Zee Studios’ Love In Vietnam (UA) is a love story. Based on the novel, Madonna In A Fur Coat, it is the story of a young man who goes from India to Vietnam for further education. In Vietnam, he falls in love with a local girl, Linh (Kha Ngan). However, she disappears from his life after some time. Years later, just when he is about to marry Simmi (Avneet Kaur), his childhood friend, the ex-beloved enters his life quite suddenly. What happens then? Do old sparks reignite? Where did the first beloved go away years ago?
The story of the novel is adapted for the film by Kritika Rampal Sharma. The love triangle does not offer much by way of novelty except that the first girlfriend of the young man is a Vietnamese. Rahhat Shah Kazmi and Kritika Rampal Sharma’s screenplay is fairly fast-paced but having said that, it must be added that it is often predictable. A weak point of the screenplay is that the audience don’t root for the Vietnamese girl till she re-enters the young man’s life — and that’s because she disappears from the scene itself. The efforts by Manav to trace Linh look unreal. Emotions are conspicuous by their absence in this love triangle. Rahhat Shah Kazmi’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Harbinder Singh, are fairly appealing.
Shantanu Maheshwari is natural as Manav but he does not have the looks of a hero. Avneet Kaur does a fine job as Simmi. Kha Ngan is alright in the role of Linh. Farida Jalal is as usual in an inconsequential role. Raj Babbar is adequate as Manav’s uncle. Gulshan Grover (as Pankaj) lends decent support in a tiny role. Saquib Ayub (as Harbinder Singh), Krishika Patel, Mir Sarwar (as Simmi’s father), Kusum Tickoo (as Simmi’s mother), Monica Aggarwal (as Linh’s neighbour), Sarvesh Goel (as the teacher), Prabhakar (as the translator) and the others pass muster.
Rahhat Shah Kazmi’s direction is okay. His narration is straightforward and keeps the viewers engaged despite the drama offering no novelty. Music (Meet Bros., Amaal Malik, Rashid Khan, Aamir Ali and Dev Sadana) is very melodious and the biggest asset of the film. However, the songs are not popular enough. Lyrics (Kumaar, Rashmi Virag, Kunaal Verma, Rahhat Shah Kazmi, Aamir Ali and Rashid Khan) are weighty. Song picturisations (by Kruti Mahesh, Tushar Kalia and Pavan Shetty-Bob) are eye-pleasing. Tuhin K. Biswas’ background music is quite alright. Dudley’s camerawork is lovely. The foreign locations are beautiful. Ram Kishor Tripathi’s art direction is of a fair standard. Sanjay Sankla’s editing should’ve been crisper.
On the whole, Love In Vietnam lacks face value and has also not been promoted too well and, therefore, will go quite unnoticed.
Released on 12-9-’25 at Glamour (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.