I watched The Girlfriend earlier this week. One of those moments where your watchlist is empty and you’re open to anything. I went in blind — no trailers, no teasers, just the name. Sometimes that’s exactly how a film finds you.
Here are 15 thoughts I had while watching The Girlfriend on Netflix:
- 1. Every girl needs to watch this – especially early on in life. Not because it hands you answers, but because it shows you what shouldn’t feel normal. If you’re just starting out – dating, loving, trusting – this film quietly teaches you what to question.
- The red flags were there from the very first interaction.Nothing loud, nothing dramatic. Just an intensity in Vikram’s eyes that felt less like interest and more like ownership. The kind you ignore because it doesn’t yet look “toxic.”
- Possessiveness is framed as care and that’s where it becomes dangerous. Concern slowly turns into monitoring. Affection starts coming with conditions. Bhooma’s choices begin to feel like negotiations instead of decisions.
- Bhooma doesn’t lose herself overnight – she fades slowly. She adjusts, explains, reassures, and minimizes her discomfort just to keep things steady. Watching that gradual erasure felt painfully familiar.
- Vikram doesn’t want a partner – he wants control. He likes the idea of her, the image of having her, but not who she is when she stands independently. Her growth unsettles him.
- The most unsettling thing is how he controls the narrative. He reframes situations, shifts blame, and convinces her she’s overreacting. Over time, his version of reality begins to sound more reasonable than her instincts.
- This film captures the heart-versus-mind conflict perfectly. Emotionally, you understand why Bhooma stays. Logically, you know she shouldn’t. The film lets you sit with that exhausting tug-of-war.
- Parents shape emotional patterns more than we realise – on both sides. Bhooma grows up seeking approval, learning silence as survival. Vikram, meanwhile, openly talks about growing up around an abusive, possessive marriage – and instead of breaking that cycle, he carries it forward. His idea of love mirrors what he witnessed, while Bhooma’s need to endure mirrors what she was taught. Two different upbringings, one damaging collision.
- That line at the end – when Bhooma’s father says she was never born – is devastating.It’s not just rejection; it’s erasure. As if her existence, her pain, her choices never counted.
- This film understands the lasting power of words. Whether from a parent or a partner, words spoken with authority don’t just hurt – they shape identity.
- It shows why red flags are ignored, not unseen. Love makes us rationalise. Hope makes us patient. Fear of being alone makes us stay longer than we should.
- Some scenes are uncomfortable – and that discomfort feels intentional. The emotional suffocation, the constant self-doubt, the quiet exhaustion of trying to be “enough.” It felt uncomfortably real.
- Rashmika Mandanna delivers a restrained, powerful performance.Her pain isn’t loud. It lives in silences, expressions, and what’s left unsaid – which makes Bhooma feel real.
- Vikram isn’t written as a caricature – he’s written as a pattern. Insecure, entitled, shaped by his environment. That’s what makes him believable – and unsettling.
- By the end, this stops being a love story and becomes a warning. Love shouldn’t make you smaller, quieter, or unsure of your own reality. Especially for those just starting their lives — this feels like a necessary watch.
The Girlfriend isn’t an easy watch, and it isn’t meant to be. It sits with you, unsettles you, and forces you to question the things we’re often told to romanticise — intensity, sacrifice, endurance. It reminds you that love shouldn’t feel like confusion or control, and that walking away isn’t failure, it’s self-preservation.
For anyone just starting their life, their relationships, or even unlearning old patterns, this film feels less like entertainment and more like a quiet but necessary warning.
Comments 1