If Shah Rukh Khan’s Darr taught us anything, it’s that a man who refuses to take no for an answer is a BIG red flag. Tu Hai Meri Kiran takes that obsession, throws in a time-travelling phone and stretches it across a decade.

Sounds interesting, right? It is, until the film gets so busy juggling time, love and obsession that it forgets to make sense.Starring Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal, the film connects two strangers from 2016 and 2026 through an old flip phone.

Samar (Zaheer) and Kiran (Sonakshi) strike up an unusual connection, and you expect them to solve a mystery, change their destinies or perhaps prevent something terrible from happening. Instead, things take a detour when Samar decides that talking to Kiran isn’t enough.

He wants her.. and he wants her at any cost.The story opens on September 28, 2026, when Kiran stumbles upon a strange-looking phone and receives a call from a man apparently living ten years in the past. A radio broadcast about the surgical strikes in Pakistan helps her figure out that something is off.

When she asks Samar to meet her at a theatre, Dhurandhar 2 is playing on her screen, while MS Dhoni is screening in his timeline. That’s when they realise they’re a decade apart.It’s a neat setup that immediately gets you curious.

Why these two? How did they find the phone?

And if you could communicate with someone from the past, wouldn’t you try to change a thing or two for better? The possibilities are endless.

Sadly, the answers are not. Then there’s Samar, who is hardly the charming, misunderstood lover he might think he is.

He lies about his life, snoops on his neighbour and records her objectionable videos. He also realises that Kiran’s knowledge of the future could help him place bets and make money.

So much for destiny!But he suddenly falls in love with her and when his feelings turn obsessive, the real trouble begins. Unable to handle rejection, he uses the phone to manipulate Kiran’s life and tries to force her younger self to fall in love with him.

If Darr gave us Rahul, Tu Hai Meri Kiran gives us Samar, who clearly needs to learn that stalking and forcing someone to be with you, is NOT a love language. There’s an interesting idea here about the thin line between love and obsession, and whether changing the past can really change matters of the heart.

The film hints that some things are simply meant to be, no matter how hard we try to rewrite our destiny. It could have made for an engaging emotional thriller.

The problem? The screenplay barely scratches the surface.And then come the loopholes.

Oh, the loopholes! For a film built around time travel, the rules are surprisingly fuzzy.

Why were Samar and Kiran chosen for this connection? What happens when they interfere with the past?

And why should Kiran bear the consequences of playing with time and fate? The film raises these questions but conveniently leaves you hanging.

At some point, you stop trying to figure out the mystery and start wondering whether the writers have figured it out themselves.The timeline inconsistencies don’t help either. Dhurandhar 2 released in March, while MS Dhoni on 30 September..

How come they were playing in theatres on 28 September? When your plot depends on dates, historical events and pop-culture references, getting the details right is kind of important.

Here, the slips are distracting enough to pull you out of the story.The first half works because the premise is fresh and keeps you guessing. The second half, however, goes completely haywire.

There are too many twists, too many loose ends and too few satisfying answers. The film wants your full attention, but the payoff simply doesn’t justify the effort.As for the performances, Sonakshi and Zaheer’s chemistry on reels is far better than in this film.

They do share an easy camaraderie, and their scenes together have a certain charm. But that factor can only take you so far when the writing doesn’t do enough heavy lifting.Zaheer is fairly convincing as Samar, especially when his affection turns sinister.

However, his character needed more depth than simply switching between a scheming liar and an obsessive lover. Sonakshi looks comfortable as Kiran, but her character, especially her writing profession, deserved a stronger emotional arc, especially as the situation gets increasingly disturbing.Ankit Gupta, making his big-screen debut as Kiran’s husband, is decent but doesn’t leave much of an impact.

The supporting cast, too, is largely lost in a plot that has too much going on and too little clarity.Ultimately, Tu Hai Meri Kiran has a promising premise, a watchable first half and an interesting idea about love, obsession and fate. But there’s a difference between keeping audiences guessing and leaving them confused.

This film manages the latter far too often. Like Samar, it wants to control how everything turns out.

Unfortunately, the screenplay refuses to cooperate.- Ends