The first beat of the Tere Ishk Mein trailer doesn’t feel like a movie moment. It feels like the breath you take before saying something you can’t take back. Dhanush walks into the frame like a man who hasn’t slept in weeks, eyes carrying some old bruise he hasn’t bothered to hide. You get it instantly. He’s not here for a soft-focus love story. He’s here to fall apart in public.
And then Kriti Sanon shows up. Not floating in like some dream sequence meant to rescue him. She feels grounded, almost guarded, like someone who’s already lived through her own share of sharp edges. The space between them changes quickly. Not warm. Not romantic. More like an attraction showing up at the wrong time and dragging its baggage right to the front door.
Honestly, that’s what makes the trailer hit. It’s not operating on charm. It’s running on tension. Real, uncomfortable tension.
Dhanush has this line about burning Delhi if he falls in love, and sure, people online keep quoting it because it sounds dramatic, but when he says it in the trailer, it’s almost unsettling how quiet he is. Not angry. Not performing. Just a man who’s frayed at the edges and saying something he maybe half-believes. It’s that quiet that gets you.
Kriti doesn’t flinch. At least not in the way you’d expect. She doesn’t play Mukti like the usual romantic foil. There’s a heaviness to her that makes her feel less like a plot device and more like someone who’s walking into a situation she doesn’t fully trust. When the two of them share the frame, the chemistry doesn’t glow. It sparks. Small, sharp, unpredictable.
Aanand L. Rai leans into these emotional messes better than most directors working right now. He did it years ago with Raanjhanaa, and there’s a familiar beat here, though Tere Ishk Mein feels more volatile. Less nostalgia, more fire. And the film wants you to live inside that fire rather than admire it from a distance.
People have been quick with their reactions. Some are calling the trailer raw. Some say it’s toxic but compelling. A few are convinced Dhanush is the only actor who can play a heartbreak that doesn’t look staged. There’s chatter about shaky VFX in a couple of shots, which, fine, fair point, but the truth is the emotional tone is rougher than the visuals anyway, so the imperfections barely register.
What does register is Rahman’s music slipping in the way it always does, quiet at first, almost shy, then suddenly it’s under your skin without warning. Even in the short glimpses here, it feels like he’s scoring the characters’ internal damage more than the story itself. That could be the thing that holds the whole film together.
Something about the trailer feels like a throwback to when Hindi cinema didn’t treat romance like a polished product. There used to be room for chaotic love stories, the ones where people made bad choices for believable reasons. Lately, most romances try to stay neat, a little restrained, a little curated. This one is the opposite of curated.
Of course, a trailer like this raises expectations in a very specific way. If the film can’t sustain the emotional weight it’s promising, it’s going to show. Big feelings without solid writing tend to collapse halfway through. A couple of early reviewers hinted at that concern, the kind of quiet hesitation that usually means the story could go either way.
Still, you can’t shake the sense that Rai and his actors know exactly what they’re doing. They’re not aiming for sweetness. They’re aiming for the kind of romance that gets under your nails and stays there, whether you want it to or not. The internet chatter, the fan excitement, even the minor criticisms, all point to the same thing: people are paying attention.
And maybe that’s because the film doesn’t seem to care about being liked. It cares about being felt. That’s rare now.
What lingers after the trailer ends isn’t the dramatic dialogue or the fights or the music. It’s the way both characters look like they’re already half-broken before the story even begins. Two people who shouldn’t stand this close to each other, but can’t step back either. Something is haunting in that. Something real.
If the movie stays honest to that feeling, it could land hard. If not, well, it’ll still be remembered for taking a swing instead of playing it safe.
For now, that three-minute trailer feels like someone whispering a confession they didn’t mean to share. Messy, emotional, a little reckless. That’s what makes it stick.
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Sana has been covering film, fame, and everything in between for over a decade. From red carpets to rehab rumors, she brings nuance, wit, and an insider’s edge to every story. When she’s not reporting, she’s probably watching Koffee With Karan reruns or doom-scrolling celebrity IG feeds.
Zayn blends critical thinking with genuine fandom. Whether it’s decoding OTT series arcs or rating the latest Bollywood blockbuster, he writes with clarity, pop fluency, and a dash of irreverence.
