These modern Hindi films proved that the love triangle still has enough heartbreak, passion and chaos left to captivate audiences.
Key Points
- The love triangle subgenre, once a staple of Hindi cinema with classics like Silsila and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, is seeing a potential revival with upcoming films.
- New releases like David Dhawan’s Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai and Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2 are set to feature prominent love triangles.
- Recent years have still produced notable love triangle films, including Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Padmaavat, Gehraiyaan showcasing diverse interpretations of the theme.
It feels like a long time since love triangles ruled Hindi cinema.
The subgenre had once gifted us evergreen classics like Andaz (1949), Sangam (1964), Silsila (1981), Saajan (1991), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), among many others worth cherishing.
Today, romances involving two boys and one girl, or vice versa, feel like an almost endangered species within mainstream cinema.
Which is why there is a whiff of nostalgia surrounding David Dhawan’s new romantic comedy Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai (2026), where Varun Dhawan finds himself caught between Pooja Hegde and Mrunal Thakur, releasing June 5.
Or for the matter, Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2, which has Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and Rashmika Mandanna, releasing in theatres on June 19.
Whether the films succeed in reviving audience love for the classic love triangle remains to be seen. But their existence along with few other movies have ensured that the subgenre certainly has not vanished altogether.
Recent years have still delivered romantic triangles that may not possess the iconic stature of a Sangam or Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, yet remain compelling in their own right, even if they failed to reignite the same frenzy.
Sreeju Sudhakaran looks back at 10 notable Hindi films from the past decade that featured love triangles (or quadrangles, in some case), ranking them from enjoyable to fabulous.
10. Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016)
Mudassar Aziz’s cross-border comedy is primarily a breezy entertainer, but romance still forms an important emotional thread.
Abhay Deol plays a Pakistani diplomat who, despite being engaged, gradually develops feelings for the runaway Indian girl Happy (Diana Penty), who accidentally lands up at his house in Pakistan.
Happy, meanwhile, had originally planned to elope with her boyfriend, played by Ali Fazal, and remains blissfully unaware of the diplomat’s affection.
The romantic track is subtly handled without tipping the film into melodrama or disrupting its comic rhythm.
9. Gehraiyaan (2022)
Loosely inspired by Woody Allen’s thriller Match Point (2005), Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan revolves around a yoga instructor, played by Deepika Padukone, who enters into a passionate affair with her cousin’s fiancé, portrayed by Siddhant Chaturvedi, while cheating on her boyfriend, played by Dhairya Karwa.
The film features several intimate moments between Padukone and Chaturvedi, before taking a dark turn in the final act involving murder and deception, while diverging significantly from its Hollywood inspiration.
But Gehraiyaan shines best when it explores the psychological impact of the lies and deception, along with the performances.
8. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016)
Karan Johar’s mature romantic drama thrives on tangled emotions and flawed people.
Ayan (Ranbir Kapoor) falls deeply in love with his close friend Alizeh (Anushka Sharma), who cannot reciprocate his feelings and remains emotionally attached to her cheating ex, played by Fawad Khan.
Ayan later drifts into a loosely-defined relationship with the poet Saba (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), whose former husband Tahir, played by Shah Rukh Khan, is still in love with her.
The emotional complications do not always result in the most compelling narrative, but the performances remain strong throughout.
And the soundtrack, of course, is superb.
7. Manmarziyaan (2018)
Anurag Kashyap temporarily steps away from violent, dark sagas to tackle a turbulent love triangle in a film that was originally never meant to be directed by him.
Initially planned with Ayushmann Khurrana, Dulquer Salmaan and Bhumi Pednekar, the final cast of Manmarziyaan brought in Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal as a passionate but commitment-phobic young couple, while Abhishek Bachchan plays the calm and composed man the heroine eventually marries, despite never fully moving on from her first love.
It is a finely directed film with good performances but the screenplay offers little of novelty that you haven’t seen in movies before.
6. Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023)
Karan Johar clearly enjoys weaving love triangles into his films, even when the central couple faces no direct romantic competition.
In Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, the triangle exists not in the younger romance, but within the older generation.
Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi become part of a poignant track where an ageing patriarch rediscovers an old affair with a married woman in his fading memories, much to the irritation of his controlling wife.
The subplot is sensitively handled, even with Johar sprinkling in his trademark humour.
5. Padmaavat (2018)
Perhaps the love triangle that brought an entire nation to a standstill.
Based on Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s epic poem, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s lavish period drama tells the story of Rani Padmini (Deepika Padukone), the beautiful queen of Maharawal Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor).
Her unmatched beauty becomes an obsessive fixation for the ruthless invader Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh), who is desperate for her one glimpse, leading to bloodshed and sacrifices.
Bhansali gives the tragic tale an operatic scale, powered by striking performances from Padukone and Singh, though the film’s obsession with Rajput pride and glamourisation of jauhar attracted heavy criticism upon release.
4. Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017)
Technically, this delightful romantic comedy does not feature a conventional love triangle.
Instead, one man attempts to settle scores with another using the latter’s affections for the heroine as the bait. The central track follows Ayushmann Khurrana’s Chirag, who invents the alter ego ‘Pritam Vidrohi’ in order to observe Bitti (Kriti Sanon), the woman he secretly loves.
To sustain the charade, he coerces the real Pritam, played brilliantly by Rajkummar Rao, into pretending to be the writer.
However, once pushed too far by Chirag’s bullying behaviour, Pritam retaliates by trying to win Bitti’s affection himself. All three actors are immensely entertaining, particularly Rao.
3. Nishaanchi (2025)
It remains rather unfortunate that Anurag Kashyap’s Nishaanchi suffered from a questionable two-part release strategy, because buried within it is a genuinely captivating film.
The story revolves around two diametrically opposite twins, the unruly Babloo Nishaanchi and the timid Dabloo, both of whom fall for the fiery Rangeeli Rinku.
The complication lies in the fact that one brother is too shy to confess his feelings for the girl loved by his sibling, while the other is directly responsible for her father’s death.
Aaishvary Thackeray is a revelation in the double role, and so is Vedika Pinto, particularly in the sequence where she finds out the truth about her lover.
While Nishaanchi is more than just the love triangle — it is also a coming-of-age story and a revenge saga — the track fits snugly into the development of these characters.
2. Kapoor & Sons (2016)
More than the romantic triangle itself, it is the emotional depth of the family drama and the performances that elevate Shakun Batra’s Kapoor & Sons so highly on this list.
Yet, the triangle still plays an important role. Alia Bhatt’s character unknowingly becomes one of the reasons for conflict between two already estranged brothers. She initially falls for the elder sibling, played by Fawad Khan, unaware that he is gay, before eventually developing feelings for the younger brother, portrayed by Sidharth Malhotra.
While Kapoor & Sons certainly shines in the family portions, the romantic scenes stick out like a sore thumb and we at least get the peppy Kar Gayi Chull song.
1. Three Of Us (2023)
Not a conventional love triangle, but Avinash Arun’s delicately crafted drama explores emotional connections with remarkable maturity.
Shefali Shah plays a woman suffering from dementia who revisits her hometown alongside her warm-hearted husband, played by Swanand Kirkire, and reconnects with her childhood friend, portrayed by Jaideep Ahlawat.
While the film is fundamentally about rediscovering roots under tragic circumstances, Three Of Us also beautifully captures the warmth, longing, the quiet comfort and even insecurities that emerge when old relationships are rekindled. And of course, the performances from the three main leads are just too good.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
