Straight out of Bollywood: 'The First Connect' - Love story or a rehash?

Equal parts melodrama and emotional intrigue, tangled relationships, and a cinematic flair, 'The First Connect' reads like a Bollywood screenplay waiting to unfold on screen. "While moving down in the glass elevator, she catches a glimpse of him in the lobby bar. Her heart skips a beat. Nearly two decades have passed since they last met...Amidst the throng of people, their eyes lock."

The book boasts a dense cast of characters, at once familiar, yet one that could take an eternity to fully untangle. At its core, author Pooja Misra Khaitan W has clearly poured time and energy into crafting a story that will resonate most with teenagers — those navigating the highs and lows of first love, infatuation, jealousy, obsession, and fleeting crushes.

But while it may strike a chord with young, romantic dreamers, the book is unlikely to appeal to readers who seek emotional realism or mature takes on relationships. For an adult audience more invested in trust, stability, and grounded connections, this story may feel contrary to popular belief — a throwback to larger-than-life Bollywood love stories, best reserved for romantics who still believe in grand gestures and love-at-first-sight moments.

What sets the book apart initially is its intriguing attempt to keep the protagonists and their narratives separate — a device that builds suspense. It takes a fair portion of the book before the reader begins to understand how the two central female characters are connected. This delayed reveal is one of the novel’s better achievements and helps retain a sense of curiosity through the first half.

However, as the story progresses, the lines between characters begin to blur. While the author starts out with clearly defined personalities, the narrative slowly becomes entangled — with overlapping character arcs, repeated emotional beats, and certain plot twists that feel overused. At times, this can be disorienting, especially when the story’s pacing falters due to melodramatic turns.

The writing leans heavily into cinematic tropes. In one scene, a male character imagines the woman he’s infatuated with walking toward him in slow motion during a meeting — ignoring everyone else in the room. The fact that her name is Kareena and he notices a magazine featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan makes the moment feel too on-the-nose, as if lifted straight from a 90s Bollywood romance. "...Professor Misra walks in, holding some books...a copy of Tolstoy's classic novel, Anna Karenina. It catches Karan's eyes. The name of the book hits him like a ton of bricks..." These filmy flourishes, while potentially entertaining for some, might feel exaggerated or even dated for readers looking for emotional realism.

There are moments of sincerity, though. The book keeps you guessing about how romantic threads will tie up — who ends up with whom, and whose heart is left broken. One might find themselves rooting for certain outcomes, which speaks to the book’s ability to engage on a basic emotional level. But it also slips into clichés: a woman pursued by multiple men, resisting all advances for "the one," only to marry someone else and eventually confront her past. The cycle of love, betrayal, and rekindling is treated here with a predictability that dulls its impact.

The narrative opens on a somber note, touching on themes of infidelity and failed marriages — a jarring start that feels disconnected from the more youthful, dreamy tone of the rest of the book. While these elements attempt to add maturity, they sometimes detract from the central story and contribute to a lack of thematic cohesion.

Khaitan W’s effort is clear — the book is ambitious in scope, emotionally charged, and clearly written from the heart. But the sheer number of characters, the over-reliance on drama, and the familiar plot beats make it feel more like a screenplay than a fully fleshed-out novel. That said, it will likely appeal to readers who enjoy dramatic, feel-good stories of love and longing — especially younger readers or fans of classic romantic films.

In short, this is a story best enjoyed with a pinch of nostalgia and a taste for melodrama. For the lovey-dovey dreamers and Bollywood romantics, it offers a bittersweet ride through the messiness of modern love.