Haseen Dillruba is the 2021 Netflix India Original which received polarizing reviews for the kind of love showcased in the film. Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey film was all about the love and the insanity that comes with it. The first film was modeled around the pulpy novels, which were a part of the narrative. The lead Rani Kashyap keeps quoting from one of Dinesh Pandit’s novels, which contain stories that intertwine love and crime. The makers of Haseen Dillruba are back with a sequel that would take the story of Rani and her absconding husband Rishabh further. They crave a life together, and the story of the sequel chronicles their journeys through their trials and tribulations.
Spoilers Ahead
Was Abhimanyu attracted to Rani?
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba began with Rani reaching a police station after having run through heavy rain to file a complaint against her husband. She claims her husband was trying to kill her, and there was no mention at this point of who she was referring to. The movie moves back a few months to when Abhimanyu, a local compounder, was attending to this patient at her home when he ran into Rani, who runs a beauty parlor. Abhimanyu was instantly attracted to her, and he learned that she was a widow. The man asked her out to a movie, but she never showed up.
What was Rani and Rishu’s plan?
Rani and Rishu were living in Agra, away from their family, and were meeting discreetly without creating any suspicion. Rishu was a tuition teacher living as a paying guest. The owner of the room where he was living, Poonam was attracted to him and vocal about it, but Rishu kept a distance from her to avoid trouble. Both Rishu and Rani had plans to move to Thailand and handed over the money to the travel agent in the hopes of making an exit as soon as possible. Rishu was accused of killing his cousin Neel, as the police were sure the killer was alive based on the Dinesh Pandit book the police officer Kishore read after the case was closed. There was no evidence to prove their theory was right. The only way they can prove it is to find Rishu alive. Rani was an accomplice in the crime, as seen in the end of Haseen Dillruba, but she was assertive about the fact that it was her husband who died, and that she remains to be a widow now running an independent business. Rani and Rishu meet each other by writing quotes on any wall frequented by them. Those quotes had clues of their meeting place. Simultaneously, the news of crocodiles being found in the water body in the city of Agra, and people were asked to stay away from it to avoid a violent death.
Did Rani and Rishu’s plan get ruined?
Rani and Rishu’s plan to leave the country was working out until the police inspector brought in Rani for questioning in regards to the robbery of her purse. The police used this as an opportunity to dig up her phone records and asked questions about who she was speaking to on a regular basis. Rani cooked up her own story, but she was shocked to find out Mrutyunjay Paswan, aka Montu Chacha, was taking over the investigation. He was Rishu’s distant uncle and a close family member of the deceased Neel, and the man was hell bent on finding out who killed his nephew. The arrival of Montu Chacha ruined Rani and Rishu’s plans, as the latter confessed the man knew him from childhood and he would sniff him out of the city in no time. As Montu Chaha began his investigation, he arrested the travel agent, and as a result, their plans to abscond were thwarted.
Why did Rani marry Abhimanyu?
Rani was aware Abhimanyu was attracted to her, and that he would be interested in her if she had agreed to be in a relationship with him. She came up with the plan of marrying him to prove that, as a widow, she had the right to marry any man, and Rishi and Rani would find a way to abscond after a few years and hoped things would calm down as the police would give up on the theory of Rishu being alive. Abhimanyu and Rani met, and she insisted on getting married immediately as she was not keen on courting him. Abhimanyu agreed to the nuptials as he was an orphan whose parents, uncle, aunt, and cousins were not alive anymore. Rani refused to get intimate with him as she claimed Rishu is very much a part of her and it would take time for her to accept Abhimanyu as her husband and he obliged.
How did Abhimanyu find out about Rani and Rishu?
Rani and Rishu realized there was no way out for them to leave the city as the police were closing in on them. Poonam was also blackmailing him as she found he was up to something. This led to a falling out between the husband and wife as they came to the conclusion that they cannot hoodwink Montu Chacha to get out of Agra. A distressed and drunk Rani inadvertently revealed her and Rishu’s relationship to Abhimanyu, who was shocked. The next day he admitted the fact that he knew about her and Rishu’s plan. He offered to help them as he realized Rani never loved him, saying he would want her back only if she confessed her love to him.
Why was Rani arrested?
As he kept Rishu in hiding, he took Rani for a final date for a film and injured her after reaching home. This was followed by Rani running up to the police station and asking them to save her from her husband, indicating Abhimanyu had tried to harm her. This scene links back to the opening shot, with the story moving forward from here on how Rani and Rishu will escape. Montu Chacha arm twisted her into confessing that Rishu was alive, and hence she was arrested. She and Rishu were further charged with the murder of Abhimanyu and Poonam, whose charred bodies were found.
Did Rishu surrender to the police?
A clever Montu chacha leaked the news of Rani being tortured in the police cell to lure Rishu out of his den, as they knew the husband would come to rescue her. As expected, Rishu offered to surrender on a railway bridge, provided Rani was acquitted. The police agreed to the terms and reached the bridge in the middle of the night for the arrest. As Rani reached near Rishu, she begged him not to surrender. Only a few moments later, Abhimanyu appeared in the hawaldar costume, claiming he does not take betrayal lightly, and confessed to having killed his uncle and aunt, for they swindled his mother and father, forcing them to kill themselves. A scuffle between Rani, Rishu, and Abhimanyu led to all of them falling into the crocodile-infested water below the bridge, and their bodies were nowhere to be found to the police’s horror. The police found Rishu’s prosthetic arm and they had to close the case. The DNA report of the charred bodies suggested that the male was not Abhimanyu, and that the female body was of Poonam.
Why did Rani invite Inspector Mrutyunjay to Himachal Pradesh?
A few months later, Abhimanyu and Rani were in Deosar, Himachal Pradesh, with Rishu nowhere to be found. Rani was a schoolteacher and received a message written in one of the schoolbooks of her students. Inspector Kishore and Montu Chacha received a note asking them to meet at the lover’s point at Deosar. Montu Chacha received an additional package, which was a book written by Dinesh Pandit titled “Magarmachh ka Shikanja,” which could be loosely translated to “Crocodiles’ Trap.”
After reading the book, Montu Chacha concluded that the plan to fall into the crocodile infested water was hatched by Rani, Rishu, and Abhimanyu. Rani also revealed she was not keen on carrying out any stunts based on the books of Dinesh Pandit, as that had gotten her and Rishu into trouble before. Rishu had to convince her, and the three of them hatched the plan to hoodwink the police, starting with her running into the police station complaining about Abhimanyu attempting to kill her.
Montu Chacha’s theory stated that Rishu and Abhimanyu threw meat pieces a few kilometers away from the water under the bridge to push the animals away. This would help all three of them to escape the fall and move to the land and run away. Montu Chacha also had the CCTV footage of Poonam and another man visiting Rishu. The man was a snake charmer who had supplied snakes to Abhimanyu to kill his uncle and his family. On reaching the spot at Deosar in Himachal Pradesh, Rani revealed she witnessed Abhimanyu killing Rishu by throwing him into the jaws of a crocodile. She was shocked at the fact that Abhimanyu could possibly do something like that, as the plan was for the three of them to survive. To teach Abhimanyu a lesson, she decided to kill herself by jumping off the cliff. These scenarios would remind the audience of two films: “Khoon Bhari Maang” and “Hamesha.” The first film directed by Rakesh Roshan contained scenes of a lead character being thrown into crocodile-infested water. “Hamesha” had two of the lead characters falling off the cliff in suicide to teach the villain a lesson for separating two lovers.
Rani wanted to teach Abhimanyu a lesson for separating her from the love of her life, Rishu. She felt betrayed, which was odd as Rani married him with the idea of leaving him to elope with Rishu in the first place.
Was Abhimanyu arrested?
Abhimanyu was arrested because he confessed to having killed Poonam and the snake charmer as they had become a liability. He wanted to pin this on Rishu and Rani for betraying him. Abhimanyu turned out to be as slimy and crooked as Rani and Rishu. Since Rani was a witness to him murdering Rishu, her statement before the jump was taken seriously as Abhimanyu admitted to the crime. Abhimanyu had made it a habit to kill people that did not serve any purpose to them. The man was hoping to convince Rani to consummate their marriage eventually. It was a bizarre expectation, given she had confessed to having witnessed him killing Rishu, Rani would have never forgiven him. Abhimanyu was indeed a serial murderer, and he was finally arrested for all the crimes he committed.
Abhimanyu underestimated Rani, who had gotten away with a crime before and never intended to get arrested. He had revealed himself to have been a big fan of Dinesh Pandit after having seen Rani read his books and was inspired by the twisted plots mentioned in them and used them to his benefit. Abhimanyu fell into her trap and never expected Rani would kill herself. Abhimanyu’s arrest was the end of the case for the police, especially for Montu Chacha.
Are Rani and Rishu dead or alive?
As Abhimanyu was being flown out to Delhi after being arrested in Deosar, he was quick to ask Montu Chacha if they found the bodies of Rani and Rishu. Since the police had not found the bodies yet, Abhimanyu had the last laugh because he knew the couple way too well. He was aware they obviously had bigger plans, and dying was not among them. Rishu and Rani were crazy in love, and they would go to any extent to be with each other. Abhimanyu was aware of that, which was how he knew the police had been hoodwinked once again.
A flashback reveals that the message Rani received in the school notebook was from Rishu, who, in their own style, left a crafty word that only Rani could decipher. She was shocked to know Rishu survived the crocodile attack, as he used his left fake arm to block the crocodile from killing him. They came up with the entire plan to trap Abhimanyu, as this was their original goal right from the start. Rani and Rishu might have had their disagreements, but they would do the most outlandish things for each other only because of the love they had for each other. As the first movie ended with Rishu chopping his arm off for her and surviving the injury, Rani took the risk of diving off the cliff into the water below. Rani had to do this for Rishu to showcase her love for him, and if she happened to survive, they will live together just like they planned away from the scrutiny of the police.
Rani and Rishu reunited, and they survived the entire ordeal because they were determined to do so. Ran’s fall into the water below the mountain was outlandish, but the movie has been given meta treatment as it is based on the pulpy novels, the kind Rani reads. Such books do contain such twists and turns. The suspension of disbelief had to be used for the shock value as seen in such novels.
Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba ended with Abhimanyu and the police on the flight back to Delhi. The man revealed his father was Dinesh Pandit, which amazed Montu Chacha as he started to understand how he could come up with such unusual plans to save himself. It could also mean Abhimanyu might come back to take revenge on Rani and Rishu and use his sharp mind to get to their location, maybe killing them eventually. Abhimanyu’s revelation of him being Dinesh Pandit’s son would open another Pandora’s box, as there would be a whole backstory on how and why his father was killed. Abhimanyu was smart, and he would find a way out of this mess.
