Aap Jaisa Koi - There's an app for that

 

Aap Jaisa Koi

Hindi, 2025

Genre: Romance

Director: Vivek Soni

Stars: R Madhavan, Fatima Sona Shaikh, Ayesha Raza, Manish Chaudhary

Mohan's Measure ⭐

When style rules over substance, it might as well be called a fashion show, rather than a movie. Sadly, for an audience expecting breezy Rom-Com,  Aap Jaisa Koi is just that, fluff, of the amoral and insensitive variety, intended to show a less than convinced world just how modern India has become. One only need to read viewer comments to show how the director and writers don't have a clue.

The plot, if one would allow for me to call it that, centers around him, a nerdy, socially inept Sanskrit professor; and her, a fun-loving and, may I dare say it, "modern" French professor.  Their meeting is arranged, but the rest of the plot is less than traditional. Soon, it is found out that she has a less than preferred past, and he, being an honorable man, cannot handle it.

It is at this point the story takes a huge tangent into a world of online porn, promiscuity and extra marital affairs.  Mr. Madhavan looks like an aging fish out of water in this, his paunch being hidden as much as possible, and terms like "young man" being thrown about to convince us that he can still be a romantic lead.  Mr. Shaikh moves about like she is on a catwalk at a fashion show, her emotions far from revealed in her stoic facial expressions. The moments when they are just about to kiss become repetitive to the point of irritation.  And when they dance, albeit slowly, it's like watching senior NTR acting like a college student in his 80s movies.

Aging actors meets modern life when more skeletons in the closet are revealed, thinning an already bad plot.  At this point comes, of course, the great message of this movie, that women should be given the right to be happy and do what they want to celebrate themselves.  Powerful stuff to be sure, but the stereotypes around this go back to...remember the NTR dance?

I won't dance around the subject and will come right out and say it, this is a bad movie!