‘Feels Like Ishq’ review: All you need is (not too much) love
Netflix’s anthology of six meet-cute tales have a couple of endearing moments however principally feels sickly-sweet
Since Netflix, it appears, has vowed to launch anthologies each few months, we get one other one — after Lust Tales, Ghost Tales, Paava Kadhaigal, Pitta Kathalu and others — within the type of Feels Like Ishq.
It’s a compilation of 5 boy-meets-girl (plus one girl-meets-girl) tales, every lasting roughly half an hour. In contrast to Lust Tales (which additionally handled relationships), the shorts on this anthology are light-hearted. The transient for the writers and filmmakers, it appears, was to provide you with a “candy love story” that might give the target market — teenagers and 20-somethings — that quintessential “heat, fuzzy” feeling.
Additionally Learn | Get ‘First Day First Present’, our weekly e-newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. You’ll be able to subscribe at no cost right here
The writers and administrators — Monisha Thyagarajan and Ruchir Arun (Save The Da(y)te); Gazal Dhaliwal and Tahira Kashyap Khurrana (Quaranteen Crush); Sulagna Chatterjee and Danish Aslam (She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not); Saurabh George Swamy and Anand Tiwari (Star Host); Arati Rawal and Sachin Kundalkar (Interview); Shubhra Chatterjee and Jaydeep Sarkar (Ishq Mastana) — have sincerely tried to make their tales candy. However after binging the shorts, as a substitute of heat and fuzzy, one feels the nausea of overeating desserts.
Sachin’s The Interview and Danish’s She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not stand out among the many lot.
The Interview is the one movie set exterior the higher/upper-middle class milieu. Shahana (Zayn Marie Khan) and Rajeev (Neeraj Madhav), belonging to completely different states and faiths, meet at an interview for a salesman place at an digital retailer in Mumbai. She is an enterprising younger girl and he, a Malayali newcomer to the massive metropolis, who struggles along with his language and confidence. Neeraj’s (Moosa in Household Man) efficiency shines essentially the most within the anthology. His character, at one level, confesses to Shahana, “I’m Mohanlal in my village. However coming right here… my Hindi… Nervous. Totally flop.” Along with his Malayalam-laced Hindi, shy smiles, and some mannerisms (like adjusting his wristwatch and clasping the shoulder straps of his backpack), he brings alive a small-town man looking for his toes in a metropolis. Interview can be the least contrived movie within the sequence.
Learn Extra | Malayalam actor Neeraj Madhav on performing within the Netflix present ‘Feels Like Ishq’
She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not introduces a unusual, fourth-wall-breaking protagonist, Muskaan (Sanjeeta Bhattacharya), asking “What’s love?” to a customer support agent of a courting app that she plans to delete on her twenty third birthday after looking via profiles of some guys. Muskaan falls for her cock-sure colleague, Tarasha (Saba Azad), however is conflicted about revealing her love. Queer romance on this movie, fortunately, is neither handled as a gimmick nor overemphasised. The brief additionally reveals one among its fundamental characters going via an nervousness assault, one thing that hasn’t been seen in mainstream movies. Like Muskaan tells Tarasha at one level, “In any case, Bollywood wouldn’t get this love story.”
A nonetheless from the ‘She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not’ phase in ‘Feels Like Ishq’
| Picture Credit score: Bhavesh Dhawani/Netflix
The remainder of the movies within the sequence, nonetheless, fall in steadfast Bollywood territory.
Tahira’s Quaranteen Crush is simply possibly an exception. It explores the nascent romance of a school-going boy in Chandigarh, Maninder (Mihir Ahuja). He likes a woman, Nimmi (Kajol Chugh), who has quickly moved in subsequent door to quarantine. He befriends her on the pretext of delivering meals. He texts her from his mother’s cellphone (he doesn’t have one), pretending to be his mother. From his home windows, he zooms into her room via the cellphone digital camera. However his innocence is established (there’s a humorous scene whereby he expresses awkwardness when his father —a bra salesman — explains the differing types and sizes of his merchandise). Then, when he reads a information article a few man arrested for stalking his neighbour, he questions his actions. Mihir is convincing as a schoolboy conflicted with these emotions. However this battle will get resolved too quickly and a contented ending awaits.
In all probability because of the lesser-than-usual screentime, plots and characters appear unnatural or undercooked. It’s extra evident in the remainder of the three movies.
Save The Da(y)te has a bridesmaid (Avni performed by Radhika Madan) and a marriage planner (Jay performed by Amol Parashar) attempting to find the runaway bride, who develops chilly toes on the eve of her wedding ceremony. The author and maker maybe needed to speak concerning the professionals and cons of marriage via their protagonists. So, in what’s alleged to be a high-tense state of affairs whereas they seek for a lacking bride, we get traces like, “Marriage is sort of a mutual fund. Excessive dangers result in excessive rewards, ” and “…they steadiness one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Communication is the important thing. Working away isn’t the answer.” There’s a little bit of Geet-Adi (Jab We Met) vibe between the protagonists ,however most frequently they communicate like characters from a script quite than folks in real-life.
Learn Extra | Tanya Maniktala and Amol Parashar speak about their new Netflix romantic anthology
If Save The Da(y)te merely references Zoya Akthar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Anand Tiwari’s Star Host does a hat-tip (deliberately or in any other case) by making one among its protagonists overcome worry and expertise a profoundly life-altering second by doing an adventure-tourism exercise. Like Hrithik’s character in ZNMD, Tara (Simran Jehani) additionally finds love (Aditya performed by Rohit Saraf) throughout a trip.
The ultimate brief, Ishq Mastana, is ready within the milieu of protests. The woman (Mehr performed by Tanya Maniktala) here’s a insurgent with a trigger and the man (Kabir performed by Skand Thakur) is self-centred. By way of the movie, we get songs by Kabir Das, discussions on faith, and contours like, “I don’t [fight for a cause] to alter the world. I do it for me. So, that this world doesn’t change me.” No line sticks with us, no character stick with us. All of them appear superficial.
Sufficient, Netflix, you in all probability must take a break from anthologies. Oh, wait a minute… (realises Navarasa in Tamil is releasing in two weeks).
Feels Like Ishq is at present streaming on Netflix
