Tere Ishk Mein movie review: Dhanush, Kriti Sanon’s film is a big RED flag that celebrates toxicity of all kinds

Things are very easy in Aanand L Rai’s world. A local goon who doesn’t know the full form of UPSC in one scene can clear the prelims in the next. A man who is in and out of jail for creating a ruckus on campus can become one of the bravest officers of the Indian Air Force. A raging alcoholic, who is popping anxiety pills by the hour, is a counsellor for the Defence forces (god save our soldiers from such counsellors) and given the task to counsel a problematic officer at the Indo-China border, while she is herself 9 months pregnant. Call it easy or indulgence, but Rai’s latest film Tere Ishk Mein- starring Dhanush and Kriti Sanon- has plenty of such obscure stuff decorating a very problematic story. The film celebrates toxicity like a festival, and glorifies pain and suffering in the name of love.

What’s the plot of Tere Ishk Mein?

If the film's trailer didn’t already warn you about all the emotional upheaval the two lead characters go through, here’s what writers Himanshu Sharma and Neeraj Yadav are trying to tell. Mukti(Sanon) wants to do her PHd in how violent behaviour can be transformed by counselling and therapy. Her Delhi University professors aren’t convinced about her topic. Enter Shankar (Dhanush), a local goon, Delhi University Student Union presidential candidate, who hits more than he talks. A brooding, angry man, who only understands the language of violence, seems like Mukti's perfect case study - and someone she can ‘handle’ (she keeps saying the word as if he were a pet gone rogue) and transform.

Shankar is obviously enamoured by her beauty, and they decide to hang out together. She gives him a disclaimer- she is not willing to fall in love with him, but plays the part just to get her work done, while he is more than eager to be seen around with the hot girl on campus. Sparks flow, mostly from Shankar’s side, and he sits when she asks him to, takes in a few punches when she wants him to, and pretends to be a changed person, just so that her thesis gets accepted.

Things go awry after two months, when Shankar realises he is in love, and she is not. And like a privileged man that Indian films keep throwing at us, he just can’t seem to take no. He pours petrol over a possible suitor of Mukti’s, burns her house down in rage when he realises she and her pompous IAS officer dad (Tota RoyChowdhury) have not kept their part of the deal. It doesn’t help that Mukti is never really clear about her feelings towards him. She doesn't say a proper no, but looks teary-eyed and in fear while Shankar creates havoc around her.

Years later, they meet again. This time, Shankar is a problematic IAF officer who needs counselling for his raging temper, and she is an emotional wreck who is strangely given the task to fix him again. Everyone seems blind around them and does not notice how the two need help themselves, and does not save each other. Problematic, they both remain, though.

What does not work in Tere Ishk Mein?

Mostly everything. The film’s problematic story glorifies toxicity to no end. The man needs therapy, but his rage is justified because the girl he fell in love with led him on. The girl is self-obsessed and breaks into long monologues often, analysing her case study- Shankar- almost blind in not understanding that she is leading him on. All the time. At one point, Shankar calls Mukti - Murkh Aurat- foolish woman, and she truly is. She is enabling him to behave a certain way, and when he gets a vision in life, all thanks to her father’s taunt, she wants to take credit for the transformation.

In the latter half of the film, as Mukti is on the path of self-destruction - because she is a murkh aurat, as Shankar pointed out she is shown to have liver cirrhosis and is 9 months pregnant. She pops pills and gulps down whiskey and sits across from Shankar, who smokes away to control his anger. Everything is wrong about this scene, and no one points that out.

Rai and Rahman have collaborated earlier in films like Raanjhanaa and Atrangi Re- which had memorable music. Tere Ishk Mein has no songs that are worth a second listen.

Just when you think the film can’t get more insufferable, they bring in Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub from the Raanjhanaa universe, referring to his dead friend Kundan and insisting Shankar would not get relief from his pain just yet. Such a pointless cameo and such wasted potential of an actor.

What works

The actors make Tere Ishk Mein watchable. Dhanush plays the raging, toxic Shankar with great intensity; however, his Kundan act from Raanjhanaa was far more enjoyable. Here, the writing gives him ample scope to perform a toxic guy, but the character itself is so annoying that you don't want to sympathise. Kriti Sanon, who has in films like Mimi, Do Patti, has proved her mettle as an actor, delivers well to her part. The actress is particularly good in the emotional scenes.

Prakash Raj, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Priyanshu Painyuli are also there as supporting cast but have limited scope to shine. Priyanshu’s character simply disappears in the second half after playing the loyal friend to Shankar in his college years.

Final Verdict

Tere Ishk Mein comes at a time when there has been a lot of discussion around toxicity and glorification of the alpha male in films like Kabir Singh and Animal. While these films, along with Luv Ranjan’s brand of cinema that makes all women the villain and root cause of destruction of the world, have been loved by the audience, they have also opened up discussion about how it is not okay to glorify such problematic behaviour. But Aanand L Rai and Himanshu Sharma don’t seem to pay any heed to such discussion. The duo in the past have made fun of mental health and bipolarity in Attrangi Re and compared a dwarf to a chimp in Zero, and now are glorifying toxic alpha men destroying everything around them in the name of love.

Tere Ishk Mein left me laughing out loud in sheer frustration. Bollywood really needs to stop glorifying toxicity. This is not love.

Tere Ishk Mein is now running in theatres across the country.