The new Netflix original movie Nadaaniyan focuses on the usually interesting fake dating trope, but it ultimately disappoints.
The main character, Pia Jaisingh (Khushi Kapoor), has a falling out with her friends because she gets texts from a boy, Aayan Nanda, who has been the childhood crush for her friend, Sahira.
To convince her friends that she does not have any feelings for Nanda, Jaisingh tells them that she already has a boyfriend. She in fact does not have a boyfriend and has to quickly find a fake one, leading to her meeting Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan), a new student at her school.
The movie continues with the two of them getting closer because they are trying to convince others they are dating.
Overall, the film feels as if someone wrote the script thinking that was what teenagers talk like, so it is very unrealistic. Also, the acting itself is terrible and could be improved immensely.
There is no chemistry between Kapoor and Ali Khan whatsoever and the movie feels stiff besides the scenes where everyone is arguing with each other, but even those feel overly scripted.
Additionally, the film uses characters from previous movies, such as Mrs. Braganza Malhotra (Archana Puran Singh) from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998. However, even using iconic characters from classic movies does not help the production of this film.
Instead of using this movie as a debut for nepotism babies such as Ali Khan, they could have gotten better actors and a better storyline that was not a cliché.
If viewers want to explore the Bollywood genre, this movie is not recommended. It’s much more enjoyable to watch earlier films from the late 90s to early 2010s.
