 "Dhanush-Kriti Sanon’s ‘Tere Ishk Mein’ Movie Review: Intense, but a little too noisy love story")
Director: Aanand L Rai
Language: Tamil, Hindi
Cast: Dhanush, Kriti Sanon, Prakash Raj, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Paramvir Cheema
Dhanush and Kriti Sanon’s pairing is indeed a unique casting choice. But is it enough for an overtly long movie to survive? The first half shows how an angry young man from the slums of Delhi called Shankar (Dhanush) falls in love with a South Delhi girl, Mukti (Kriti Sanon), whose father is an IAS officer.
The film starts with fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force shooting across the sky and Dhanush as one of the dashing Indian Air Force pilots with disciplinary issues who is one of the finest officers but has severe behavioural issues. He needs counselling, as he refuses to obey the orders of his seniors. But he knows his job like the back of his hand. Kriti Sanon, who plays the role of a psychologist, Mukti, is all set to go to the war zone to counsel him. She is pregnant and has other health issues, including a severe drinking problem, but she insists after studying the case of Shankar (Dhanush) that she will take up the case and heads to the war zone. This is indeed absurd, and this kind of cinematic liberty shouldn’t be taken.
The story moves to and fro, and we get to know how Mukti and Shankar met. As we move to the flashback, we realise that for Mukti (Kriti Sanon), Shankar (Dhanush) was just a case study for completing her PhD thesis, which she was struggling to finish.
Mukti’s area of PhD was something related to anger management. Her PhD guides wanted her to show a case study. As she is able to convince Shankar, the most dangerous man in the city, to be her case study, the man deeply falls in love with her in the process. On the other hand, Mukti clearly knows that Shankar is just not meant for her, as both of them come from two very different worlds and strata of society.
Aanand L Rai’s direction is engaging and entertaining, but it lacks depth. It is time he realises that audiences today will not accept whatever is given to them. Both the lead characters are complex, but the story is not good enough to hold on to the attention of the audiences. Especially in the second half, the film slips badly and appears like a never-ending rant of a fight between the haves and have-nots.
Shankar’s father, Raghav, played by Prakash Raj, is indeed one of the best performers in the film. The pain and humiliation that he is going through because of his son, who has an anger issue, is something that we can relate to. The movie could have been a lot better had it been a little crisp, but it was overstretched beyond expectation, and too many cinematic liberties diluted the entire concept of the film, which again could have been done in a mature way. There are major slip-ups in ‘Tere Ishk Mein’ and seriously there should be a limit to cinematic liberty.
Aanand L Rai should have understood that films that work for Tamil audiences may not work nationally. Toxic masculinity or misogyny is a very accepted fact in South films and even in some Bollywood films, but that doesn’t really work for today’s evolved, educated and cultured audience!
Rating: 2 out of 5
WATCH the trailer of Dhanush-Kriti Sanon’s ‘Tere Ishk Mein’ movie:
Lachmi Deb Roy is the Entertainment Editor of Firstpost, Network18. She reviews films and series with a gender lens. She is a 'Rotten Tomatoes' certified critic. Her interviews are called 'Not Just Bollywood' because she takes a huge interest in world cinema. She has been the winner of the prestigious Laadli Media and Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity for two consecutive years, 2020 and 2021. OTT over theatrical releases is her preference unless and until it's a King Khan film. She takes interest in fashion, food and art reviews too.