Dhanush, Kriti Try Best To Save Venomous Love Tale - Tere Ishq Mein

The story (Himanshu Sharma and Neeraj Yadav) is of the tumultuous love of Shankar (Dhanush) and Mukti Beniwal (Kriti Sanon), the chalk-cheese combo that is bound to derail. It crashes. Similar stories have been done in some or other measure and content. This time it is a certain rawness that in a way sweeps you off your feet. It keeps you largely engaged — more than just curious. The emotive quotient is high. It is engaging for two primary reasons: The flow of narration is largely fluid (not without flaws, length being a major crisis) and some strong performances.

Shankar, a student leader, lives by the sword. He thrives by violence and always has the support of his friend Ved (Priyanshu Painyuhi). They gatecrash, chasing a hapless victim at a conference hall where Mukti is trying to convince her professors (Chitranjan Tripathi and Jaya Bhattacharya) that the violent streak in a human being is like an appendix and a non-surgical appendectomy is not only a cure, but a distinct definitive route ahead.

In the violent Shankar, Mukti finds an obvious guinea pig — waiting to be exploited. He, on the other hand, falls, hook, line and sinker. In fact, the love bait and the challenge to resist are open. Mukti is in a hurry to have her academic theses cleared. With minimal compunction she is ready to woo him and establish her theory on ‘violentochtomy’. These are other characters to the tale: Shankar’s dad, Raghav (Prakash Raj), Mukti’s dad, Yashwant (Tota Roy Choudhary — completely miscast as the rude, haughty dad), Captain Shekhawat (Vineet Kumar Singh).

From trading insults, she referring to him as a sewerage rat and he accusing her of the God syndrome, the twosome hit the entire gambit. The narrative runs diametrically between their past life and college and the present, where Shankar is now a Flight Lieutenant and Mukti a trained psychologist with the armed forces.

The story moves often fluidly but also meanders like when Shankar is preparing for the UPSC exam. Anand Rai misses out on a wonderful opportunity to highlight the platonic relationship between Mukti and Shankar even though it is possessive romance the other way around.

Arguably it was Hrishikesh Mukherjee who dealt with a healthy platonic relationship in ‘Bemisal’ between Amitabh Bachchan and Rakhee. Unfortunately, Anand lets go of a golden opportunity to enlarge the canvass of the man-woman relationship. As a Flight lieutenant, Shankar has anger issues and is forced to meet Mukti this time. Overnight roles change; misunderstandings remain. Only the wattage only goes up.

A.R. Rahman gives you some good music. His ‘Jigar Thanda’ is worth mentioning. The editor must take less leave. Two outstanding performances make ‘Tere Ishq Mein’ worth watching. Dhanush may carry a streak of a South Indian cinematic approach.

This, however, comes to his aid to emote according to not only the demand of the script but also the demand of the filmmaker Anand Rai is obviously catering to the gallery as perceived by him. This is also perhaps why Dhanush and Prakash Raj are chosen for the project. Loud sometimes, but amazingly nuanced, Dhanush is the master of all that he surveys.

Kriti Sanon is top class. She may fall just short of Anushka Sharma who you can imagine doing the role of a Punjabi lass with all the fizz and a tonne of maturity. She fails but rarely in this outing and keeps the audience involved with her intensity.

There is somewhere in the film a profound statement: “Waqt hum sab ko bania bana deta hai.” That is the problem for Anand Rai, too much for the gallery, too long for a balanced diet.