No Time For Love

Does Bollywood have a relationship problem? They may get the agony of modern love right, but the characters’ self-absorption makes the experience tiring. A look at recent portrayals:

Alia Bhatt’s commitment-phobic Kaira in Dear Zindagi makes us feel little to nothing about her quarter-life crisis.

There is pining, and then some, but Ranbir Kapoor’s friend-zoned Ayan in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil evokes more eyerolls than sighs.

Boy and girl meet, fall in love and part ways, only to find each other again and realising their “love” was a delusion. But Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor’s self-inflicted angst in Tamasha have us unsinged.

Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra and Vaani Kapoor attempt the no-strings-attached in Shuddh Desi Romance, to no avail.