Tips Films Ltd.’s Ishq Vishk Rebound (UA) is the story of three friends and their love lives.
Raghav (Rohit Saraf), Sania (Pashmina Roshan) and Sahir (Jibraan Khan) are bosom pals. Sahir and Sania are in a relationship. Raghav is a budding film writer. He meets Riya (Naila Grewal) and sparks fly between them.
One day, Sahir and Sania have a break-up. This break-up is indirectly responsible for Raghav and Riya’s break-up. Soon, Raghav and Sania hook up and get into a relationship. All hell breaks loose when Sahir gets to know about his best friend (Raghav) dating his ex-girlfriend (Sania). Cracks develop in their friendship. What happens thereafter? Who settles down with whom ultimately?
Dr. Vinay Chhawal, Vaishali Kamalakar Naik and Ketan Pedgaonkar have written a modern story about the fluid relationships of youngsters today. The screenplay, written by the trio, with additional screenplay by Akarsh Khurana and Nipun Avinash Dharmadhikari, is good in the first half but it loses grip on the audience post-interval. Scenes like Raghav sending a text message from his cell phone to Riya after their break-up, Riya not bothering to reply, etc. look contrived. Even the resolution in the end is far less appealing than what it should’ve been because it looks very convenient. Nevertheless, the drama will appeal to youngsters but only to some extent — and this mainly because they will be able to relate to the frivolity of relationships shown in the film. Furthermore, the dialogues (by Akarsh Khurana and Lisha Bajaj) are also so contemporary and young that they will find a place in the hearts of the youth.
Rohit Saraf is easy in front of the camera. He looks endearing and delivers a fine performance as Raghav. He dances very well. Pashmina Roshan is not beautiful but she exhibits spunk. She makes a confident debut in the role of Sania. Jibraan Khan looks cute and fits the role of lover boy Sahir. His acting is natural and impressive for a debut role. His dancing is graceful. Naila Grewal gets limited scope but she makes a fine impression as Riya. Supriya Pilgaonkar lends decent support as Sania’s single mother but her role looks quite inconsequential. Shilpa Vishal Shetty (Shilpa Tulaskar) and Akarsh Khurana are alright as Raghav’s parents; again, they too seem quite unnecessary in the scheme of things. Anita Kulkarni and Shataf Figar make their presence felt as Sahir’s parents. But their roles are unimportant. Kusha Kapila is very good as Raghav’s boss. Adhaar Khurana (as the film director), Sheeba Chadha (in a special appearance) and the rest provide ordinary support.
Nipun Avinash Dharmadhikari’s direction is fair. He has made a crisp film and his narrative style is such that the audience remain invested in the drama. Rochak Kohli’s music is very appealing. All the songs are popular and a couple of them are hits. The film also has the remixed versions of some old Bollywood hits. Lyrics (Kumaar, Gurpreet Saini, Gautam G. Sharma and Badshah) are in synch with the film’s flavour. Song picturisations (Farah Khan for Gore gore mukhde pe; Vijay Ganguly for the rest of the songs) are lovely. The dances are delightful. Ahmed Khan’s hook-step for the title song is lovely. Ketan Sodha’s background music is fairly impactful. Milind Jog’s cinematography is lovely. Amritpal Singh’s action and stunt scenes are alright. Nikhil Kovale’s production designing, and Apurva Bhagat’s art direction are of a good standard. Chandan Arora’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Ishq Vishk Rebound has a good first half but a weak post-interval portion. It will, therefore, do ordinary business. Of course, recovery of cost and earning of profits should not be a problem because the producers are also the audio rights holders — and the film’s music itself will fetch handsome revenues.
Released on 21-6-’24 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: fairly good. Opening: very ordinary. …….Also released all over. Opening was so-so at most of the places.