If you detest musicals, don’t watch Mohabbatein. The pacing is a tad too slow, the ensemble juggles way too many plotlines, and there are some strange editing choices that can distract from the film. But if you happen to be a musical fan, Mohabbatein has spectacular sequences, with excellent choreography, brilliant blocking, and insanely catchy songs. And it’s all in the service of a story that challenges the ways men approach romance, by embracing love without fear or regret, but with sincerity. Mohabbatein is not perfect– it certainly could be pared down– but it nonetheless makes excellent use of Bollywood tropes in such a novel way.
At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.
Three young students come to study in the prestigious all-boy’s college called Gurukul. While the strict college principal Narayan Shankar forbades all students from romances on and off campus, the three still fall in love, though they find an adult ally in their new music teacher Raj Aryan Malhotra.
Okay, the backstory was a bit clunky, but Raj Aryan’s love story is what makes the film work, outlining the stakes for its three younger students.
If we can just cut out some scenes… This would have been a perfect banger.
