A factory-made rom-com

IN NADAANIYAN, Ibrahim Ali Khan Pataudi and Khushi Kapoor ask a chatbot, "What do people do in love?" Ibrahim's Arjun Mehta points out the irony: "Now, a robot is going to teach us what 'real' people do in love?"

- KARTIK BHARDWAJ

IN NADAANIYAN, Ibrahim Ali Khan Pataudi and Khushi Kapoor ask a chatbot, "What do people do in love?" Ibrahim's Arjun Mehta points out the irony: "Now, a robot is going to teach us what 'real' people do in love?" Such a scene in a Dharma film is like a warning bell. Even those who once upon a time presented love in all its mushy glory have run out of ideas.

Both love and storytelling seem AI-generated in this Netflix rom-com. The plot feels like a first draft of any American teen show. Every character seems like a prototype without any nuance or depth. The actors seem to state the dialogues rather than emoting them. Its visuals, to quote a YouTube comment, feel like "a Close-Up ad."

The problem is that Nadaaniyan isn't even trying to present an original story, to offer some romantic charm, or to be anything more than a star-kid launch vehicle.