Nadaaniyan review: Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor's film is completely unnecessary

Nadaaniyan review: The trailer ofNadaaniyan- which marks the debut of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh's son Ibrahim Ali Khan in Bollywood opposite Sridevi's daughter Khushi Kapoor - had given us all enough hints at how bland a film it would be. When I sat down to watch the movie, my expectations were already low considering that the trailer looked unimpressive. But the film, helmed by Shauna Gautam and backed by Karan Johar's Dharmatic, is far lower than what I had expected it to be. A two-hour bland romance drama, Nadaaniyan makes Gen Z -the film's target audience- look dumb, dumber, dumbest, and its lead characters one dimensional with zero sense of rationale and practicality.

The high school drama is based on the same template ofStudent Of The Year where students prep for a big competition- in this case- a national Debating competition that secures a spot in an IVY league college - even as they meander to find themselves while falling deep in love. Johar, who directed the two SOTYs has often been blamed for making a flimsy film that was just a launchpad of new star kids, made the flimsy world SOTY still believable but sadly Gautam's take on the high school generation finding love amid choosing career and college is too superfluous and flat.

Plot of Nadaaniyan

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She is super rich and a popular girl in school. He is the new kid in school who has the looks and the brains. In order to save her friendship with her girl gang, Pia 'hires' Arjun to be her fake boyfriend. She offers money, he needs it to for his future startup and they agree to act to be in love.

Predictably though feelings get in the way and mess things up.

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There are also familial issues at hand for Pia, who comes from a dysfunctional family. Her father (Suniel Shetty) and grandfather (Barun Chanda) run the family law firm and have craved to have a male heir to take over the business in due course of time. Her mother (Mahima Chaudhary), unable to provide a son for the family has lived her life mostly in depression which has led to strains in her relationship. The disjointed family is also elitist much like the students of Falcon High where Pia studies. And just like the students, Arjun manages to charm his way into the family's heart with good looks, good looks and good looks.

I am not sure if the makers at all took this film seriously while making it because the plot points make you say 'What?' at regular intervals. A woke heroine who right at the beginning of the film tells us she is privileged, is shown to be a closet debater and brainy, even though she is obtuse enough to lie about her relationship and even pay the boy to pay act. The hero- supposed to be a scholarship student and smart- impresses students to make him the captain of the school debating team by showing his six-pack abs. There is also a Prince (Meezaaan Jafri) who makes for a third angle in the film -who sticks to prototypes and keeps addressing himself as 'hum' (we) while living in a palace and being the girl's oldest friend and possibly a fling. Again, the character is unnecessary to the plot and not fleshed out.

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Poor acting, poor script

Ibrahim Ali and Khushi Kapoor- both extremely one-dimensional actors- lack any kind of energy and share zero chemistry. The dialogue delivery is flat, their faces are devoid of any expression and they struggle through emotional as well as romantic scenes. In the past, Johar has launched several star kids, who have fought that nepotism tag and managed to prove their talent as actors in films outside of Dharma. But Ibrahim and Khushi lack any kind of spark and one wonders why are they in the movies at all. Sure, they look good but can vanity alone help them with a long-lasting career in films?

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The older actors- Suniel Shetty, Mahima Chaudhary, Dia Mirza and Jugal Hansraj- who form the parents of these dimwitted kids are credible but the poor script by Riva Razdan Kapoor gives them zero scope to leave any kind of impact. In Dharma's universe, the Noida boy is supposed to be poor (or middle class?) in comparison to the south Delhi rich brat he is fake dating. The same Noida boy still manages to live in a bungalow with his teacher mom and doctor dad and have cozy sit-outs and dinners in the garden with his girl. The rich in this universe are predictably hollow with an amiable bank account and troubled marriages.

The problem with Nadaaniyan is that just like its title, the makers assume the audience to be foolish to take in the extremely synthetic universe it has created which focuses on vanity and is woke to just tick boxes.

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There is Archana Puran Singh - playing Mrs Braganza Malhotra - with a hat tip to her character to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, who wants to learn all the lingo of Gen Z and be woke, There is also a token Orry cameo too - you know - make it more relatable to the younger generation. But just like Singh's character, the film tries too hard to tap into the mood of the Instagram and reel generation - making Nadaaniyan a foolish attempt at romance drama.

Johar may have built a name by creating a superfluous universe early in his career with films like Student Of The Year and characters like Poo and Miss Braganza, but they remain iconic to date. Unfortunately, Nadaaniyan takes Johar's hit template but fails to create a make-believe word convincing.

Throughout the film, Khushi's character keeps hitting Ibrahim's character in the arm as he squirms in pain each time. I had the same expression as Ibrahim while watching the two-hour-long movie.

Nadaaniyaan is streaming on Netflix.