I love Bollywood romances, and I absolutely loved this! The songs are beautiful (especially Dheere dheere). What I found just as moving as the songs is the depiction of a fantastically pure, innocent and passionate romance between the couple. It's so beautiful in its earnestness and intensity (which the less romantic among us will find very silly) that it's almost haunting. A sensitive but impetuous young man falls in love with a withdrawn and shy orphan girl. Their love comes across all sorts of obstacles and, of course, overcomes them all. There are good themes about women empowerment, valuing love and relationships, and good winning over evil.What I found really attractive throughout the movie is the haunting, yearning, love-filled gaze the couple has for each other. There are several scenes where they just gaze into each others eyes with such longing and tenderness that anyone who has ever loved will feel their passion themselves. Anu Aggarwal has these beautiful eyes that communicate both the ecstasy and pain of her love, and Rahul Roy has a soft-hearted passion in his tone. Yes, there are mannnnyyyy deux-ex-machinas. The tears are always rolling. The bad guys are really bad, and the good guys are really good. But the movie recognizes and even indulges in its silly passion. Towards the end there is a line spoken to one who doesn't understand, perhaps also spoken to those who have groaned and winced and rolled their eyes through the whole movie -- "Yeh tu nahi samjhega. Yeh love story hai. Aashiqui." (You won't understand -- it's a love story. It's passion). It's a fantasy, and for that it's really beautiful -- a fantasy where goodness and badness exist only in purity; where love is good, and good conquers all.

I give it 6 out of 10, because the movie portrays two young, innocent characters, capturing their romance, strengths and weaknesses in their budding relationship. While watching this movie since 1990 and up till today, Bollywood movies today are incomparable to Aashiqui. This movie captures the romance of two innocent, young lovers...Which is why I gave additional bonus points for this classic movie. You can't find a good quality, innocent romantic movies in this generation without sex. The music definitely makes up the flaws of this movie. It's flawless. Even to this date, there is no other music that is elegant and timeless such as the music featured in this movie. The soundtrack is what made this movie famous and a success. It had garnered bonus points, because of the soundtrack. It ranked fourth place on Planet Bollywood's Top 100 list for a reason: It's worth listening to. On the other hand, the acting is very "bland"...I also have no words to describing the characters' enthusiasm to their skills in dancing. It was very tasteless and there was no "oomph" in their moves. It's very upsetting to see two reasonable looking actors, that fit the image of the decent characters very well, but yet their acting was below average. A disappointment on both Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal. I could only compliment on Dipak Tijori and Reema Lagoo for their acting skills. They deserve bonus points on their supporting roles. In addition to the disadvantages, the movie was set up in a chronological order: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, there are obstacles where they can't meet each other and they finally live happily ever after. Very traditional. Very Bollywood...With a few twists and turns. You just know what was going to happen next. In conclusion, the high verdict is mostly based on the timeless soundtrack and the innocent romance of two young lovers that are deeply in love. If you're looking to pass time with your loved one and curling up to watch this movie or feel like falling in love all over again, watch it...But I wouldn't say it's a must-see. Skip it if you feel like it...You're not missing out on too much. But the music is very much worth listening to.

One thing that I love about this movie is the music. It is beautiful. I can guarantee you, that generations to come will be listening to this music long after we have all left this world. There is something eternal and evergreen about the soundtrack.That being said I feel that the movie in no way reflects the sheer genius of the music. One can see tiny glimpses of coping from the movie Rebel Without A Cause throughout the entire narrative, the obvious being the scene in the police station at the being of the movie. In fact the entire narrative seems contrived and stiff.Rahul and Anu did the best that the could do with their cardboard characters.While the music will remain eternal, I predict that Aashqui the movie will fade into obscurity in the years to come.

1st watched 2/27/2010 -- 3 out of 10 (Dir-Mahesh Bhatt): Silly Bollywood romance where the best part is the danceable tunes(and there are plenty of them). The problem is that the story is very formulaic and predictable with no real depth to the characters. The story is about a lounge singer, played by Rahul Roy(which is also the character's name in the movie), who gets in trouble with the police after disturbing his father's 2nd marriage, and glances at an orphan named Annu -- who he immediately falls in love with. The main characters are the typical troubled-youngster characters with checkered family histories(which of course makes them rebel). He pursues her, frees her from the orphanage, and then she tries to make it on her own as a model. Due to this freedom and also because of Rahul's mom's insistence, she decides not to marry him for 2 years -- until Rahul makes something of himself. This, of course, makes him unhappy and he bursts into song(in typical Bollywood fashion). He is then discovered and becomes a big singer, but the two main characters' reunion is, of course, not that simple. This movie is very long, but very simplistic with no real backbone in any of the characters(except maybe Rahul's mother). It's a simplistic Romeo+Juliet story with a lot of singing and dancing(which as I said before is the best part). Avoid this one -- there are many better Bollywood movies around.