The story of the film spans over a period of four centuries and tells four different stories set in different time periods. Supermodel Sanjana (Karisma Kapoor) and Rohan (Rajneesh Duggal), son of one of the nation's foremost business tycoons have been one of the most popular couples in the social circuit. When Sanjana decides against flying to Paris at the last minute for a lucrative modelling assignment, she does so, not just because she cannot bear to stay away from her boyfriend Rohan, but more importantly because her instincts push her against going. But what her instincts cannot do is stop Rohan from getting kidnapped. The high-profile kidnapping creates chaos in Sanjana's life. The kidnappers demand 500 million. The police however believe that even paying the ransom will not bring Rohan back. Shortly after Rohan gets kidnapped, Sanjana starts hearing strange noises. She has visions of Rohan calling her Geeta. With all this happening, Sanjana realises that she can read Urdu even though she has never learnt it. She informs her doctor friend Neetu (Divya Dutta) about it, who in turns refers her to a psychiatrist.

The latter informs Sanjana that Rohan's kidnapping is somehow linked to her past lives. Sanjana undergoes a past life regression where she sees herself as Geeta, a young Hindu girl who is in love with Iqbal (Rajneesh Duggal). Her entire family has been killed by her uncle. Iqbal suggests that the only way Geeta can escape her death is by leaving the country and settle down in India. Later, it is revealed that Iqbal's friend Aarif (Arya Babbar) is the antagonist, whose purpose is to separate the two lovers.

Sanjana's next life is that of a Muslim girl, Salma. Here again, she loves a young man named Ali (Rajneesh Duggal). The latter leaves for a war with his companion Rashid (Sameer Kochhar). When the war is over, everyone returns except for Ali. Rashid informs Salma that her lover has been killed. It is later revealed that Ali is alive and that it was all Rashid's plan to separate the two lovers. With this particular regression, it is also revealed that Rohan's younger brother Rahul (Ruslaan Mumtaz) has a hand behind his kidnapping.

Sanjana's last past life is that of a young Indian celibate named Paro. She is secretly in love with Raj Dutt (Rajneesh Duggal). The Commander-in-Chief of Rajputana, Durgam Sah (Ravi Kishan) also loves her. When she rejects his love and commits suicide, Durgam Sah takes the help of a psychic named Mantra. He asks her to give him the power to remember everything regarding his current life so that he can continue to separate the two lovers in the next lifetimes. That being said, Durgam Sah, Rashid, and Aarif all have the same soul, but different faces. Their only aim was to separate Sanjana and Rohan. Now the question remains: in which form did Durgam Sah take birth during the present life? During the climax, it is finally revealed that ACP Singh (Jimmy Sheirgill) is the new Durgam Sah. In a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse all is revealed and at the film's climax, Sanjana is able to recognise who ACP singh really is by a mark on his shoulder which all his previous lives have had, and then proceeds to fatally wound him. This breaks the cycle, and it is revealed that Sanjana and Rohan's souls are able to be together for ever.

• Karisma Kapoor as Sanjana/Geeta/Salma/Paro
• Rajneesh Duggal as Rohan/Iqbal/Ali/Raj Dutt
• Ravi Kissen as Durgam Sah (Durgam Sah's first life)
• Sameer Kochhar as Rashid (Durgam Sah's second life)
• Arya Babbar as Aarif (Durgam Sah's third life)
• Jimmy Sheirgill as ACP Singh (Durgam Sah's fourth and last life)
• Divya Dutta as Neetu/Chanda/Tawaif
• Ruslaan Mumtaz as Rahul Thakral
• Manish Malhotra in a cameo appearance playing himself
• Gracy Singh as Meera (Special Appearance in song "Lagan Lagi")
• Bikramjeet Kanwarpal

This film marked the comeback of Karisma Kapoor after a break of six years.

Critical reception

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the movie 1.5 stars out of 5, noting that "Ambitious but seriously flawed, the film smacks of laziness in virtually all departments, and even Karisma Kapoor's earnest performance can't save the day. I'm going with one-and-a-half out of five for director Vikram Bhatt's 'Dangerous Ishq'. Plodding on for close to two hours and thirty minutes, this film will make you wish you'd knocked back a stiff one before taking your seat."

Kathika Kandpal of Filmfare gave the movie 2 stars out of 5, concluding that "Watch this and you might feel Karisma's Baaz – A Bird in Danger (2003) was a classic." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 1.5 stars out of 5, commenting that "On the whole, Dangerous Ishqq is no patch on Vikram Bhatt's earlier achievements. This fantasy-driven film is an epic disappointment!"^[10] Mansha Rastogi of Now Running gave the movie 1 star out of 5, quoting that "Dangerous Ishhq is definitely very dangerous... to your sensibilities! Beware!"^[11] Blessy Chettiar of DNA India gave the movie 1 star out of 5, writing that "Dangerous Ishhq is like watching a Dr Brian Weiss book in 3D, after about 30 pages, it gets monotonous and uninteresting. There's only so much curiosity you can have in somebody else's life. By the end of the ordeal you wish to be treated to a past life regression theory to find out what was it that drew you to it. Go curse your karma now."^[12] Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the movie 0.5 stars out of 5, noting that "Karisma looks unbelievably trim for a 'do-bachchon-ki-amma', but that doesn't stop her from sliding all the way back into her familiar 90s style acting, where everything was over the top, from arch expressions to clothes to make-up. This is a terrible film, with not one redeeming factor."^[13]

Box office

It had opening day collections of ?11 million (US$160,000). The second day collections were ?12 million (US$180,000), taking the two-day total to ?23 million (US$340,000). The third day collections were ?15 million (US$220,000), taking the weekend total to ?38 million (US$570,000).^[14] The film's final total was approximately ?94 million (US$1.4 million) nett.^[15]Dangerous Ishhq grossed ?2.6 million (US$39,000) in the overseas markets.^[16] Box Office India called it "one of the major flop of the year.^[17]

Music of the film is composed by Himesh Reshammiya and the lyrics are penned by Sameer and Shabbir Ahmed. One of the remix is by Kary Arora