Tere Ishk Mein

Bollywood is in love all over again. After Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, Aanand L Rai, another master of the poetic portrayal of passion and pain, returns with a gripping interrogation of love’s destructive underbelly, set in a social context. Connected to Raanjhanaa(2013) by an umbilical cord, Tere Ishk Mein talks of the magic of love that is lost in modern life’s logic, which entices us to trade emotions. In Rai’s universe, love is both poison and panacea, and once again, he has taken up a risky subject — the transformative power of romance.

लड़की हाथ छुड़ा कर मुड़ी तो उसकी चूड़ी का कांच टूट कर लड़के को ज़ख्म दे गया। ऐसा ज़ख्म कि उसने शहर को फूंकना चाहा। लड़की किसी और से शादी करने चली तो वह उसे श्रॉप दे आया कि शंकर करे तुझे बेटा हो, तुझे भी पता चले कि इश्क में जो मर जाते हैं वो भी किसी के बेटे होते हैं। कहानी की यह झलक बताती है कि यह फिल्म हमें इश्क-मोहब्बत के उन दर्द भरे रास्तों पर ले जाने आई है जिसे देख कर आशिकों के दिल तड़पते हैं और जिन्होंने कभी प्यार न किया हो वे सुकून महसूस करते हैं। फिल्मकार आनंद एल. राय की ‘रांझणा’ भी तो ऐसी ही फिल्म थी जिसमें मुरारी ने कुंदन से कहा था-मर जाओ पंडित। पंडित उस फिल्म में इश्क करते हुए मरा तो इस फिल्म में भी वही रूप धर कर आ गया। वैसे भी सभी दिलजले, बर्बाद आशिकों की सूरत एक जैसी ही हो जाती है।

In the 2013 film Raanjhana, Dhanush played a Hindu lad from Varanasi who falls in love with a Muslim girl. That was a time when filmmakers could still — just about — carry off an inter-religious love story without the moral police threatening to burn theatres down. In 2025, Aanand L Rai and writers Himanshu Yadav and Neeraj Yadav return with Raanjhana’s spiritual sequel, and this time around it isn’t religion but class—rich girl, poor boy—which becomes the point of conflict. And just in case that isn’t enough, the writers throw the entire kitchen sink at us – college love story, parental opposition, patriotic flag waving, even a war — in a film which ends up being a totally outdated, confused, heavy-on-melodrama-and-glycerine mish-mash of genres.

A director, even an acclaimed one, can certainly be forgiven for refusing to move out of the mould of one of his biggest blockbusters. Expecting yet another ‘Raanjhanaa’ from Aanand L Rai would not be a grave folly, on his part and ours. But when the film, this week’s major theatrical outing ‘Tere Ishk Mein’, reminds you of more than one Bollywood film, you know it’s a misstep. Sure enough, since it stars one of India’s most talented actors, Dhanush, also the Kundan of ‘Raanjhanaa’, you know love will blaze intensely.

Animal’s Rannvijay, Kabir Singh’s Kabir, Rockstar’s Jordan, Tamasha’s Ved and Haseen Dillruba’s Rishu walk into a bar. There is no punchline here, because they are no joke. They participate in a victimhood-measuring contest. Rannvijay declares he had to sleep with a female agent knowing who she was and cheated on his wife to make his dad proud; it was very difficult. Kabir claims he slapped a girl to make her love his alpha masculinity; it was very hard. Jordan says he quotes Rumi and chose to meet his dead soulmate in a field beyond; it wasn’t easy. Ved claims his girlfriend fixed him by rejecting his alter-ego; it was terrible. Rishu declares he chopped off his hand to be with his bad-boy-craving wife; it’s been a sacrifice. In walks Tere Ishk Mein’s Shankar, who lights a cigarette and scoffs at them all.

Director Aanand L. Rai gets it better this time, after serious missteps in his three previous outings, Zero (2018), Atrangi Re (2021) and Raksha Bandhan (2022). To begin with, the title tune (AR Rahman) lingers. Aanand also makes a film that’s well-shot with powerful moments. Like the one where Shankar Gurukkal (Dhanush) tells Mukti (Kriti Sanon) that such a beautiful girl’s hand must land on a cheek and slaps himself hard with her hand. It was there in the promo.

Mukti’s stalker has just turned up at her engagement party and thrown Molotov cocktails. She responds by hugging and trying to reason with him. He blames her for everything, threatens to kill her, kill himself, suggests the two of them die by suicide. When he’s finally dragged off by the police, she breaks down in the arms of her fiancé, tells him their tortured history. What manner of comfort might Jassi offer his future wife? The first thing he says is, “Shouldn’t you apologize to him?"