Netflix and Dharmatic Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Nadaaniyan is a love story. Pia Jaisingh (Khushi Kapoor) feigns a romantic affair with Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan) but the two college friends end up actually falling in love with one another. Pia’s mother, Neelu Jaisingh (Mahima Chaudhary), and father, Rajat Jaisingh (Sunil Shetty), have been separated since many years. The tension between the parents continues even today. Pia’s family gives a lot of importance to the male child, something which Pia resents. Arjun’s father, Sanjay Mehta (Jugal Hansraj), is a doctor while his mother, Nandini Mehta (Dia Mirza), is a teacher in the same college in which Pia and Arjun study. Mrs. Braganza-Malhotra (Archna Pooran Singh) is the college principal. Ayaan Nanda (Dev Agasteya) loves Pia and tries hard to woo her, but Pia doesn’t like him. Ayaan keeps insulting Arjun and considers him as not being up to the level of Pia and himself.
There comes a stage when cracks develop in the relationship between Pia and Arjun. What happens thereafter? Do Arjun and Pia live happily ever after? Or does Pia make peace with Ayaan Nanda?
Riva Razdan Kapoor has written a story which meanders here and there till it is very clear to the audience that she doesn’t know what exactly she wants to convey. The story moves at an excruciatingly slow pace and ends up testing the viewers’ patience. The screenplay, penned by Ishita Moitra, Riva Razdan Kapoor and Jehan Handa, is one of convenience. Rather than a seamless and free-flowing drama, what the audience is served is a drama in which anything can happen just about anytime. So much importance is given to the soured relationship between Pia’s parents that it makes the viewers wonder whether the screenplay is about their love-hate story. The angle of the importance of the male child looks a bit outdated. Ayaan Nanda poking fun at Arjun Mehta’s status in society doesn’t ring true because Arjun’s father is a doctor (who, incidentally, is curing Ayaan’s father) while his mother is a teacher in the same elite college. The entire track of Ayaan stalking Pia, and of Pia cooking up an affair with Arjun looks forced and unconvincing. Her talk about revealing the identity of her boyfriend on an auspicious date also appears weird in today’s times. Although it is a love story, the drama does not have heart-touching moments. Emotions are conspicuous by their absence. Comedy is almost missing. Ishita Moitra and Jehan Handa’s dialogues are average at most of the places and substantive sometimes.
Ibrahim Ali Khan makes a fair debut as Arjun Mehta. He looks handsome and acts reasonably well in his maiden attempt. Khushi Kapoor does quite well as Pia Jaisingh. Her dialogue delivery and voice modulation are good. Sunil Shetty lends reasonable support as Rajat Jaisingh. Mahima Chaudhary stands her own in the role of Neelu Jaisingh. Dia Mirza provides nice support as Nandini Mehta. Jugal Hansraj is natural as Dr. Sanjay Mehta. Dev Agasteya makes his mark as Ayaan Nanda. Agasthya Shah is okay as Aakash Goenka. Neel Deewan has his moments as Veer. Archna Pooran Singh leaves a mark as Mrs. Braganza-Malhotra. Meezan Jafri looks handsome and acts well as Rudra. Barun Chanda (as Dhanraj Jaisingh), Apoorva Mukhija (as Rhea Vohra), Aaliyah Qureshi (as Sahira Nair), Deepti Kumar (as Payal Vohra), Bhavana Singh (as Sonia Singh), Riya Sen (in special appearance as Anahita Brar), Janvi Choudhary (as Tanya), Orry (in special appearance as Orry), Usha Jerajani (as Pia’s maternal grandmother), Nikhat Hegde (as Pia’s paternal grandmother), Rahil Badhwar (as Ramneek Botswald), Janica Sindhi (as 7-year-old Pia Jaisingh), Garima Malik (as 7-year-old Sahira), Nia Garg (as 7-year-old Rhea), and the others lend the necessary support.
Shauna Gautam’s debut direction is so-so. While she knows the craft of direction, she needs to work harder on the essentials of a seamless and entertaining script. Sachin-Jigar’s music is quite nice. A couple of songs are very tuneful. Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics are in synch with the young mood of the film. Song picturisations (Tirkit dhoom by Vijay Ganguly; others by Tejaswi Shetty) are quite nice. Tushar Lall’s background music is fair. Anuj Samtani’s cinematography is nice. Production designing (by Sabrina Singh and Amrita Mahal Nakai) is superb. Editing (Vaishnavi Bhate and Sidhant Seth; supervising editor: Nitin Baid) ought to have been sharper.
On the whole, Nadaaniyan is a dull fare. It is good that it has been released on OTT. Had it come in the cinemas, it would have found the going tough.
Released 7-3-’25 on Netflix.
