Haseen Dillruba Trailer Review: Taapsee Pannu Starrer Promises A "Khooni" Love Story

Haseen Dillruba trailer review: These are strange times to be a writer. Ask any author and they'll tell you how the drop in book sales, lack of physical book events and reduced relevance due to the current situation has left them questioning their career choices. So, it is amusing to see a film's trailer open with a "fan" gushing over her favourite crime writer as we are slowly drawn into a complicated love triangle soaked in blood.

Starring Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane, Haseen Dillruba seems to be about a newly married couple who have fallen short on each other's expectations and those of their families. As a result, they end up breeding resentment towards each other. Who said love was enough to make a marriage last? When is it ever?

If one goes by the trailer, Pannu's Rani stands accused of murdering her husband, played by Massey. She also stands accused of having an illicit relationship with Neel Tripathi, played by Rane. But is her husband Rishabh really dead? Was she cheating on her husband? Did she kill him, or did her husband stage his death, or worse, fake it? As Rani says in one scene, "There are different sides to every story... depending on who is narrating it."

The narrators of this story are director Vinil Matthew and writer Kanika Dhillon, who also wrote the film Manmarziyaan starring Pannu and Judgementall Hai Kya featuring Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao. What strikes the most about the trailer of Haseen Dillruba is the Hindi crime novel feel that oozes from its every frame, complete with a fictional crime writer "Dinesh Pandit". If you have grown up around books of Surender Mohan Pathak and Ved Prakash Sharma in the 90s like I did, and dared to peek into those rough paged- chunky novels with kitschy covers when no one was watching, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Haseen Dillruba promises to take you on a ride that many Hindi crime novel readers, especially from small towns have enjoyed guilt-free for decades. However, these books were also known for their dubious portrayal of women, both on cover and in the stories. With a woman writer helming the script, will Haseen Dillruba change that once and for all? We will have to wait for July 2 to find out.

My only grudge against the trailer? It seems to give away too much. This is something most film trailers are guilty of. When there is too much packed into a trailer, it doesn't come across as intriguing, instead, it gives viewers a general idea about what they can expect from the film and sets their expectations. Let us hope Haseen Dillruba can break the mould it has unwittingly cast itself in.

Watch the trailer of Haseen Dillruba here: