Aap Jaisa Koi Review: R. Madhavan & Fatima Sana Shaikh

Aap Jaisa Koi Review: R. Madhavan & Fatima Sana Shaikh’s Netflix Outing Fractures Critical Consensus and Divides Viewers


Vivek Soni's recent film, Aap Jaisa Koi, featuring R. Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh, was released on Netflix this July 11, 2025, under Dharmatic Entertainment. With its promise of being a self-discovery journey into contemporary relational paradigms and traditional family systems, the film inspires applause as well as venom from critics and cinemaphiles everywhere—its release was greeted not with triumphant applause but with a storm of counter-views.


Narrative Thread: When Unequal Pasts Meet in a Cage of Traditions

Aap Jaisa Koi traces Shrirenu Tripathi (R. Madhavan), a 42-year-old Sanskrit scholar trapped in celibacy and loneliness, residing in the silence of Jamshedpur. Enter Madhu Bose (Fatima Sana Shaikh), the effervescent 32-year-old linguist and French teacher from Kolkata. What starts as a muted intertwining of two thinking minds slowly slams into the unyielding walls of patriarchy, inner turmoil, and deeply entrenched family dogma. The screenplay takes the bold step of wondering about female agency, fragile masculinity, and the elusive quest of "barabari wala pyaar"—an unhierarchical love.

Critics Speak: A Collision of High Ideals and Haphazard Realization
The film’s thematic courage is broadly recognized, but the critical sphere echoes dissonance regarding its narrative craft.


Commendations:


Relevance Reclaimed: 

Critics commend the film’s audacious plunge into today’s sociocultural sinkholes—challenging misogyny, advocating for equitable relationships, and engaging with female desire without veiling it behind cliché. The discourse it births around gender and power is its most potent ammunition.


Performances Anchored in Grit: 

Madhavan renders a portrait of Shrirenu that is laden with hesitancy, rawness, and quiet implosion—an embodiment of a man wrestling with unlearning. Fatima brings to Madhu a quiet defiance and intellectual grace, imbuing her with dignified fire. Together, their performances oscillate between restraint and rebellion.

Secondary Brilliance: 

Ayesha Raza as Kusum surfaces as the film’s clandestine dynamo, delivering barbed truths cloaked in elegance. Manish Chaudhari, with patriarchal stoicism, reinforces the film’s central tension. The supporting cast, unheralded but essential, elevates the emotional register.

Aesthetic and Aural Flourish: 

The film’s imagery is drenched in evocative palettes, and its musical landscape carries emotional undertones. Tracks like Dhuan Dhuan and Saare Jag Mein resonate with lyrical melancholy and thematic precision.


Detractions:


Narrative Disarray: 

The script by Radhika Anand and Jehan Handa draws ire for its patchwork progression. Scenes appear abruptly scaffolded, characters introduced with little preamble, and subplots interlace with a jagged rhythm. The arc stumbles where it should soar.


Engineered Dissonance: 

The ideological and emotional chasms between the leads feel at times orchestrated rather than earned. Shrirenu’s clash with Madhu’s independence seems mechanically inserted, turning genuine tension into scripted sermon.


Déjà Vu from Dharma’s Vault: 

Viewers and critics alike draw analogies to Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, pointing out striking thematic mimicry. However, where Rocky Aur Rani fused flair with finesse, Aap Jaisa Koi appears as its dim echo, echoing ambition without equal craft.


Chemistry Misfires: 

Although both leads shine independently, some confrontational scenes expose a fissure in their synergy. The age contrast, more thematic than aesthetic, often manifests as cinematic awkwardness, fracturing emotional authenticity.


Unbaked Subplots: 

Threads involving betrayal and infidelity are cursorily explored, offered more as bait than substantive reflection, leaving viewers with thematic breadcrumbs rather than a full meal.


Public Pulse: 

A Digital Rumble on X (formerly Twitter)
In the aftermath of its Netflix debut, Aap Jaisa Koi became a polarizing totem on X, igniting fierce digital dialogues.


Championing Its Cause: 

Some herald the film as a poignant tapestry of raw truths—an overdue exposition of love beyond heteronormative rulebooks. Ayesha Raza garners effusive praise for her searing presence. These voices hail the film as a “bold retelling” of mature intimacy.


Voices of Dismay: 

Equally loud are the disenchanted, deriding the film as a “reluctant relic” posing as modern cinema. Its script, called “telegraphed and tiresome,” fails to mask its predictable crescendos. Many lament the botched resolution and the shallow emotional payoff.


Debate on Chemistry: 

Amid critiques, a portion of viewers counter the chemistry complaint—labeling it “deliberate and slow-burning.” They argue that the subdued interplay mirrors the characters’ guarded temperaments and layered pasts.


Final Verdict: Is “Aap Jaisa Koi” Worth Your Time?

If you seek breezy escapism or classic rom-com cadence, Aap Jaisa Koi may leave you yearning. But for those inclined toward cinema that wades into socio-emotional waters—films that provoke more than please—it might just offer a bitter but necessary sip of truth.


Walk into this film not expecting resolution, but reckoning. It is not an ode to romance, but an elegy of missteps, mental rewiring, and the arduous crawl toward emotional equilibrium. Now streaming on Netflix, Aap Jaisa Koi isn’t merely a story—it’s an argument, a mirror, and a murmur of revolution that doesn't always roar.