Upamanyu Biswas
Netflix’s ‘Nadaaniyan’ centers on a teenage girl named Pia Jaisingh, whose high school life becomes a mess when a series of misunderstandings forces her to create an elaborate lie around a fake boyfriend. Subsequently, the girl must find an ideal candidate from one of her schoolmates to fill that position. A glimmer of hope arrives when Pia learns about the handsome leader of the school’s debate team, Arjun Mehta, who fits the bill for her missing boyfriend position. However, as the two embark on a game of pretend to fool Pia’s friends, complications arise when real feelings get involved, challenging their notions of love, trust, and understanding. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Review: A Romance With Tropey Moments That Gets Better as It Moves Along
From the outset, ‘Nadaaniyan’ sets itself up as a fluffy and aloof rom-com story trying to capture the enthusiasm of the teenage years. However, some of the character moments can often feel forced, including the jokes and the overuse of genre tropes. The setting of an ultra-elite school in Delhi, India, lends itself to a pampered environment with a lot of caricature characters. Yet, the bigger challenge still remains the writing, which creates a distance from the central characters. To that end, the early parts of the movie can be difficult to dive into, especially as it follows a well-versed path of a fake boyfriend/girlfriend-type situation that inevitably grows into love. These stories can be tricky due to the deft execution needed to depict a simple but effective plot structure. The Netflix film walks the tightrope in that department.
As the story progresses, we get a better glimpse into our characters and their personal lives, even extending up to their family situation. This is where the audience can feel a connection with Pia and Arjun. The romance film takes on a different flavor in these portions, ones that are not as brightly colored but grey and sad in some circumstances. Although it is not the most innovative angle, it still builds sensitivity towards complex subject matters and the importance of communication in a relationship. We also understand the contextual details of Pia and Arjun’s lives, including parental pressure, a need to fit into social circles, and the growing pains of adolescence. Overall, the film does a commendable job of embracing the goofiness of a teen rom-com story. However, it is in the serious moments where it becomes interesting.
Nadaaniyan Plot Synopsis
‘Nadaaniyan’ begins with Pia Jaisingh, a young girl who studies at Falcon High in Delhi, meeting up with her friends Ria and Sahira on campus. The three friends have recently been on bad terms because Pia is apparently dating Ayaan, whom Sahira has liked for a long time. In reality, Pia is not interested in Ayaan, but the latter continues to pursue her one-sidedly, creating misunderstanding amongst her friend group. She is also popular on social media, bringing undue amounts of attention and burdens of fame. Tired of trying to convince Ria, Sahira, and Ayaan of the real truth, Pia decides to fabricate a lie about her romantic life. She proclaims to the three of them that she has a boyfriend she has kept hidden from them, which is why she is not dating Ayaan.
Once the lie is set in motion, Pia begins to hunt down a suitable person who can fit the role of her fake boyfriend. After searching high and low throughout the campus, she eventually lands upon the leader of the debate team, Arjun Mehta, who has all the attributes to fit her lofty standards for a partner. The only trouble is Arjun’s unwillingness to help her. Subsequently, Pia is forced to pay him a weekly sum of money so that he will pose as her fake boyfriend. The two start posting images on social media to create a scenario in which everyone thinks Pia is dating someone. This helps her mend her broken relationship with Ria and Sahira. Meanwhile, Ayaan also stops hounding after her, albeit begrudgingly. Eventually, Pia introduces everyone to Arjun on her birthday, including her parents.
It turns out Pia has a complicated relationship with her mom and dad. Although her dad is an uber-successful lawyer, his relationship with her mother is quite fractious. Pia thinks that this is because her father always wanted a son to inherit his law firm. Her parents are even suspicious of Arjun’s background, thinking that his middle-class upbringing does not match Pia’s elite social status. She and Arjun manage to dispel such baseline prejudices. The latter also starts encouraging Pia to consider her own goals as a lawyer, as she naturally excels at arguing logically. Her capability surprises her father, and Pia decides to participate in the same debate team as Arjun, who she asks for training.
Nadaaniyan Ending: Why Does Arjun Break Up With Pia?
After Arjun starts helping Pia learn the ropes of debating, the two grow even closer and begin to share their future visions. The romantic tension also becomes stronger with each passing day. However, everything comes crashing down on the day the debate team is set to travel to Mumbai for an important championship event. Pia is set to join Arjun on the trip. However, a day before the competition, Pia and Arjun attend the Diwali celebrations at Pia’s house. There, Arjun is slightly put off when he sees Pia embracing a childhood friend, Rudra, who arrives at the event to much fanfare. Meanwhile, Arjun urges Pia that they need to head back as their flight trip is early the next day. However, Pia decides to stay a bit longer while Arjun goes home.
In the middle of the party, Pia is happy to see her mom and dad finally getting along slightly. When she tries to take a picture of them on her father’s phone, she makes the startling discovery that her father is being messaged by an unknown woman who is seemingly pregnant – his mistress. She shares the news with her mother and heads back home. A full-fledged argument breaks out between her mom and dad downstairs while Pia cries about her dad’s betrayal. Later, when she goes down to confront him, she realizes her parents have decided to get a divorce, which hurts her even more. The instability of the whole situation causes her to forget all about the debate championship. Additionally, she accidentally destroys her phone, leaving her oblivious to any messages Arjun sends.
On the morning of the flight, Arjun was unable to get in touch with Pia by phone. He eventually has to leave and head for the event with his mom and his peers. However, when he arrives at the event, he is unable to concentrate as he keeps thinking about Pia cheating on him with Rudra. He loses the event and becomes even more distraught when he discovers a photo circulating online of Pia and Rudra embracing publicly. Unbeknownst to him, Rudra is simply comforting her as she is still processing the trauma from the divorce. Pia also realizes that she forgot about the event and tries to get in touch with Arjun. Unfortunately, it is too late, and Arjun has already blocked her contact, mistaking her silence as an admission that she has been cheating on him.
How Do Pia and Arjun Reconcile?
Pia and Arjun’s broken relationship gets even worse when the former tries to apologize at school for not responding to the texts. Arjun is so wound up from being hurt that he does not give Pia a chance to speak. Instead, he blows all her secrets to the watching crowd, including the fact that she paid him to be her fake boyfriend. Ayaan takes it as a confirmation that there were no real feelings between the pair and mocks Arjun. However, the latter has no time for him and even spills his secrets to the public. He then walks away without listening to a word from Pia. They distance themselves for the next few days as their term preparations progress. Eventually, Arjun also has to send his Statement of Purpose for the UK colleges he is applying for. His Principal is unhappy with the aggressive nature of the content and asks him to tweak it further.
At home, Arjun receives a letter from Pia stating that she feels incredibly hurt by him. She also tells him she has no reason to see him anymore, and she wishes their paths never cross again. Arjun is frustrated by the message and crumples it up. His mom walks in and chastises him for not letting his ego drop and apologizing to Pia for humiliating her publicly. He is unwilling to listen, and eventually, his dad takes over the reins. After a heart-to-heart between father and son, Arjun starts to realize that maybe he is not seeing things from her angle and is simply reacting to the situation impulsively. When they return home, the Principal waits in the living room to congratulate Arjun on getting a spot at a UK college. It turns out Pia sent in his SOP. He also learns about her parents’ divorce situation.
On the graduation day, Arjun shows up to apologize to Pia. He finally acknowledges his foolishness and his inability to be more gracious towards her simply because he got hurt and misunderstood a situation. At first, Pia dismisses his claims. However, she eventually forgives him, and the two share a kiss as everyone watches. They get back together, realizing that despite hurting each other, they still love each other very much.
What Happens to Pia and Arjun’s Future Dreams?
The final moments of ‘Nadaniyaan’ focus on Pia and Arjun’s plans once they graduate from Falcon High. The couple decide to go their own ways as they try to live out their dreams. Arjun heads off to London to carry on his university education, while Pia decides to stay back and become a lawyer who rivals her father. This is a complete reversal of their plans from earlier. In the beginning, Arjun was happy with taking a full-ride scholarship and completing his law degree at an Indian university. Meanwhile, Pia was busy applying for colleges abroad, particularly in the UK. However, after influencing one another’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations, they swap their ambitions and become mirror images.
It showcases the transformative quality of love and relationships, as one person’s dreams are carried over to the other and vice versa. Ultimately, the movie’s message also revolves around this simple idea: The process of falling in love is to embrace change within yourself and learn to sacrifice for the person you love the most.
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