A love triangle has to be really really well-made for it to work well after 100 years of movies being made. A romantic film doesn’t have to answer “Why are they in love with each other?” But if the question arises in the audience’s mind, then they have either lost the audience or have set themselves up for an uphill task. And that they do. Multiple times. In all available combinations.

Almost as if thinking out loud, “The viewers aren’t going to get this unless we bring it to the foreground. So, here look-look, how ‘layered’ our story is!”

Boy1 loves Girl1. Girl1 loves Boy1. So far, so good. I mean, I’, not convinced, but I’ll take it. Girl 1 loves Boy2. O..kay…if you say so. Boy2 loves Girl1 too. Ok, fine. I had signed up for a triangle, so can I complain? But wait, there is a Girl2 too. At this point, any interest I might have had is spread very thin.

Now, you can pad it up with weird trips that a couple takes, or daddy issues, or breaking fourth walls. Oh, by the way, I hope that the trip organiser has a horrible rating! They don’t offer help to participants when the latter are in trouble! Some deep trouble, that too!

Anyway, even as the young concepts and phrases pique interest. I mean it is a documentation of the times that people can go from a favourites list on your phone to a blocked list. Or how tattoos and piercings are the new retail therapy. Or when you see young adults justifying their actions by pushing away their maturity under the ‘over-thinking’ carpet. But you realise how vain the attempt at being contemporary is, once these things spurt in and out of the film. The writing is inconsistent in its tone.

I was thoroughly amused when the writers pointed out how beautiful their scene was from about an hour ago. Almost as if thinking out loud, “The viewers aren’t going to get this unless we bring it to the foreground. So, here look-look, how ‘layered’ our story is!”

That’s not to say the film doesn’t have decent philosophical takes. In fact, I loved that it champions the cause of confrontation in close relationships. And that it mulls over the meaning of happiness. Just wish it didn’t come across as superficial.
It doesn’t help that Pashmina Roshan, Naila Grewal, and Jibraan Khan have a lot to grow as far as their craft goes. While Rohit Saraf is better than the rest, he makes his eyes work too hard, letting the effort show. The rest of the supporting cast, too, looks like they are going through the motions.

That is the crux of the issues with Ishq Vishk Rebound. The writing, too like the acting, feels like it is going through the motions. Deciding on the destination and force-fitting the journey, rather than having them from and into each other.

– meeta, a part of the audience