Aadha Ishq First Episode Review: Aamna Sharif and Gaurav Arora weave a messy tale of complex love
Starring Aamna Sharif, Gaurav Arora, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Pratibha Ranta and others, Aadha Ishq on Voot Select is a 9-episode series about the complicated love story of Roma and Sahir.
Love has different meanings for everyone. For some, it is a breath of fresh air while for others, it may be a chain tying them down. However, when this love remains 'unrequited' and rattles your world like never before, it may bring out a side that one is unaware of. Keeping this thought in mind, VootSelect's latest offering Aadha Ishq shares a take on complicated love stories. Starring Aamna Sharif, Gaurav Arora, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Pratibha Ranta and others, Aadha Ishq takes us into the world of Roma and Sahir, two people who fall for each other in the valley of Kashmir in 2012. However, life has different plans for them.
Cut to 2022, Sahir, who is an artist and now a professor, visits a college where he is supposed to spend a week with students during the Art Festival. He meets Rene, a typical, curly-haired millennial, who doesn't believe in boundaries. In the first few minutes of Rene and Sahir's meeting, we get to know how talkative the former is as she ends up revealing everything about her personal life, her parents' divorce and more. While Sahir does listen to her rant, he also ends up sharing a few details of his complex love story that didn't end well for him. What seems to be predictable is Rene's interest in the handsome, new professor with a serious and complicated past.
In the midst of all this, Rene runs to meet her father Milind, played by Kunaal R Kapur, who has a girlfriend named Sam but doesn't want to divorce his wife Roma, over his own spite and issues with her. On the other hand, when Rene shows a sketch of her made by Sahir to her mom Roma (Aamna), she's suddenly transported to Kashmir days with Sahir, when they were in love. She visits Rene's college and two former lovers come face to face for the first time in years and the meeting is as awkward as it could be. What happens next in the lives of Milind, Sahir, Roma and Rene, is something you'll have to watch in the remaining 8-episodes with an average runtime of 30 minutes.
Aadha Ishq Performance Review
Aamna, who is seen as Roma in the series, is a treat to watch. She looks stunning on camera and emotes with her eyes. However, with a character lost so much in 'deep thought', she doesn't have much scope to show her acting prowess. Gaurav as Sahir is given some of the heaviest dialogues that are supposed to evoke passion. However, the passion fizzles soon as the dialogues, rather than strengthening the plot, slow it down. Kunaal as Milind is seen only for a bit in the first episode. However, in those few moments, he is decent as an angry, frustrated husband over his wife's past. However, it is Pratibha Ranta as Rene, who as a feisty and confused millennial, will leave you feeling flustered but does her part well.
Final Verdict
After watching the first episode, you will get a brief idea of what this messy love saga is all about and that the cliché of student-teacher romance is a part of it.
Journalist. Perennially hungry for entertainment. Carefully listens to everything that start with "so, last night...". C... Read more
