Director: Nipun Dharmadhikari
Writer: Vaishali Naik, Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Padgaonkar
Cast: Rohit Saraf, Pashmina Roshan, Naila Grrewal, Jibraan Khan
Duration: 106 mins
Available in: Theatres
A young Bollywood screenwriter named Raghav (Rohit Saraf) breaks the fourth wall and says: “Writing, like love, is very hard”. It’s a deep thought. In one fell swoop, he manages to offend writers, film-makers, lovers and Fleabag fans at once. He then proceeds to write the worst love triangle in the history of love triangles, and naturally it’s based on his life. The film he pitches is called Ishq Vishk 2.0 and the superscript dot is replaced by an emoji heart. His producer is played by Kusha Kapila, so one is never sure if she’s serious or kidding. Raghav’s process is simple. He flashes back to a year ago – maybe it’s 3, maybe it’s 10, it doesn’t really matter – when his ‘story’ begins with best friends Sanya (Pashmina Roshan) and Sahir (Jibraan Khan) in his hometown, Dehradun. They’re a volatile couple in the sort of way that suggests Sanya’s sociopathic rage is cute and Sahir’s alpha masculinity is sweet.
Based on their attire, the climate in Dehradun seems to be different for each of the three characters. For Sanya it’s always Goa, for Sahir it’s mostly London, and for Raghav it’s Yashraj weather. Raghav falls for the environment-conscious Riya (Naila Grrewal) – she is introduced in a scene where a fellow student is seen holding a drum with ‘Protest!’ explicitly written on it. The exposition is deep. Things get weird when Sahir dumps Sanya to join the Army (“Grow up, there is more to life than dating!”), and buddies Raghav and Sanya soon develop feelings for each other and start a secret relationship. Raghav thinks it’s a rebound, but golf champ Sanya aggressively misses a putt in a tennis dress (attention to detail: Her absent dad probably named her after Sania Mirza) to prove otherwise. This is seconds before Raghav encourages her to lighten up and “chuck it” by literally chucking her expensive golf clubs into the water. The metaphor is deep. As is the pond. I’ll stop here, lest I start sounding like a Reddit college gossip thread.
