The Rom-Com Reload

Aarsh Vora believes romance isn't dead — it just needs better conflicts, flawed characters and empathy

- By Justin Rao

Screenwriter Aarsh Vora talks about his life like it's the opening montage of a coming-of-age film. He grew up in a joint family, living in a sea-facing duplex in Napean Sea Road, Mumbai. “I am a South Bombay boy by location, not by my bank balance,” Vora jokes, insisting that he is essentially a “middle-class kid who grew up around rich people.”

“I was an asthmatic kid. I never went out to play, so I would mostly be in my room with my action figures, turning them into characters in my own stories, renting out video cassettes of films and watching one movie every week,” says Vora, who has now emerged as the go-to writer for romantic-comedies and young-adult stories in the Hindi film industry.

Vora has been a writer on Netflix’s hit Mismatched (2020), Karan Johar-backed Meenakshi Sundareshwar (2021), Yami Gautam-Pratik Gandhi starrer Dhoom Dhaam (2025) and the upcoming Param Sundari, which is headlined by Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, the screenwriter talks about his journey to films, why he loves romantic movies, the challenges of penning one today and why the genre will never run out of newer conflicts.

THR India: Is it important to believe in love to write a love story?

Aarsh Vora: It is extremely important for me. In some capacity, even if you’re a cynic, that cynicism has to come from the fact that you have once believed in love and that has not worked out.

THR India: But there are some people who think rom-coms are easier to write.