The universe works in strange ways. As a teenager, Rohit Saraf aspired to be like Shahid Kapoor’s character from Ishq Vishk (2003). Today, the actor finds himself in the universe of the popular campus caper. His next, Ishq Vishk Rebound, is the spiritual sequel to Kapoor’s debut movie. “I love that film. We have all been either Shahid, or Amrita [Rao], or Shenaz [Treasury] at some point in our lives,” grins Saraf.

Ishq Vishk looked at the romantic hopes, misadventures and heartbreaks that define one’s college years. In 2023, the story gets an update. Saraf, who is joined by Pashmina Roshan, Naila Grewal and Jibraan Khan, states that the similarity between the two films stops at the title. Tell him that comparisons with Kapoor are inevitable, and he says, “We aren’t trying to recreate anything; it’s a completely different film. What Shahid did was fantastic. I am trying to be my own person. I feel no pressure because the two movies are 20 years apart.”

The actor has become the poster boy of contemporary young romances, courtesy his successful series, Mismatched. He proudly wears the tag of a soft romantic hero, a rare feature today as hyper-masculinity is returning to the screen with a vengeance.

“We haven’t explored romance in the last few years; we mostly see crime thrillers today. Romance needs to come back because it’s the strongest emotion in the world. I want to do romantic films as long as I can, while presenting variety within that space. So, while my character in Mismatched was an old-school lover, Ishq Vishk Rebound explores the theme of rebounds.”