A MAN accidentally falls in love with a remarkably life-like robot and tries to get her out of his system. When that doesn’t happen, he reconnects with the attractive cyborg and introduces her to his family as his fiancé.
What follows is a comedy of errors and an extended family dealing with the seemingly perfect future daughter-in-law, who is hiding a big secret. The interesting new Bollywood idea of a love story between a robot and a human being had the potential to be a path-breaking film. Unfortunately, the novel idea doesn’t translate into a really great film because of a watered-down screenplay that quickly runs out of steam.
After a solid opening, the romantic comedy drifts down a predictable path and comes across as a poor copy of much better films like the 2021 German drama, I’m Your Man. The flashy locations, good-looking leads, nice costumes and catchy music can’t paper over the cracks that appear in the storyline from start to finish. Another thing that really works against this film is an obvious misogynistic element of a robot catering to a male fantasy and being very much under his control, which leads toward plenty of sexist undertones.
Plenty of opportunities are missed by a directing duo who seem to be out of their depth. They quickly run out of ideas and this leads towards a decidedly dull second half.
Shahid Kapoor and, particularly Kriti Sanon as the robot, deliver spirited performances, but there just isn’t enough in the screenplay for them to work with. All this collectively makes Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya a completely wasted opportunity and a science fiction experiment that seems to have gone horribly wrong.
Sandhya Suri poses during a photocall for the film "Santosh" at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2024.