Pooja Meri Jaan, directed by Navjot Gulati and starring Mrunal Thakur, Huma Qureshi, Vikram Singh Chauhan and Vijay Raaz, explores questions of consent, rejection, obsession and responsibility. The story centres on Pooja, an actor who plays Juliet in a theatre production of Romeo and Juliet. After a performance, her co-star Aniket proposes to her, but she is too shocked to respond immediately and later rejects him. In anger, she tells him to “go and die”, after which he takes his own life, leaving Pooja accused of abetting his suicide.

The film begins by examining the idea that consent can change and that a person has the right to reconsider a relationship or reject someone at any point. It also explores the complicated question of whether rejecting someone or unintentionally giving them hope can make a person responsible for their subsequent actions. The story attempts to move beyond a simple discussion of romance and examines how attraction can become uncomfortable or threatening when one person feels entitled to another’s attention.

Niren Bhatt’s screenplay creates an intriguing moral conflict by showing how behaviour that may appear to be an ordinary crush from an outsider’s perspective can feel very different to the person experiencing it. The film also brings the idea of male entitlement into the conversation, examining how attraction can turn into obsession when rejection is not accepted. However, the film struggles to sustain this ambiguity for long and eventually moves towards a resolution that makes the central question considerably easier to answer.

The biggest weakness of Pooja Meri Jaan is that it appears unwilling to remain in the morally uncertain territory it initially establishes. Instead of allowing viewers to sit with the difficult questions surrounding Pooja’s words, Aniket’s actions and the responsibility attached to both, the narrative eventually provides a convenient explanation. In doing so, the film loses some of the complexity that made its premise interesting and makes its attempt to address consent and accountability feel less challenging than it initially promised.

Mrunal Thakur delivers a strong performance as Pooja, effectively portraying a woman caught between personal rejection, public judgment and the consequences of a tragedy she did not expect. Huma Qureshi also makes an impact as Sana Mahfooz, Pooja’s lawyer, bringing confidence to the role. Vikram Singh Chauhan plays Aniket in a manner that can be deliberately irritating, which works because the character is meant to make the audience uncomfortable as his behaviour becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss as harmless.

The film reportedly took nearly four years to reach audiences, but its central themes remain relevant to contemporary conversations around consent and relationships. Pooja Meri Jaan deserves credit for attempting to ask uncomfortable questions about rejection, obsession and responsibility, but its eventual need to provide a neat answer weakens the impact of those questions. Rather than fully embracing the grey area at the heart of its premise, the film chooses a safer and more convenient resolution, leaving its potentially powerful ideas only partially explored.