I watched Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor’s Nadaaniyan so you don’t have to

When one claims to have grown up with Bollywood films, it is only fair to watch the new talent cropping up and more so if they are nepo-babies whose parents’ you are a fan of. So be it The Archies or the recently released Nadaaniyan, I gave both a shot to see how the art in their ‘genes’ was flourishing. It was not. 

Marking the debut of Ibrahim Ali Khan, whose face looks like a chiseled version of his father Saif Ali Khan, rom-com Nadaaniyan, falls flat without offering the one thing it was supposed to present: entertainment. Ibrahim as Arjun Mehta pairs up with Khushi Kapoor as Pia Jaisingh in an attempt to create a love story which does not really appear suited for any age. 

The storyline follows Pia Jaisingh, a socialite from South Delhi whose parents, Neelu (Mahima Chaudhry) and Rajat (Suniel Shetty) appear to love her but do not let go of any opportunity to remind that she is unwanted because the family wanted a son. The premise for this dysfunctional relationship is the law firm ‘Jaisingh and Sons’ and because Pia is a girl and is not smart enough to be a lawyer (because of course she is a ‘girl’), she cannot contribute to the business. Pia’s best friends are also unkind to her, with one’s boyfriend trying his best to get on with her. To ‘control’ this situation, Pia lies to her friends that she is already dating someone so her best friend’s partner may leave her alone. She finally lands Arjun Mehta who has transferred to the elite South Delhi school where his mother Nandini Mehta (Dia Mirza) already teaches. His father Dr Sanjay Mehta (Jugal Hansraj) is Jaisingh’s family doctor so all threads come together when Pia ‘hires’ Arjun on INR25000 per week to pretend to be her boyfriend. 

Arjun, who is a hustler and wishes to excel independently because his parents have sacrificed a lot for him agrees, and is a picture perfect boyfriend. However, when things go down badly between Pia’s parents eventually leading to a divorce and she does not show up for an important debate competition, Arjun reveals their secret to the whole school. The two eventually patch up when he realises his mistakes and have a happy ever after. 

Now while this may be a simple story, it has too many shortcomings which get amplified when actors fail to deliver. Dharmatic Entertainment’s banner is known for love stories, and although eyebrows were raised at Student of The Year too, the film was still better. Nadaaniyan tries very hard to be that. 

A scene where Pia is narrating how she won a debate with Arjun on Covid vaccines, receives an extremely strange reaction from her father who feels elated that his daughter can also be a lawyer, but the delivery and the situation did not gel well with the utterance. Similarly, the story could have explored a relationship between Neelu and Pia, and only depicts Neelu as a successful interior designer towards the very end. Khushi also needs to experiment and not stick to taking up people pleasing roles where she smiles throughout, only engaging in a meltdown for a bit by screaming away. 

Arjun who is constantly angry and aggressive mostly gets his way in the elite school, where he is made fun of for coming from Noida. He lacks the control needed for the role and should perhaps look towards balancing his act. 

Even pulling strings of nostalgia by bringing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Mrs Braganza Malhotra did not help the case because cracking old jokes from millennial’s language onto Gen-Z by a boomer felt extremely out of place. 

I did find myself asking if like our parents who did not take a liking to the actors that came after their time, I was being harsh too. But I did not mind Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, Call me Bae or even The Archies for that matter, and do look forward to watching new movies. The premise of a film which shows benevolent misogyny seeped in through ought to have done a better job instead of relegating older tropes of ‘baking’ and ‘designing’. The mediocrity is such that even the songs fail to impress, which otherwise would stand out for Dharma production. 

Anyhow, if you still want to give it a shot, Shauna Gautam’s directorial debut Nadaaniyan is available on Netflix.