Ishq-e-Nadaan 2023

The heart of this warm romance unfolds in a bustling Mumbai, weaving three parallel stories around unconventional love, friendship, and the city itself. Set against the backdrop of a luxury hotel and its restless energy, the film explores how desire, choices, and timing shape intimate connections in surprising ways.

Ashutosh [Suhail Nayyar] is a hard-working, single father who keeps a bright, hopeful outlook as he works at the hotel front desk. He finds himself drawn to Ramona [Lara Dutta], a successful businesswoman who frequently stays there. Although his feelings grow, they don’t find an easy path to reciprocity—Ramona is lesbian and uses the hotel to secretly meet her lover. Ashutosh’s reaction is one of quiet support: he nudges Ramona to live more openly and to embrace the truth of her love with courage. In a lighter turn, he enters a lucky draw organized by the hotel chain and wins a trip to Rome, an invitation to sample gelato and perhaps discover new possibilities that life might still offer.

Siya [Shreya Pilgaonkar] is a pregnant woman who returns to Mumbai from the United States after leaving her partner and her architectural role behind. On her path, she encounters Piyush [Suhail Nayyar], a well-mannered and earnest man who often faces a social pressure-filled schedule of weekend arranged dates. He jokes about preferring to be a house husband rather than chasing corporate rat-races, and his sincerity begins to soften Siya’s guarded heart. As their connection deepens, he proposes, and the couple finds themselves navigating the arrival of the child and the complexities that come with it when a potential father arrives, sparking misunderstandings. In the end, the two forge a path forward together: Siya carries the baby and, after emotional turns, chooses to build a life with Piyush.

Charulata [Neena Gupta], an elderly woman from Indore, visits her daughter in Mumbai and becomes fascinated by Subhash [Kanwaljit Singh], an eccentric filmmaker living in the same residential complex. At first hesitant by his unconventional ways, she gradually finds joy and companionship in his presence. She shares a memory of a Rome trip with her husband, and a cafe encounter with a man she once opened her heart to—one that left a lifelong impression in the form of yearly poems she still receives on her birthday. Subhash inspires her to seek out the mystery man, leading her to learn that the poet died four years earlier, while she continues to receive his verses through her daughter.

Across these stories, the threads begin to reveal a larger connection. It turns out that Ashutosh is the man who sent those poems after his Rome trip to Charulata, and his daughter grows up to be Siya—the pregnant woman from the second tale. The city’s rhythms, the twists of fate, and the quiet, steadfast hope of ordinary people intertwine to form a larger, compassionate picture of love that refuses to be limited by convention.

In the end, the film celebrates resilience, openness, and the way small acts of kindness—whether a supportive word, a shared moment, or a leap of faith toward love—can ripple across generations in a city that never stops moving. The stories may begin separately, but together they illuminate how love, in its many forms, endures and evolves in Mumbai’s vibrant life.