Aap Jaisa Koi (2025) Review!!!

Synopsis – An unconventional love story between a reserved Sanskrit teacher and a spirited French instructor.

My Take – You just can’t go wrong with an old-school romance, right? Well, that’s what I expected to watch when I began streaming this latest Dharmatic Entertainment feature on Netflix. Don’t get me wrong, while it has all the trapping of a new age love story, its protagonists, despite belonging to modern times, are believers of the old-school romance, the one that grows. The one that is sincere and honest.

And just when you think that you are in for a sweet liaison between an odd pair, the film switches and heads in a direction so completely unexpected that I was taken aback for a moment.

But thankfully, director Vivek Soni (Meenakshi Sundareshwar) seemed assured about the story he wanted to tell, and along with the help of his writers Jehan Handa and Radhika Anand eases us into a smooth and necessary path that is all about women’s agency and their never ending bargain with patriarchy. It takes time to get there, but ends up being a winner.

Yes, it shares a strong resemblance with Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023), filmmaker Karan Johar’s bigger, flashier and more boisterous blockbuster, but director Soni’s unique visual language, knitted together with fine dialogues, a decent soundtrack, and a crucial second half, ensures to wins you over. Elevating its familiarity to a pleasurable watch.

The story follows Shrirenu Tripathi (R. Madhavan), a Jamshedpur-based Sanskrit professor, who is still a bachelor at 42 and a virgin. Tired of his loneliness after being rejected by multiple proposals, upon the instance of his best friend/roommate Deepak (Namit Das) ends up subscribing to a new sex chat app called Aap Jaisa Koi, where he ends up encountering multiple woman who oozes sexuality at him.

But all this goes for a toss when Joy (Saheb Chatterjee), a neighbor and client of Shrirenu’s sister-in-law Kusum (Ayesha Raza Mishra) ends up approaching with a proposal of his 32 year-old Kolkata based niece, Madhu Bose (Fatima Sana Shaikh). Like him, she is also a teacher, albeit her subject is French.

Though, he is initially reserved about her beauty, their age difference and other contrasting values, Shrirenu soon finds himself falling in love with her when she gently starts teasing him about his traits. That is until at their engagement ceremony, Madhu says something that triggers a memory in him, sending the two’s potential relationship down a tremulous path. From the taboo around single men in their 40’s, the story shifts into a commentary on patriarchy.

Shedding the spotlight on the messiness of man-woman relationships, women’s desires, misogyny, masculine hypocrisy, morality, feminism, extramarital affairs, gender roles and most importantly, love against a backdrop of pastel-hued Kolkata, piano symphonies, sitar melodies and a whole lot of pauses and silences pregnant with emotions left unsaid.

Running for 115 minutes, the screenplay moves at a meandering, languorous pace. There’s a vintage like charm looming large over the narrative. It doesn’t make lofty promises. Neither does it attempt to be something it’s not. It’s simple, minimal and subtle. Rather than making the film in a contrasting tone, the story shows two characters from two generations, two emotional realities and two different definitions of freedom.

The film angered me at several instances as it reflected over the fact that women are always forgiving and have to be because men refuse to just grow up. Like the scene where Shrirenu tells Madhu that he can take her back and will “allow” her to do stuff according to her will but to certain limits. It is sincere in registering its protest against male chauvinism and makes a valid point about how such behaviors stem more from nurture than nature and so, there is always hope for change.

Yes, the film also tries to say too much. There’s a long-winded justification or rather glorification of an extra-marital affair, which is rather left half-cooked. But in the end, this is love story about two emotionally complex people who didn’t fall in love with each other at first sight, but eventually discover it on their own terms with mutual respect.

The film throws a small light on dating apps as well, where Madhu is more open in this tech-driven world, whereas Shrirenu remains reserved, and he is pushed to try dating apps to find someone. This was also served in a contrasting manner to build on the original plot of the film, along with a relatively touching moment.

Performance wise, R. Madhavan, still carrying shades of Manu Sharma from Tanu Weds Manu franchise, truly internalizes his nerdy character and is very believable as a character who doesn’t realize his patriarchal traits. Fatima Sana Shaikh, other than looking like a dream, nails her part beautifully, showing herself as an adoring and independent woman who doesn’t show her feminism in anger. The two share a sublime chemistry that makes you roots for them.

In supporting roles, Namit Das, Manish Chaudhary, Shubhronil Chatterjee, Shriyam Bhagnani, Sanjeev Wilson, Anubha Fatehpuria, Beena Banerjee, Ananya Chatterjee, Kumar Kanchan Ghosh, Ritu Chaudhry Seth, Pubali Sanyal, Shashie Vermaa, Divyam Dubey, Sachin Kavetham and Karan Wahi are good.

However, it is Ayesha Raza Mishra who turns out to be the ultimate show stealer, bringing the film together with her strong dialogue on patriarchy. On the whole, ‘Aap Jaisa Koi‘ is a fairly charming love story anchored by its uninhibited voice and sublime chemistry between its leads.