Manmarziyaan (2018)

Manmarziyaan feels special because it treats a love triangle not as a gimmick, but as a messy, modern emotional weather system—full of impulse, pride, tenderness, and the kind of choices that don’t come with clean answers. Anurag Kashyap builds a lived-in world where family pressure and personal desire collide, and the film’s crackling soundtrack doesn’t just decorate scenes; it seems to pulse with the characters’ restlessness. Taapsee Pannu is wonderfully fierce and flawed at the center, while Vicky Kaushal brings raw magnetism and Abhishek Bachchan delivers a quietly affecting steadiness that sneaks up on you. It’s candid about sex and intimacy and unafraid of moral gray areas, so it may not be for viewers who want a traditional romance—but if you’re open to a grown-up, emotionally honest drama, it’s deeply worth your time.

Manmarziyaan is clearly trying to be a messy, modern romance about choice, commitment, and the suffocating weight of family expectations, and Anurag Kashyap brings plenty of style and strong performances to sell that emotional chaos. The problem is that the story often feels like it’s circling the same point for too long, with a self-indulgent pace and a love triangle that can start to feel more predictable than piercing. Tonally, it wobbles between breezy crowd-pleaser and raw relationship drama, so if you want one clean mood—either fun or devastating—it may leave you unsatisfied. Still, Taapsee Pannu is compelling and the film has moments of bite and honesty, so it’s worth it if you enjoy flawed characters making frustrating decisions and you’re patient with a deliberately meandering rhythm.