Tere Ishk Mein movie review: Dhanush, Kriti Sanon’s outdated, heavy-on-melodrama film takes us back to dark ages

But the one thing Tere Ishk Mein never loses sight of is its leading man, played by Dhanush, as the epitome of a lover who has no business being the centre of any narrative in this day and age: an ultra-violent college student whose only job is to break bones while chasing political rivals down the corridors of Delhi University, forcing his attentions on a girl whose interest in him is strictly academic, at least to begin with, while shouting: agar main pyaar mein pad gaya, toh poori Dilli jala doonga.

Also Read | Tere Ishk Mein music review: AR Rahman delivers the standout Hindi album of the year, with minor misses

Even in 2013, Dhanush’s character’s slitting-his-wrists in his pyaar-ka-paagalpan being papered over by belated calming was a problem. In 2025, so many elements in the film are problematic at so many levels, starting with a ‘hero’ whose uncontrollable temper can’t be in all honesty explained away by his mother-less childhood, with a perfectly supportive father (Prakash Raj) at his back. Dousing PhD scholar Mukti’s (Kriti Sanon) potential boyfriends with petrol, and fire-bombing her IAS father’s (Tota Roy Chowdhury) house isn’t intensity, it’s just toxicity, and what can one say of Mukti’s slipping down the path of alcoholic misery? It’s damaging to the whole idea of a female lead being able to stick to her point of view: refusing to be cowed by a guy who ‘can’t handle rejection’ looked as if it was an initial choice, and then the plot gives up on her. Improbable much? And what is Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub doing here, in a walk- on part which adds nothing to the film?

Dhanush is a terrific actor, and the way he goes all in with the bashing and slapping and thrashing — throwing in a ghastly crass comment at Mukti’s professors about sexual availability for good measure — does take you in when he is at it. But his character is nothing but the reddest of all red flags I’ve seen in a while: it’s unbelievable that a contemporary film will try and shove down our throats that most toxic of male tropes — what the male lover wants, the male lover will get — whether he is the nikamma, roaming around with best friend Ved (Priyanshu Painyuli) in the first half, or the bravest pilot that the Indian air force has, ignoring his commanding officer’s (Vineet Kumar Singh) orders to show his bravery.

Also Read | Gustakh Ishq movie review: Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah are up against forced melodrama, flat storytelling

Wait. Shankar is not just merely brave: he is ‘outrageous, outstanding, out-of-hand’ in the words of an admiring flight-mate; he is ‘aggressive, angry, alpha’ in the words of a woman who once had a problem with him being all these things, and tried to turn him into a ‘kanya rashi ka ladka’, in Shankar’s laced-with-contempt description.

So being soft and gentle is not manly? Tell me again, why are we glorifying this ‘aggressive, angry, alpha’ man? Can this be our hero in 2025? Or we now, post Animal and Saiyyara, are decisively back in the dark ages?

Tere Ishk Mein movie cast: Dhanush, Kriti Sanon, Prakash Raj, Priyanshu Painyuli, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub
Tere Ishk Mein movie director: Aanand L Rai
Tere Ishk Mein movie rating: 1 star