2 Stars (out of 4)
Watch Do Deewane Seher Mein on Netflix
Do Deewane Seher Mein (“Two Lovers in the City“) starts out very strong, with a romance between two likable but insecure young adults unfolding at its own pace. By the end, you’re left to wonder how the movie went so wrong.
The two lovebirds are Shashank (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Roshni (Mrunal Thakur). Shashank’s embarrassment over a speech impediment that leaves him pronouncing “sh” sounds like “s” — for example, he pronounces his own name as “Sasank” — holds him back professionally and personally. Roshni’s insecurities about her looks are exacerbated by working in the fashion industry, so she always wears eyeglasses she doesn’t need, just to hide the parts of her face she’s unhappy with.
Yes, a considerable amount of disbelief must be suspended to accept that Mrunal Thakur’s beauty is in any way diminished by a stylish pair of glasses.
The two are set up by their parents, and Shashank is immediately smitten by Roshni’s forthrightness. She’s not interested in getting married and rejects his family’s proposal. He hangs out outside her work (not in a creepy way) in order to find out if he did something to cause the rejection. They have a productive conversation and start dating, though they don’t tell their overbearing families.
There’s a good balance of budding romance, misunderstandings, and emotional development to hold the audience’s interest even when things happen slowly. A solid soundtrack and some nice song montages give Do Deewane Seher Mein a comforting throwback feel, bolstered by solid performances by Thakur and Chaturvedi.
Eventually, the obstacles to the couple’s potential marriage start to feel forced — the first sign that things are about to go off the rails. Roshni and Shashank need to figure out their own issues before they can be together (and before the movie can end), and they do so in completely unrealistic ways. Shashank’s self-acceptance epiphany happens at work in front of an audience in what would have been the most uncomfortable corporate presentation of all time.
The issue with Roshni’s growth arc is that it always had to do with her glasses. Eyeglasses making someone nerdy or unattractive is an old, tired movie trope, besides being ableist and unbelievable (as in Thakur’s case).
In the case of Do Deewane Seher Mein, it’s worth focusing on glasses-wearing as a personal choice, be it for fashion, personal expression, or insecurity. All reasons are valid, and the choice of what to wear is entirely up to the wearer. This idea that Roshni is wrong for wanting to wear them is insulting. Write her character as a woman who wears long sleeves to cover a scar she doesn’t want to talk about or a wig to cover a head made bald by chemotherapy, and then insist that she can only grow if she wears a tank top or removes her wig. See how dehumanizing that is? Why is insisting that she ditch her glasses any different?
This character arc is problematic in such an obvious way that it’s a surprise to find it in a mainstream movie in 2026. Shame that director Ravi Udyawar and writer Abhiruchi Chand couldn’t see that.
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