A Glossy Misfire That Fails to Spark
On March 7, 2025, Netflix dropped Nadaaniyan, a romantic comedy that promised to usher in a new generation of Bollywood stars with Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor at the helm. Directed by debutante Shauna Gautam and produced under Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment banner, this high-school romance had all the makings of a frothy, Gen-Z-friendly hit: glamorous leads, a swanky elite school setting, and a premise dripping with Instagram-worthy aesthetics. But does it deliver? Spoiler alert: not quite. Nadaaniyan is a visually dazzling but emotionally hollow misadventure that leaves you questioning whether Bollywood’s romance genre is running on fumes.
The plot centers on Pia Jaisingh (Khushi Kapoor), a privileged Delhi socialite navigating the treacherous waters of high school popularity at the fictional Falcon High. To maintain her social standing, Pia hires Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan), a middle-class student with big dreams (and apparently bigger abs), to pose as her boyfriend for a weekly fee of Rs. 25,000. What starts as a transactional arrangement predictably morphs into something more when real feelings bubble up, complicating their faux romance. It’s a trope as old as Bollywood itself—rich girl meets “poor” boy—but Nadaaniyan doesn’t bother to reinvent it. Instead, it leans heavily into the Karan Johar playbook, borrowing elements from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Student of the Year, without capturing the charm or emotional heft of either.
Let’s talk about the leads. Ibrahim Ali Khan, making his acting debut as Arjun, brings a certain screen presence that echoes his father Saif Ali Khan’s early charisma. He’s got the looks—chiselled jawline, six-pack abs flaunted in a bizarre debate-winning scene—and a few moments where he seems comfortable in front of the camera. But his performance feels stiff, like he’s reciting lines rather than living them. The script doesn’t help, giving him little to work with beyond flexing his physique and frowning through romantic beats. Khushi Kapoor, in her third outing after The Archies, fares slightly better as Pia. She’s convincing in emotional scenes with her estranged parents (played by Mahima Chaudhry and Suniel Shetty), but her overall delivery lacks the spark needed to elevate a thinly written character. Together, their chemistry is lukewarm at best—no fireworks, no rush of first love, just two attractive people sharing screen space.
The supporting cast offers some respite but can’t salvage the sinking ship. Mahima Chaudhry and Suniel Shetty play Pia’s dysfunctional parents with the former overacting and the latter underacting, a dynamic that feels unintentionally comical. Dia Mirza and Jugal Hansraj, as Arjun’s grounded middle-class parents, bring a fleeting sense of warmth, but their screen time is too brief to matter. Then there’s Archana Puran Singh as the principal, Braganza Malhotra, a nod to Johar’s past hits that’s more nostalgic gimmick than meaningful addition. The rest of the ensemble—classmates, friends, and a random Orry cameo—fade into the glossy background.
Visually, Nadaaniyan is a treat. The production design screams Dharma Productions: opulent sets, designer costumes, and a Delhi-NCR elite school that looks more like a luxury resort than a place of learning. The cinematography captures this world with polish, but it’s all surface-level sheen. The film’s 1-hour-59-minute runtime feels bloated, thanks to unnecessary song sequences that derail the pacing just when the story starts to move. The music, composed by Sachin-Jigar, is forgettable—a far cry from the earworms Dharma films once guaranteed. It’s as if the makers prioritized style over substance, hoping the glitter would distract from the lack of depth.
And depth is where Nadaaniyan falters most. The rich-versus-poor dynamic is contrived—Arjun’s “middle-class” family includes a doctor father and a teacher mother, hardly the struggling underdog the film wants us to believe. The Gen-Z culture it aims to depict feels like a caricature, crafted by adults who’ve skimmed Instagram rather than lived it. Scenes like Arjun winning a debate by flashing his abs or Pia’s friends obsessing over social status are tone-deaf, missing the mark on how today’s teens actually think and feel. Compare this to hits like Never Have I Ever or To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which nail the breezy-yet-relatable teen romance vibe Nadaaniyan aspires to, and the gap is glaring.
One viewer lamented the lack of “intense closures,” while another dubbed it a “mashup of SOTY and KKHH” that fails to impress. The consensus? It’s a vanity project for nepo-kids that doesn’t justify its existence beyond launching its stars.
So, is Nadaaniyan worth your time? If you’re a die-hard Dharma fan or curious about Ibrahim Ali Khan’s debut, you might give it a whirl. But don’t expect a love story that lingers. It’s a candy-floss rom-com that dissolves too quickly, leaving no aftertaste—just a vague sense of disappointment. Bollywood romance, once a genre of sweeping emotions and unforgettable melodies, feels like it’s heading south with efforts like this. Here’s hoping Ibrahim and Khushi get better vehicles next time—they deserve it, and so do we.
Rating: 1.5/5
Streaming on Netflix as of March 13, 2025
Streaming on Netflix as of March 13, 2025