Ziddi Ishq Review: Stubbornly Unlovable

Ziddi Ishq is a messy, unhinged revenge drama that is all over the place, observes Divya Nair.

Ziddi Ishq, as the title, suggests is a romantic-revenge OTT series directed by Raj Chakraborty.

Mehul (played by Aaditi Pohankar) is a schoolgirl, who has a secret crush on her teacher, Shekhar Dutta (played by Parambrata Chatterjee).

After Shekharda commits suicide, Mehul dedicates her life to look after his ailing mother.

When she realises that Shekharda was wrongly accused of molesting his ex-girlfriend and colleague Mehul, she takes it on herself to find out what really happened.

As the story of Ziddi Ishq progresses, you will see Mehul's one-sided love turn into obsession, and anger.

Though Mehul's personality transformation is intense, Aaditi Pohankar's limited range of acting and expressions fail to capture the innocence of her teenage crush.

The supporting cast, including Riya Sen and Barkha Bisht, bring in a fair amount of mystery and conflict, but the story itself isn't engaging enough to binge on.

Instead of building excitement, the slow pace will make you wonder if Mumbai's traffic is easier to survive.

With the introduction of each character, the story travels back and forth, adding a new unnecessary detail or dimension as you curiously wait to uncover the truth.

When you get to the end of the twists and the final reveal, you realise every minute you invested in this mediocre rollercoaster has been so futile.

Interestingly, it is not Parambrata, but Sumeet Vyas who delivers an impeccable performance as the start-up baron with a dark past.

Meanwhile, Aaditi masters the action sequences and manages to look effortless and fierce in the later sequence.

Riya Sen's overacting could well be forgiven as a character flaw because the script has bigger problems to deal with.

The rest of the cast stumble to find their groove in this messy, unhinged revenge drama that is all over the place.

Would I recommend spending your weekend on seven episodes of this khichdi? Skip please, if you can.

Ziddi Ishq streams on Jio Hotstar.