Nakhrewaalii
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Plot
Nakhrewaalii is a romantic comedy with a twist its makers call womantic: a story about modern love told through the question of who makes the sacrifices in a relationship. Ansh Duggal plays Sumit Mishra and Pragati Srivastava plays Paridhi, two people with very different ideas about love, commitment and what they expect from each other, and the film’s tagline gives away its central joke: sometimes, in love, even Majnu has to become Laila.
The story follows a young man who betrays the trust of the woman he loves, and then, hoping to win her back, disguises himself as a woman to understand the challenges women face in society. It is a classic comedy premise with a contemporary point: the film uses humour to ask how men and women are treated differently in relationships, and what a man learns when he has to live, even briefly, on the other side of that divide.
Performance
Ansh Duggal and Pragati Srivastava, both newcomers, carry the film, and the trailer shows why the makers bet on them: Duggal has an easy comic timing that suits a hero who must be both foolish and sympathetic, while Srivastava gives Paridhi a sharpness that keeps the romance from becoming one-sided. Their chemistry is the film’s engine, and the trailer’s best moments are the arguments between them, where affection and frustration sit side by side.
Around them, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt and Akash Makhija give the film its comic backbone, the kind of supporting cast that makes a rom-com feel populated rather than staged. For a debut director working with newcomers, that ensemble is a safety net, and it shows: the film’s humour lands because the world around the leads feels real, not just funny.
Screenplay and Direction
Rahul Shanklya, a former associate of Aanand L Rai, makes his feature directorial debut from a script by Divy Nidhi Sharma, and the film is produced by Jio Studios and Colour Yellow, the banner led by Aanand L Rai and Himanshu Sharma. The film’s premise, a man disguising himself as a woman to understand her world, is an old comedy device, but Shanklya uses it for a modern argument about double standards, and the trailer suggests he keeps the tone light even when the point is sharp.
The film arrives in a crowded festive window, and its success will depend on whether audiences embrace its twist or find it too broad. The early campaign, including the poster and trailer, has leaned into the joke with confidence, and the film’s best chance is its sincerity: beneath the disguise and the comedy, it is a story about a man learning to listen, and that is a rarer thing in a rom-com than it should be.
Music
The music is composed by Vayu, Vaibhav Pani, Sharan Rawat, Gaurav Chatterji and Tanishk Bagchi, with lyrics by Vayu, Meggha Vikaas Bali and Ginny Diwan, and the soundtrack includes the songs Saat Samundaar Paar and Nakhrewali, the latter under licence from Saregama. For a rom-com, the songs need to do two things: make the romance feel joyful and make the comedy feel musical, and this album, with its mix of composers, aims for variety rather than a single sound.
The title track and the romantic numbers are the film’s calling cards, and they work best when they let the leads’ chemistry lead: a good rom-com song does not just sound pleasant, it makes the audience root for the couple, and the early songs suggest this album understands that. If the film connects, its music will be part of the reason, hummed long after the disguise is forgotten.
Themes
Nakhrewaalii is about empathy as a comedy: what happens when a man is forced, literally, to walk in a woman’s shoes. The film’s joke is also its argument, that the double standards in relationships are invisible until you live them, and that love requires not just feeling but understanding. It is a light film with a serious point, and it trusts the audience to laugh and think at the same time.
It is also a film about modern relationships themselves: two people who want different things from love, who argue, who fail each other, and who must decide whether the relationship is worth the work of changing. The Majnu-Laila twist is a metaphor for that work: sometimes love asks you to become someone else, not to lose yourself, but to understand the person you love.
Conclusion
Nakhrewaalii released in cinemas on 30 October 2026, just ahead of Diwali, and it arrives as the festive season’s light-hearted choice: a rom-com with a fresh pairing, a funny premise, and a point to make about how men and women love differently. For viewers who want a film that is fun without being empty, it is an easy recommendation.
For fans of Aanand L Rai’s brand of heartfelt comedy, for newcomers Ansh Duggal and Pragati Srivastava, and for anyone who has ever wondered what love looks like from the other side, Nakhrewaalii is worth a watch. Go for the laughs, and stay for the idea underneath them.