A Love Beyond Life — Tere Ishk Mein (2025): Starring Dhanush as Shankar Gurukkal and Kriti Sanon as Mukti Beniwal
Bollywood brings you unconditional romance blended with violence, delusion, rejection, dejection, and grief. Oh wait! Did I say, “unconditional romance”? That’s what interested me when I watched the trailer of this Hindi movie titled “Tere Ishk Mein”, translated as “In Your Love”. But when I watched this intense love saga, I realized the story was completely different from what I thought it was.
Written by Himanshu Sharma, directed by Anand L. Rai, and co-produced by Sharma and Rai, Tere Ishk Mein stars Dhanush and Kriti Sanon. It made its theatrical debut on November 28, 2025.
Tere Ishk Mein (2025): Introducing Dhanush as Shankar Gurukkal and Kriti Sanon as Mukti Beniwal

Tere Ishk Mein (2025) Synopsis:

A brilliant PhD scholar named Mukti (Kriti Sanon) has to choose a subject for her thesis that explores transforming an aggressive person into a calm one. She chooses the raging Shankar (Dhanush), who happens to be the president of her university’s student union.
As she plays along with Shankar’s emotions for her thesis, the aggressive alpha man really falls in love with her! What will be the fate of this one-sided love story? Will they end up together, or will Shankar’s toxic love and obsession for Mukti lead to the most tragic ending ever?
Featuring Kriti Sanon as Mukti Beniwal

Tere Ishk Mein (2025) Official Trailer:

The Good:
The acting was realistic, although Dhanush and Kriti Sanon’s on-screen chemistry didn’t quite match. Though Dhanush has a South accent while delivering Hindi dialogues, he seemed to make up for it with his aura, attitude, and body language. The cinematography was pleasant and enjoyable. Some of the songs, including the title track, are appealing.
The Bad:

Although some people may be mesmerized by Tere Ishk Mein’s love story, I literally found it illogical. I knew love was blind. But after watching this love ordeal, I found love also to be mindless and destructive.
Tere Ishk Mein is basically a turbulent and uneven romantic story. I mean, a violent and wannabe guy, Shankar, fell in love with a girl whose family was far above his status, and what’s more, his fiery one-sided love for her was so intense as well as insensitive that it destroyed his life, family, and career. The girl, Mukti, was playing along and trying to avoid him most of the time.
The acting is great, but the plot and the screenplay presentation are absurd. The fact is that Mukti never loved Shankar. She was just using him as her college thesis experiment, and when her thesis was over, Shankar was of no use to her. But then, it was too late! Shankar was madly in love with her and would go to any extent and violence to obtain her. She tried every way to get rid of him. The twist in the tale was that she fell in love with him after he got frustrated and left her. The absurdity in the plot was that she drank and smoked until she developed cancer. She literally destroyed and killed herself for someone whom she had never loved or cared for.
The Romantic Track “Deewana Deewana” from Tere Ishk Mein

Tere Ishk Mein has a problematic narrative. Although the climax was tragic, where love became two-sided, both lovers died, and their souls moved into eternity, at a certain point of the screenplay, I was literally laughing my head off. After Shankar had left Mukti, she destroyed herself, no doubt, but she had also married her boyfriend and was nine months pregnant with his child. And guess what, when her husband was surrounded at war with China, and she too knew that she would be dead in no time, she came to Shankar, who was in the Air Force, and asked him to take care of her child after birth. I mean, to whom was she asking for this favor? To the person who was always an “extra” in her life? The person whom she had never cared for?

To be honest, I got no logic from this meaningless story. How can she continue loving Shankar when she married her boyfriend and even got pregnant with his child? In Bollywood love dramas, any justification can be applied.
The character of Mukti, played by Kriti Sanon, appeared completely confused about her life. I mean, come on! She ought to have the maturity to decide what’s best for her. And her indecisiveness made the plot as well as the screenplay preposterous. The Shankar character played by Dhanush was literally living in a delusive world that made him believe that Mukti loved him. Bravery can be defined as when someone sacrifices for their love. But here Shankar died for his one-sided love, which was absolutely a foolish thing to do.
The Track “Usey Kehna” From Tere Ishk Mein

The drama is dragging. There are unnecessary instances within the screenplay that make it elongated. If you ask me, this film shouldn’t be 2 hours and 50 minutes. The editor could have brought down its runtime to 2 hours to make it less melodramatic and stretched. And oh! Talking about misogyny, Tere Ishk Mein absolutely glorifies it.
“Tere Ishk Mein” Title Track

The Verdict: A Dragging But Tragic Love Story Marked With Delusion, Violence, and Sacrifice

If you ask me, I would say that Tere Ishk Mein is a situational love story. Mukti, who was a university research scholar, had to lure the aggressive Shankar into her love trap to prove in her thesis that aggressive behavior can be transformed. And Shankar, of course, fell for her, but he could have realized that she never loved him. In fact, this situational love affected Mukti the most as she fell in love with him after he vanished from her life. However, the climax, although it was emotional and tragic, was bizarre. Shankar sacrificed his life to save Mukti’s husband at war with China.
Tere Ishk Mein can be misleading for lovers. If any of you have been affected by one-sided love, the best you can do is move on. Like Shankar tried to do. But his fate brought him once again to the love-stricken and dying Mukti, which ultimately resulted in his death. Be like Shankar, but don’t let your fate control you. We have one life, and that’s to live. Death for one-sided love should never be your option.
I would say, watch this senseless love story if you can take it. As for me, I really don’t appreciate Tere Ishk Mein’s unnecessarily dragged melodrama.
Check Out Tere Ishk Mein At Your Nearest Theaters!

Acting – 8/10

Cinematography/Visual Effects – 9/10

Plot/Screenplay – 5/10

Setting/Theme – 4/10

Watchability – 7/10

Rewatchability – 3/10

Tere Ishk Mein (2025): A Dragging Emotional Melodrama Of A Fierce And Obsessed Lover!
As a psychology student, be cautious the next time you choose someone as your thesis subject. Who knows, your experimental emotions may transition into a raging desire! Jokes apart, check out Dhanush and Kriti Sanon as they prove the definition of unconditional love: sacrifice.

Pros
Realistic performances
Pleasant cinematography
Appealing songs

Cons
Absurd and misogynistic plot emphasizing a one-sided love story
The screenplay is too melodramatic and dragging, with forced emotions

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