final Thoughts

Aafat-e-Ishq's aafat is not making good use of its talented cast and a curious storyline and turning them into a movie worth risking to have ishq with. The movie is streaming on Zee5.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 29, 2021 05:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).