Star Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Verma, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sharib Hashmi, and others
Director: Vibhu Puri
What’s Good: It is a visual poetry, you will have to watch it to believe the magical world it creates!
What’s Bad: The timezone that falters!
Loo Break: Only in interval
Watch or Not?: If you love poetry, or Gulzar Sahab, definitely Yes. Rest of you read, and decide!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
User Rating:
Udaasi mein hanste hain, Khush ho to rote hain, Musaafir mohabbat ke bade hi ajeeb hote hain! Naseeruddin Shah sums up the story of Vibhu Puri’s Gustaakh Ishq in this one sher, and it would make you smile at the audacity with which the writer makes fun of love, despite being consumed by it, to the extent that he spends an entire lifetime dealing with the pain and longing that love brings. The writer here is Aziz Baigh, played by Shah to perfection – a perfection that would make this story all about him with Vijay Verma and Fatima Sana Shaikh, becoming grand spectators and heir to a story that is all heart and soul!
Thankfully, the year 2025 in Bollywood has been the year of romances, and I am not sure if Vibhu Puri’s attempt to rekindle the old-school romance amidst the hyper-masculine, chest-thumping heroes would stay and find a place in Gen-Z’s hearts who go gaga over Saiyaara and Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat. But this slow-motion, old-school world is where I would want to reside for quite some time!
Gustaakh Ishq Movie Review: Script Analysis
The premise of the film is set up simply in the first 15 minutes – A man in Delhi is trying to save his father’s old press, and the only way to save it is to publish something big and impactful! This impact can be created by an old-age shayar, Aziz Baigh, who was friends with the owner of this press at some point in life! Vijay Verma’s Nawabuddin Saifuddin Rahman visits Malerkotla, Punjab, as asked by Aziz Baigh’s daughter, Minni, to publish the works of the reputed shayar! But he finds a way to the hearts of this father-daughter duo as he turns a shagird to the Aziz’s pen!
But does his moral conscience allow him to reveal his ulterior motive – to save his sinking press? Does he align his needs and his wants, and does time and circumstances turn villain as always in this love story? This is all that constructs the entire plot line of Vibhu Puri’s film that promises to bring an Ishq that faults, makes mistakes, and is a little pehle jaisa!
Gustaakh Ishq Movie Review: Star Performance
Every actor in the film plays their part brilliantly! Vijay Verma, as the man torn between the responsibilities of a son and a carefree lover, is undoubtedly a vision to watch! His leheza as a struggling shayar trying to impress his Mashooqa is not only conveyed through dialogues but also through those deep intense eyes that do a lot of talking! He proves that a hero can be complex, flawed, and still lovable!
Fatima Sana Shaikh’s Minni is the complete opposite of her fierce character in Aap Jaisa Koi and Metro In Dino. She is the calm center around which the storms of two male characters rage, making her silence impactful. She is the woman who eventually waits, but with great respect and dignity, never making anyone question her choices.
Naseeruddin Shah definitely wins the entire charm here as the poet Aziz Baigh. He provides the necessary grounding to this film that might have lost the plot otherwise. Shah’s philosopher-guide in the film anchors the love story through a proper course. He reminds why he is one of the greatest!
A special mention for the actor who plays the young Aziz Baigh. He has a charisma that holds the screen and his delivery of the sher is on point. I have missed his name in the credits, but will soon fill it in here! Sharib Hashmi as Ataichi fills whatever voids the story could have formed. Even the actor playing Vijay Verma’s brother (will get back with his name) is worth applauding. Their chemistry and the love-hate relationship as brothers is something you should watch – it seems raw and real!
Gustaakh Ishq Movie Review: Direction, Music
Puri pays an ode to Sanjay Leela Bhansali with his idea of frames; they are not elaborate, but they add a personal warmth, crafting a world that is aloof from its time zone – it is mostly a dream, and partly a nightmare. It is literary, dark, utterly compelling. The film definitely demands your patience, but it leaves you with a satisfaction that is incomparable and not to be missed!
The music is a full-fledged character in the film. Be it Ool Jalool or Sheher Tere Nai Vasna. Even Suniye, Aap is dhoop mein talks like a love letter, and of course, it had to be a conversational character when Gulzar Sahab pens these verses and Vishal Bharadwaj adds notes to them. It is lyrically enchanting and musically hypnotic! Even the background music elevates the quality of filmmaking manyfold here!
Honestly, Vibhu Puri knows how to build magical worlds; he did it years ago with Hawaizaada as well, and I loved that world as well. The only problem is that the world was too fantasy-driven. To be honest, so is the world of Gustaakh Ishq, whose tagline said, “Kuch Pehle Jaisa.” But it would have been so nice if he had not mentioned the timeline of this pehle jaisa!
The only problem with the film is the yellow tinted frames which does not look like the story is from 90s! It would have been so better if there was no time frame for this classic! But while this timeline bothers me throughout, the real culprit is the writer who makes sure to mention’Naya Ladka’ Karan Johar and I quickly associate with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that was released in 1999. Now that film was so flashy that Gustaakh Ishq is an anti-thesis and thus the math stops mathing for me there.
Gustaakh Ishq Movie Review: The Last Word
I am ready to let go of all these Gustakhis for the film is so pure and right on point that it hits all the correct notes! It is like how you can let go of a little bit of Nukhtas while reading a poem or a sher because the core thought tucks a string in your heart! Gustaakh Ishq is that beautiful! It re-establishes the importance of literature and lyrical depth in Hindi cinema.
In one of the most impactful dialogues, Naseeruddin Shah’s Aziz Baigh says, “Insaan ka zameer ek baar kaanpta zaroor hai – ya to ghalti karne se pehle ya gunaah karne ke baad!” It hits you and stays with you. Because the thought is so compelling. We always know our mistakes, and from these it is a journey of rectifying them or living with them – two stances that our two heroes take in the film!
Gustaakh Ishq is poetically brave and compulsively beautiful. But surely, it is not everyone’s cup of tea. If you carry a little bit of poetry and Urdu in your heart, this film serves you right. I am just happy that there is love again in Cinema, and dear directors and producers, let this love be there and blossom on screen because there is none of it left in real life!
4 stars
Gustaakh Ishq Trailer
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