Everyday I read the book.

One of the supporting characters in 18 Pages (2022) accuses heroine Nandini (Anupama Pareswaran) of essentially being a 90's Indian romantic comedy heroine, and it's a fair cop.  That applies to the whole movie, really, because it has all the hallmarks of that era: attractive leads, huge emotions, a completely bonkers plot, and a wild shift in genre.  All that's really missing is Johny Lever.

But we need to start with Siddhu (Nikhil Siddhartha.)  Siddhu is a software designer who is passionate about everything.  He dotes on his girlfriend to the point where it interferes with work, forcing his sassy platonic galpal Bhagi (Sarayu Roy) to cover for him.  he's broken ties with his parents since his grandfather went missing.   And when he learns that his girlfriend has been cheating on him, he does a Devdas speedrun, going from lovestruck hero to bitter alcoholic in the space of a day.

Bhagi suggests that he burns the mementos of his girlfriend so that he can have closure and get back to work.  He does, but he uses a page from a book he found by the side of the road as kindling, and starts reading as it burns.  The book turns out to be the diary of a girl named Nandini, and Siddhu is immediately hooked and starts reading the rest of the book (without lighting it on fire.)

Nandini is a whimsical free spirit, wise beyond her years, and you can tell because she doesn't have a cell phone, refuses to sue any sort of social media, and records her life in a diary rather than taking pictures.  She has an aphorism for every occasion, and she's quick to help everyone she meets.  Nandini is in Hyderabad in order to deliver an envelope for her grandfather, and because of the aforementioned "no cell phones" rule, that means she needs to spend days wandering the streets, touching lives and sharing life lessons.

Siddhu is drawn into the diary immediately, though he seems to be taking time reading it, which means he gets worked up about plot twists when, as Bhagi keeps reminding him, he is reading a book and he can just look at the next page to find out what actually happened.  However, Siddhu also takes Nandini's philosophies to heart, putting away his cell phone and paying attention to the world around him, which is how he discovers his missing grandfather.

Meanwhile in the past, Nandini's search has taken a dark turn.  She accepts a ride form a stranger who offers to take her to the man she's supposed to deliver the envelope to, but it's a trap. She's nearly kidnapped, but is saved by an orphan boy she befriended earlier and the handsome doctor (Dinesh Tej) he asked for help.  It looks like Nandini and Doctor Sandeep might start a relationship and Siddhu is devastated, especially when he realizes that Sandeep is his married new neighbor, but when he meets Sandeep's wife she keeps talking about her phone, and Siddhu realizes that she can't be Nandini.

He turns the page.  Nandini lets Sandeep down gently, explaining that love shouldn't have a reason, and she resumes her search.  Finally the man she's searching for makes contact.  She meets him in the park and then . . . nothing.  The diary ends there.  Siddhu is devastated again, but Bhagi points out that the diary has Nandini's address in it.  he goes to her home village and learns that she died in a car accident shortly after the last entry.  Rather than wasting time being devastated yet again, Siddhu devotes himself to fulfilling all of Nandini's dreams and goals, which means buying presents for the orphans at the nearby orphanage she used to volunteer at, punching a welder, putting her roommate through school, returning money she borrowed from a bus conductor, and so on.

Siddhu isn't exactly happy. but he's content.  And yet, as he goes around helping people, he starts finding clues that maybe the accident wasn't really an accident, and that Nandini might be alive after all.  Suddenly the movie is a mystery, and Siddhu untangles a mystery which ties all of the seemingly unrelated plot threads together, leading to the movie's first sensible decision.

18 Pages is completely ridiculous, largely due to Siddhu's habit of overreacting to absolutely everything.  He also doesn't seem to grasp the concept of books, demanding that Baghi help him rescue Nadini even though, as Baghi points out, the kidnap attempt was over a year ago, and all he can really do is turn the page.  On the other hand, he does get better, and following Nandini's path inspires him to fix what's broken in his own relationships as well.

And honestly, "completely ridiculous" is not a bad thing for a movie to be.  18 Pages operates on the same kind of heightened reality as RRR or Bahubali, but instead of elaborate action scenes, the movie gives us the world's most elaborate meet cute.