Tu Hai Meri Kiran gets its title from the song of the same name in Darr (1993), about a deranged man who harasses the woman with whom he is obsessed. Karan Rawal’s film, which is out in cinemas, gives stalking an intriguing, and absorbing, twist.
Kiran (Sonakshi Sinha) finds an old flip phone in her house in Mussoorie that connects her to Samar (Zaheer Iqbal). Kiran is a writer struggling to complete her second novel, and is married to Riyaan (Ankit Gupta). Samar, troubled and in trouble for his noxious behaviour, will prove to be a handful for Kiran.
Rawal’s screenplay, which borrows its major idea from a Korean show, is laden with suspense. The least twisty aspect of Tu Hai Meri Kiran is that stalking behaviour, which is condoned by the euphemism “one-sided love”, has frightening staying power. This idea gives a tinge of horror to Karan Rawal’s screenplay, despite strenuous efforts to humanise Samar and give him a tear-jerking back story.
Rawal admirably maintains an air of tension across 125 minutes. Some willing suspension of disbelief is necessary to go along with the film’s conceit. While Rawal delivers a technically solid and competently performed thriller, the decision to treat Samar with empathy and concern, rather than call out his toxicity,...