Aanand L. Rai’s intense romantic drama Tere Ishq Mein — the spiritual successor to his cult classic Raanjhanaa — completed its move from cinemas to streaming on January 23, 2026, when it premiered exclusively on Netflix, roughly eight weeks after its theatrical run in late 2025. The film streams in Hindi along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
The story spans years and two very different lives. It begins in Varanasi, where Shankar, played by Dhanush, is a volatile, hot-headed student leader. Mukti, played by Kriti Sanon, is a PhD research scholar who makes Shankar the subject of her thesis on non-violence — and in the process of studying him, becomes entangled with him. What starts as a professional case study spirals into a dark, obsessive saga of love. When the thesis concludes and the truth surfaces, Mukti leaves a heartbroken Shankar behind. Fate reunites them seven years later: he has reinvented himself as a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force, she works as a military counselor — and their unresolved past forces both to confront questions of ego, manipulation, betrayal and revenge.
The cast is led by Dhanush as Flight Lieutenant Shankar Gurukka and Kriti Sanon as Mukti Beniwal, supported by Prakash Raj, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Priyanshu Painyuli, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Paramvir Singh Cheema. The film is directed by Aanand L. Rai, written by Himanshu Sharma and Neeraj Yadav, produced by Rai, Sharma, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar, with music by A.R. Rahman and cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray and Vishal Sinha.
At the box office, the film earned a “Hit” verdict and became Dhanush’s highest-grossing solo Hindi film, surpassing the lifetime domestic collection of Raanjhanaa (approximately Rs 60 crore nett). Critical opinion was divided — some found the plot familiar and the ending contentious — but Dhanush’s fierce, vulnerable performance and his chemistry with Kriti Sanon drew widespread praise, as did Rahman’s score. The film’s “musical tragedy” pull kept drawing repeat viewers.
For Rai, this is familiar territory executed at a new scale: a tragic small-town romance about a love that curdles into obsession, in the lineage of Raanjhanaa and Atrangi Re. Kriti Sanon has spoken about how unsettling she initially found Mukti — “selfish,” in her own first reading — before Rai’s direction shaped the performance into something more layered.
Tere Ishq Mein is streaming now on Netflix with an active subscription. If you like your romances intense, destructive and musically rich, this one belongs on the watchlist.
