Nadaaniyan
Starring: Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor
Directed by Shauna Gautam
There is something to be said about the power of love when it is applied to a couple who has nothing better to do than swim in life’s shallow waters. A wise man from another, more enlightened era, in another film, has said, ‘The problem with today’s generation is that it has no problems.’
Seen in that (neon) light, Arjun(Ibrahim Ali Khan) and Pia(Khushi Kapoor) are like any other urbane drifters from Netflix’s popular rom-coms like The Kissing Booth, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and Anyone But You. Interestingly there is no intimacy between Arjun and Pia until the rom-com’s closing moments when Ibrahim shows his co-star what a kisser he is.
The acting chops will wait for a more opportune occasion.
Shauna Gautam’s directorial mood is constantly uptempo and ditzy. The film has a funky, flavourful, vibrant look. The callow characters speak in italics with no punctuation. The college campus is candyfloss arcadian.
The young cast seems to have been chosen with one underlined precondition: look good. Camera friendliness aligns the characters to the kind of fluffy hijinks that echo Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year.
While we have already seen Khushi Kapoor in two other films, Ibrahim Ali Khan makes his confident debut as a reluctant Loverboy. He seems to have inherited both his parents’ suave spontaneity and is, in fact, a lot less awkward than his father, Saif Ali Khan, in his debut.
A bunch of interesting veteran actors turn up to play the parents. But if you expect them to add wazan to the film’s wispy tone, think again. Everyone is in this for the confectionary delectation. In the parental gallery, only Jugal Hansraj whips up some interest, giving gyan to his screen-beta Ibrahim. No one in his or her right mind would approach this designedly “cool” film for any serious tips on how to live a meaningful life. Just slip in and slip out without expecting a reformative experience.
