It will definitely not be easy for Kangna Ranaut to match steps with Madhuri Dixit in Dedh Ishqiya, but the actor is trying to catch up. Madhuri has a lot of dancing to do in director Abhishek Choubey’s Ishqiya sequel, and Kangna, who plays her close friend, has to join in, too. Apparently, Abhishek has asked the younger actor to brush up her dancing skills.

Luckily, Madhuri and Kangna get along well. The film, too, promises to be one hell of a ride for the two actors. The duo will work with the uncle-nephew pair played by Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi, and be part of their adventures which started when they landed at the doorstep of a wily widow in rural Uttar Pradesh in Ishqiya.

The sequel takes Naseer and Arshad to Lucknow, to a cultured Muslim family where the two ladies, Madhuri and Kangna, are wooed by the uncle and nephew, respectively.

Abhishek says the idea was to place Naseer and Arshad’s characters in a completely different milieu. He says, “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 did decide to take up the sequel, Dedh Ishqiya, I decided to set the story and characters in a completely different ambiance.”

This time, Abhishek takes his Ishqiya heroes to the near-extinct genre of Hindi cinema, known as Muslim social, which portrays and critiques Islamic culture in India.

Abhishek says, “I want to revive that old-world Nawabi charm of ornate architecture, the tehzeeb and the adaas that we saw in Muslim socials such as Mere Mehboob, Mere Huzoor, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Nikaah. Of course, the genre will be contemporised. But the essence of the genre, the flavour of the period, its grace and, most importantly, the decadence of that culture, will remain.”

It seems only natural that Madhuri, best known for her outstanding dancing skills, gets to explore all of that in Dedh Ishqiya. Abhishek says, “Music was very important in Ishqiya, and the same goes for Dedh Ishqiya, too. This time, however, the songs and music will be very different. But yes, Madhuri will have a lot to sing and dance to.”