TERI BAATON MEIN AISA ULJHA JIYA is a love story between a man and a robot. Aryan (Shahid Kapoor), based in Mumbai, is a robotics engineer at E-Robotics. His family is based in Delhi and is behind him to get married. His maternal aunt Urmila (Dimple Kapadia) is a reputed senior employee at E-Robotics and she calls Aryan to her office in the USA for a project. The day Aryan reaches the USA, Urmila flies to Belgium for urgent work. She tells Aryan that her manager, Sifra (Kriti Sanon), will take care of him. Aryan meets Sifra and sparks fly between them. They get intimate and the next day, Urmila returns. She confesses to Aryan that Sifra is a robot and that the former purposely hid this information from Aryan to check whether the latter was able to guess the truth about Sifra. Aryan is shocked and even devastated as he has fallen in love with Sifra. He cuts short his USA trip and returns to India to get away from Sifra before he falls in love with her even more. He even agrees to marry the girl of his family’s choice. Unable to get Sifra out of his mind, he devises a plan. He calls Urmila and asks her to send Sifra to India as an experiment and to see how she reacts to madcap members of their family. As soon as Sifra arrives in India, he announces to his family that he’s marrying her. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah’s story is novel. Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah’s screenplay is breezy but it’s not consistent and is quite weak in the climax. Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah’s dialogues are well worded but not all jokes land well.

Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah’s direction is okay. They understand the grammar of family films and add the required drama, romance and emotions. The chemistry between the characters is also neatly established. The robot angle is dealt with in a simple and non-complicated manner. A few scenes stand out like Aryan apologizing to Sifra, Aryan learning that Sifra is a robot, the intermission point, Sifra downloading a corrupt software, Aryan persuading Urmila on the day of his marriage etc.

On the flipside, some scenes that were meant to induce laughter like the intro scene, Aryan experimenting with a man named Dubey etc fail in their endeavour. The sequence where the men get drunk is where the makers try too hard to be funny. The chaos and madness that the makers wanted to highlight in a joint family didn’t come out as planned. The biggest issue, however, is the climax. It is abrupt and sudden and the way it unfolds will leave the audience shocked. The message is understandable but from the execution point of view, it falters miserably. The promise of a sequel fails to correct the minuses.

Shahid Kapoor looks super-dashing and dances like a dream. His performance is spot-on, especially his comic timing. He also excels in the emotional scenes. Kriti Sanon is adorable and gets her act right. It is not easy to portray a character that has robot-like features but can pass off as a human being and in this regard, she comes out with flying colours. She especially shines in the second half. Dharmendra has limited screen time and is cute. Dimple Kapadia leaves a mark, as expected. Ashish Verma (Monty) lends able support. Rajesh Kumar (Mama) raises a few laughs. Anubha Fatehpuria (Sharmila; Aryan’s mother), Rakesh Bedi (Mama) and Grusha Kapoor (Babli Bua) don’t get much scope. Raashul Vijay Tandon (Pappu) and Brij Bhushan Shukla (Goldie; doctor) are decent. Rajan Kavatra (Inspector Gupta) and Manish Kumar (Constable Gujjar) are funny.

The music is of chartbuster variety. ‘Laal Peeli Akhiyaan’ is foot-tapping and is well choreographed. ‘Akhiyaan Gulaab’ and ‘Tum Se’ are lovely. The title track is played during the end credits and is catchy. Sachin-Jigar’s background score is in sync with the film’s theme.

Laxman Utekar’s cinematography is neat. Mayur Sharma’s production design is rich. Sukriti Grover’s costumes for Kriti Sanon and Anisha Jain’s costumes for Shahid Kapoor are very stylish and appealing. Aejaz Gulab and Manohar Verma’s action is not too gory. Redefine’s VFX is praiseworthy. Manish Pradhan’s editing could have been slicker.

On the whole, TERI BAATON MEIN AISA ULJHA JIYA rests on the fine performances of Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon but suffers due to the writing and an abrupt climax. At the box office, its prospects will be limited only to a section of the multiplex going audience.