How Fatima Sana Shaikh brought back romance on celluloid- From Netflix's 'Aap Jaisa Koi' to 'Metro In Dino' to 'Gustaakh Ishq'

Three love stories in one year is rare enough. Three that don’t look, feel, or sound like each other? That’s almost unheard of. Yet that’s where Fatima Sana Shaikh finds herself in 2025, with Aap Jaisa Koi, Metro… In Dino, and now Gustaakh Ishq. The timing is the result of choices that place her at the centre of a genre Bollywood had almost shelved away – romance.

In _Aap Jaisa Koi_, she doesn’t play the sweet, agreeable heroine. Instead, she leans into rebellion, carrying a energy that makes her love story fragile but also fierce. The film lets her break out of the mould of what a woman in love is “supposed” to look like on screen.

_Metro… In Dino_ pulls her into another world entirely - the claustrophobic present-day city, where love is messy, jagged at the edges, and weighed down by circumstance. Here she doesn’t float in the glow of romance but makes you believe in the ache that accompanies.

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And now, there’s her next film - Gustaakh Ishq, steeped in Purani Dilli’s crumbling kothis and old-world silences. Fatima carries the story with her stillness, making her glances into conversations. The film’s poetry and music orbit around her.

Taken together, these three films sketch out what makes her different. Fatima isn’t content with being the ornamental presence opposite a star. Her roles turn the spotlight inward - on what a woman feels, hides, or longs for in love.

It’s been a while since Hindi cinema allowed romance to breathe like this. With these back-to-back films, Fatima Sana Shaikh is quietly restoring that mood, bringing back love stories that make you remember what it’s like to fall, stumble, and want again.

Across these three films, Fatima Sana Shaikh is assuredly bringing romance back, on her own terms.