⭐ Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Streaming on: Netflix
Director: Shauna Gautam
Cast: Ibrahim Ali Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Mahima Chaudhry, Dia Mirza, Jugal Hansraj
Genre: Teen Rom-Com, Coming-of-Age
📝 Introduction: AI-Generated Romance, Bollywood Style
Netflix’s Nadaaniyan tries to sell itself as a modern Gen Z rom-com but ends up being a Dharma-style starter pack made solely to launch Ibrahim Ali Khan into the mainstream. With a recycled story, plastic emotions, and barely any originality, the film feels less like a coming-of-age love story and more like a flashy Close-Up ad stretched to two hours.
🎬 Story Overview: Rich Girl Meets Scholarship Boy… Again
The film follows Pia Jaisingh (Khushi Kapoor), a student at Delhi’s elite Falcon High—a Joharesque high school for the rich, restless, and Insta-famous. In an attempt to win back her besties after a misunderstanding, Pia fakes a relationship. Enter Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan), a brooding scholarship student who swims like a champion, debates shirtless, and just happens to look like a ‘nawab’ (wink, wink).
Pia offers him ₹25,000 a week to pose as her boyfriend—a ridiculous but very Dharma-esque arrangement. The story is predictable: soft-launches on Instagram, fake feelings turning real, slow-mo walks in designer outfits, and emotional awakenings delivered with the passion of an AI script.
💫 Performances: A Star Kid Showcase
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Ibrahim Ali Khan shows flashes of screen presence, and while his delivery is still rough around the edges, he manages to carry a charming aura. His role is clearly crafted as a platform to highlight his potential.
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Khushi Kapoor struggles with expression and dialogue delivery, often coming off stiff and rehearsed rather than spontaneous.
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Supporting Cast: Suniel Shetty, Mahima Chaudhary, Dia Mirza, and Jugal Hansraj lend much-needed credibility to the screen, though their roles are criminally underwritten. Seeing Shetty and Mahima together again evokes some Dhadkan nostalgia, but it’s fleeting.
🎭 Writing & Direction: Factory-Made, Emotionless Storytelling
Director Shauna Gautam delivers a film that feels more like a checklist than a narrative. There’s:
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A quirky principal (a watered-down Ms. Briganza)
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Trendy Gen Z slang
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A subplot about social media
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A fake-dating-to-real-love trope
But what’s missing is emotion. Even the dialogues sound like they were sourced from a chatbot’s take on love, with characters asking, “What do people do in love?” to a chatbot—yes, literally. There’s no build-up, no romantic tension, and no genuine emotional arc.
📸 Aesthetic Over Authenticity
Visually, Nadaaniyan is slick and polished, filled with slow-motion party entries, overly bright color grading, and perfectly curated Instagram moments. Unfortunately, it’s all style with zero substance.
Even the humor is flat. Jokes about Gen Z lingo, therapy bills, and influencer culture land awkwardly. The film tries to be self-aware but ends up just exposing how soulless it is.
📉 A Romance Without a Pulse
The film fails at its core job—to make us root for its central couple. There’s no real chemistry between Ibrahim and Khushi, and the emotional beats fall flat. You don’t feel their joy, pain, or growth—just an overwhelming sense that you’re watching a product rather than a story.
Worse still, Nadaaniyan offers no insight or freshness to the rom-com genre. It feels like a weak spin-off of Student of the Year, wrapped in Gen Z aesthetics and Instagram filters.
👨⚖️ Final Verdict: A Manufactured Love Story with No Heart
Nadaaniyan is a forgettable, factory-made rom-com with the soul of a marketing campaign. It neither offers the charm of a teen love story nor the warmth of a coming-of-age film. Instead, it banks entirely on the star kids’ surnames and the hope that the audience won’t mind being served the same old Bollywood formula again.
If you’re looking for real emotion or fresh storytelling, swipe left on Nadaaniyan.
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