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Ishq Vishk Rebound is a drab romance and dull comedy that even the intended teen audience might have a hard time keeping up with, sighs Mayur Sanap.
Years ago, when Shah Rukh Khan's Rahul from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai asserted, 'Pyaar dosti hai', his words struck a chord with the audience. In Ishq Vishk Rebound, the same relationship dynamic is revisited with a contemporary update.
A follow-up to the 2003 romantic-comedy Ishq Vishk, this bubblegum romance is a relationship drama that finds comfort in its gloss and stylishness without any emotional resonance beneath.
The story is centred around childhood besties, Sanya (Pashmina Roshan), Sahir (Jibraan Khan) and Raghav (Rohit Saraf).
Sanya and Sahir are dating each other.
Raghav starts seeing his collegemate Riya (Naila Grrewal).
Things take a turn when Sanya and Sahir break up, which somehow strains Raghav's relationship with Riya.
Sanya finds comfort in Raghav, and while nursing her broken heart, they fall in love with each other. This complicated dynamic sets the course of the relationship for all four.
Actually, forget about explaining the plot because it's virtually non-existent. Director Nipun Dharmadhikari, working on the script by Vaishali Naik, Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Pedgaonkar, delivers a sluggish and mostly incoherent endeavour that doesn't contain much.
The characters are cardboard cut-outs, their personalities turn 180 degrees at any second, and the equation they have with each other is so vapid.
Childhood sweethearts? What bond of super-cement was holding these people together, you wonder.
The music, which is positioned as the selling point of the film, feels dated with visual aesthetics inspired from a Dharma film. It is only Milind Jog's camerawork that adds freshness to the frames as he captures pretty locales of Dehradun.
Out of the four leads, Rohit Saraf is having most fun in his role and he has charming enough screen presence to lift a scene, even though his Fleabag-style fourth wall-breaking and talking to the camera feels jarring.
Pashmina, in her debut outing, is afforded with the showiest role of the film. Her Sanya has a perky persona with a self-absorbed, obnoxious attitude and yet, there's a sweet quality about her. But Pashmina lacks the charisma or necessary acting chops to get through the task.
Naila Grrewal and Jibraan Khan get short-changed by the script that leaves them sinfully under-utilised. They are initially positioned as significant but are in fact, marginal to the proceedings (Naila is even forgotten in the climax).
Veterans Supriya Pilgaonkar and Sheeba Chaddha show up in scenes that attempt to infuse some wisdom into this fluff but it's all just random hokum making up for superficial interactions between the characters.
Ishq Vishk Rebound mindlessly bounces from one scene to another without ever finding a rhythm to settle into.
The result is a drab romance and dull comedy that even the intended teen audience might have a hard time keeping up with.
