Director: Avishek Ghosh
Writer: Sudeep Nigam
Cast: Mohit Raina, Lara Dutta, Kanwaljit Singh, Neena Gupta, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Suhail Nayyar, Mrinal Dutt
The title card of Ishq-e-Nadan is written in Hindi and English, but not Urdu, the language from which it is being transliterated. This decision to reduce the language to an aesthetic, signalling poetry, perfume, and what-have-you is a sign of what is to come: A stretch of verse overlaid on visuals of characters walking past each other, lives crossing; empty, pretty words masquerading as meaning.
Ashutosh (Mohit Raina), who works at Blue Blossom Hotel, is grieving the wife he lost four years ago, until he runs into the industrious Ramona (Lara Dutta) who checks into both, the hotel and his weepy, poetry-churning heart. The shy Charulata (Neena Gupta), visiting her daughter from Indore grows close with the notorious, flirty Subhash Kapoor (Kanwaljit Singh), a lapsed filmmaker who lives in the same building. An aimless Piyush (Suhail Nayyar) meets ambitious Sia, a pregnant woman (Shriya Pilgaonkar) who has moved back to Mumbai after leaving her boyfriend in America.
Each actor brings an uncomplicated, effortless presence to the film, and it is somewhat the triumph of the acting that glazes over the writing, which is stuck thinking in types. The delivery is always conversational even if the dialogue is heavier. The twinkle in the eye is propulsive even if the reasons for it are starchy.
