Directed by Shauna Gautama and produced by Karan Johar, Nadaaniyan is the latest Dharmatic Entertainment production, which feels like a rehashed version of Student Of The Year. Ibrahim Ali Khan’s debut, along with Khushi Kapoor as the female lead, feels silly, immature, and underwhelming. Here is our review of Nadaaniyan, a Gen Z rom-com that fails to deliver.

Nadaaniyan review: A hot boy and lots of lies

Well, there’s no lie in it. The story does feature a hot boy, but can all hot boys act? Guess not. Pia Jaisingh (Khushi Kapoor) is a papa’s princess and goes to an ultra-fancy high school, Falcon High. Yep, remember SOTY and all the unrealistic school standards? No uniforms, resort vibes, students doing PDA in front of teachers—Falcon High is where all the Dilli ke pampered puttars and bigadi betis come to study. Ek toh why do Mumbai people think Dilli mein itna bada school banaane ki space hai? Second, why do they think we Delhiites are so far from reality and so over the top? Third, do they really think everyone shops from Manish Malhotra for their extravagant Diwali parties?

Cutting it short, Pia is from an elite background with a toxic family situation, and due to a misunderstanding, she needs to get a boyfriend ASAP. So, she hires Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan), a middle-class guy, and pays him to act like her boyfriend. Arjun is the debate team captain, and the credit goes to his skills—he shows off his abs and gets the team to vote for him as the captain. The couple happily poses for Pia’s soft launch and soon enough, fake feelings turn into real ones. Cue another misunderstanding, and the two break up only to come back for an expected ending that you could have seen from a mile away. Finish. The End.

Let’s talk about the casting

Big sets, a big cast, and big names from Bollywood could not save this ship from sinking. Khushi Kapoor as Pia Jaisingh is an over the top, cringe version of Shanaya from SOTY. Ibrahim Ali Khan deserved a better debut because even though he has potential, he fails to leave a mark as Arjun.

The saving grace of this movie were Arjun’s parents, Nandini (Dia Mirza) and Sanjay (Jugal Hansraj), who were criminally underutilised. Pia’s parents, Neelu (Mahima Chaudhry) and Rajat (Suniel Shetty), share an extremely toxic relationship and bring the tension to the screen.

The people I actually loved: Archana Puran Singh as Mrs Braganza-Malhotra, the principal of Falcon High, Apoorva Makhija as Rhea, Pia’s loyal friend, and Agasthya Shah as Aakash Goenka, the annoying and nosey guy on the debate team. They were all cute in their respective roles.

Nadaaniyan is now streaming on Netflix.

Can you watch it with your family?: If you want to suffer together, go ahead. The movie is clean but tries too hard to be a Gen Z blockbuster.

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