After Netflix's 'Aap Jaisa Koi,' Fatima Sana Shaikh brings the feminine gaze to Manish Malhotra's 'Ul Jalool Ishq'

Manish Malhotra has surprised audiences by releasing Ul Jalool Ishq, the first song from his debut production Gustaakh Ishq, ahead of schedule. The teaser alone had created a surge of anticipation; the song arrives as an extension of that excitement and gives a first real taste of the film’s mood and world.

At the centre of the track is Fatima Sana Shaikh. The first frames show her framed by the fading grandeur of Punjab’s old kothis, walking through empty corridors where time seems to have slowed. There’s a glow to her presence and ann intensity that allows the audience to feel the character’s inner life without a single word being spoken.

Her performance turns Ul Jalool Ishq into more than a love song. It’s a study of longing from a perspective rarely shown on screen. Instead of a muse waiting to be looked at, Fatima’s character seems to carry her own gaze, her own inner world.

Malhotra and his director Vibhu Puri build this atmosphere carefully. Gulzar’s lyrics and Vishal Bhardwaj’s composition wraps the song in a sound that is both haunting and warm.

What’s beautiful is that Fatima isn’t framed as a passive heroine, but as a subject whose emotions shape the story. Viewers are invited to feel with her rather than simply admire her.

With Gustaakh Ishq, Manish Malhotra alongside his brother Dinesh Malhotra under Stage5 Production steps into cinema for the first time, and Ul Jalool Ishq functions as a calling card. It introduces the audience to the tone of the film, but it also gives Fatima Sana Shaikh room to shine as an actor capable of carrying complex emotions without spectacle. The song effectively redefines not only how love is seen on screen, but how it is felt.