Why Does Netflix's 'Nadaaniyan' Fail as a Bollywood Rom-Com?

Netflix’s latest Bollywood romantic comedy, ‘Nadaaniyan’, was released over the weekend, and netizens are not loving Bollywood’s new reel couple, Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor.

‘Nadaaniyan’ is about the rich teenager, Pia Jaisingh, who hires a middle-class student, Arjun Mehta, to be her fake boyfriend for Rs. 25,000 per week.

The fake boyfriend trope has been explored before with high-school romances like ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ and ‘The Perfect Date’. Although these movies were not very nuanced, they were still able to deliver a decent romance, which ‘Nadaaniyan’ fails to do.

The onus for the romantically lacking romance falls on writers Ishita Moitra, Riva Razdan Kapoor, and Jehan Handa. They have written a script that is devoid of any emotion, featuring lines which are very forgettable and do not help with the development of the romance at all. However, the lack of depth is not limited to the romantic lead couple, but it expands to other key moments and relationships in the plotline, reducing their emotional impact to zero.

The script shows that the writers have heavily depended on stereotypical tropes and nostalgia for old Bollywood rom-coms for the film. However, by doing so, the writers failed to create an emotionally nuanced and creative plot for this romantic comedy.

The writers have also tried to address key social issues in the film like classism, marital issues, and patriarchy, but they did so in a very dry and dull manner. The discrimination Arjun faces for his socio-economic background is not something viewers can empathize with because the writers have avoided tackling the nuances of the issue.

The same is true of other issues in the plot such as Pia’s parents’ martial problems and the Jaisinghs’ patriarchal demeanor. These issues are constantly spelled out to emphasize that there are problems in the almost-utopic bubble of ‘Nadaaniyan,’ instead of carving them out holistically.

The visuals of the film do not do anything to enhance the story either. Cinematographer Anuj Samtani has shot the film in frames that are either used in TV commercials or low-quality TV series. The soft filters do not enhance the visuals either, instead, they have the opposite impact, making the film look low quality.

The story’s progression is also ruined by the editing; director Shauna Gautam and editors Vaishnavi Bhate and Sidhanth Seth limit Khan and Kapoor’s romantic arc to two to three montages, with the lead couple having very few scenes where they talk to each other, reducing the emotional tone of their romance.

‘Nadaaniyan’ is Khan’s debut film and Kapoor’s third film after the recent rom-com ‘Loveyapa’. Khan mostly robotically delivers Arjun’s lines and is not able to maintain chemistry with Kapoor or with other co-actors, constantly being awkward.

The same is the case with Kapoor’s Pia, who is too prim and proper, unable to create chemistry with Khan and her other cast members, which the rich girl trope does not cover up. However, it is not only their acting that limits the potential of the story; it is also the dubbing for the two characters, which is very off, making them look out of sync with other actors in various scenes.

Although the story is repetitive, ‘Nadaaniyan’ could have been so much more with the right kind of writing, direction, and acting. However, as it is, the film does not make a good Bollywood rom-com.