Aarcflick

Bollywood is in love again. Following Mohit Suri's Saiyaara, Aanand L. Rai, another master of the poetic portrayal of passion and pain, returns with a gripping exploration of love's destructive side, set against a social backdrop. Connected to Raanjhanaa (2013) by an umbilical cord, Tere Ishk Mein speaks of the magic of love lost in the logic of modern life, which compels us to exchange emotions. In Rai's universe, love is both poison and panacea, and once again, he has tackled a risky subject: the transformative power of romance. Here, he dissects the anatomy of the violence unleashed by so-called alpha males/bullyes with painterly flourish. He doesn't see them as dominant "animals" seeking to secure their territory in an urban jungle, but rather as ordinary men dwelling in the ravine behind glittering India. Their pain, their rage, feel real, not a cosmetic counterpoint to the rise of heroin in popular culture. Alongside A.R. Rahman, Rai composes a chaotic s...