Do we need to have hopes from a film that has been in the cans for some years and whose lead stars are avoiding to promote the film even on social media? Especially if one of them is down-on-luck Neil Nitin Mukesh, who is seen in a lead role after ages. He is romancing a what-looks-like a pre-Masaan Richa Chadha in this supposedly young romantic Ishqeria. Directed by Prerna Wadhwan, the movie was shot some four years back. After going through the movie, how we wish this film should have been left in the cans itself!

Kuhu (Richa Chadha) joins a college in Mussoorie, where the students act like they are rejects from SOTY's St Theresa's. There she meets Raghav (Neil Nitin Mukesh), the head-boy who is studious and quite popular, though his shy nature doesn't allow him to have a love life. It is love at first sight for Kuhu who is determined to make him fall for her. With the help of her friends, Kuhu tries many ways to win Raghav's heart, and finally, she succeeds. Neil Nitin Mukesh Blessed With A Baby Girl!

On a parallel track, we see the aftermath of this college romance, when Raghav returns to Mussoorie seven years later to seek a divorce from Kuhu so that he can marry his new girlfriend (Mrinalini Sharma).

The movie begins quite awkwardly when Raghav drives to Kuhu's bookstore, shades and all, in a car that has tinted windows. He then walks down to the store, where a surprised Kuhu comes out to greet him. Before she could exchange any pleasantries, he declares that he wants a divorce and then promptly walks away. Like Kuhu, even I was stunned as to what the heck was that all about? A little BG needed, Raghav boy!

And then before the ridiculousness of the scene registers in, the movie suddenly jumps into a flashback to their college days. From thereon, Ishqeria becomes more and more of a disjointed mess, as the director fails to find a better way to narrate both the tracks and create an intelligible story.

The college portions fare slightly better here thanks to the scenes where Kuhu tries to woo Raghav. It's the only refreshing change that Ishqeria can boast of - here, we have a girl chasing a guy instead of the other way around. That's the only interesting part about this track. Otherwise, it is filled with embarrassing scenes, one-dimensional annoying characters and scenes where people fat-shame, slut-shame, poverty-shame, gender-shame others in the name of laughs.

The other track might be set years later, yet none of the characters shows any kind of mental growth. This track is filled with romantic melodrama long left back in the '90s. For some reason, the director has input a love triangle involving the leads and the hero's BFF (Manish Anand) that gets completely abandoned later, making us wonder what the heck that was all about.

Ishqeria is a movie where stupid characters make stupid decisions from the previous start till the end, and they blame each other. One of the worst things about Ishqeria is how the lead characters are written, especially that of Raghav. While Neil Nitin Mukesh tries to play him with the innocence of an injured bunny,  Raghav is a very confusing, irritating person with serious daddy issues (apparently his father wanted to abort him as a baby and he is resenting that even though he is still alive), whose rash decisions lead to all the issues in the film. His swaying from one girl to the other, make us wonder why both the girls even wanted to stay with him.

Kuhu, herself, seems to have no ambitions of her apart from waiting for her guy to return to her. Considering that Richa Chadha, known for her feisty, boldly-written roles, is playing her, this whole character feels weird. She even turns narrator to her own story, when frankly there was no need of one. It is just lazy story-telling, that the movie abandons later. Like many of the inconsistent things Ishqeria is prone to do!

The only good thing I want to say about the film is that, visually, it doesn't feel dated (to know how dated, they have a song picturised on Papon who you know is avoiding Bollywood after his reality show scandal). Otherwise, it is a terribly written, farcically directed saga filled with bad dialogues ('It is not as simple as black n white').

The performances

Richa Chadha is miscast in the role, as she doesn't look in any way as a first-year collegian going through puppy romance. It is only that she sometimes shows flashes of the wonder histrionics she possesses that makes us care for her. Neil Nitin Mukesh's presence in the film is a reminder of a time when he was once considered as a big deal after Johnny Gaddar and New York in patches. His performance is very conflicting - in some scenes, he is really good, and in some, it feels like Neil needs a refresher course in acting. Richa Chadha Joins Kangana Ranaut in Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Panga.

Among their friends, Manish Anand is decent, while Juby Devasia irritates. Raj Babbar and Mrinalini Sharma are so-so.

Yay!

- Looks good

Nay!

- Baaki sab!

Final Thoughts

When the actors themselves have given the film a wide berth, why do you want to bother with this incoherent Ishqeria! Give this malaria of a film a wide berth!

Rating:1out of 5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 20, 2018 11:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).