The title of the film is modeled on common Hindi slangs ending in zaade (meaning "son of" in Persian influenced languages such as Hindi and Urdu) for example, shahzaade (meaning "son of a king" or "prince") with the first part of the name Ishaq being a vulgar pronunciation of Ishq (meaning "passionate romantic love"). The title may be loosely translated as "Rebel Lovers" (literally "Children of Love").

The Chauhans and the Qureshis are two political families whose rivalry and mutual hatred for one another goes back generations. Parma (Arjun Kapoor) is a good-for-nothing local thug, grandson of the patriarch chauvinist, Grandfather Chauhan. His grandfather often takes digs at Parma for being the useless son of his widowed daughter-in-law, and this makes Parma try to prove himself worthy. Zoya (Parineeti Chopra), a practising Muslim who offers Salat five times a day, is the trigger-happy, hot-tempered, only daughter in a traditional Muslim house full of brothers, along with her parents. She desires to go into politics like her father, but this dream is constantly laughed at by her family since she is a woman.

When the local elections take place, Parma and Zoya's canvassing efforts lead to a clash between them, which results in Parma being slapped across the face by Zoya. While Parma is enamored by Zoya's fearlessness, Zoya is intrigued by his charm (including his inability to properly pronounce her name, calling her "Joya" instead of the proper "Zoya"). They fall in love after a series of incidents bring them together, and elope; Parma converts to Islam and changes his name to Pervez. After marriage, Parma and Zoya consummate the marriage by having sex in an empty train. Afterwards, Parma reveals that he tricked Zoya - the wedding ceremony was fake and they are not married. He perpetrated the sham wedding to get her to have sex with him, which would bring shame upon her family. He therefore took revenge against her clan, and repaid the humiliation of her slapping him earlier on. Zoya is left heartbroken and devastated, as Parma joins his family in a celebration of "becoming a man". Zoya attempts to invade the celebration in order to shoot Parma, but is intercepted by his mother, Parvati, who urges her to calm down. Parvati tells Parma that he must honour his marriage vows regardless of whether he meant them, and do right by Zoya. Parma's family come to know of Zoya's presence in their home and in the heat of the moment, Grandfather Chauhan shoots Parma's mother when she tries to defend her son and daughter-in-law from the bloodthirsty gang. Parma realizes his mistake and protects Zoya from being murdered by his family.

Parma and Zoya go on the run from their families and take refuge in a brothel. At first, Zoya is still furious with Parma for his deception and even believes that he was trying to sell her to the brothel. She attacks him with a piece of broken glass, cutting his arm badly. The brothel madame, Chand Bibi (Gauhar Khan), allows them to stay while Parma recovers and Zoya begrudgingly nurses him. He asks her for forgiveness and though she refuses to grant it, she shows that she still loves him through little actions of affection. However, their mutual grief soon brings them together, giving their love a second chance. The two exchange marriage vows in a legitimate ceremony at the brothel. Zoya decides to try reconciling with her family, and takes Parma to her home to win over her father. They are instead met with hostility and gunshots when Zoya's father puts a gun to her head, threatening to kill his own daughter.

The couple flee as Zoya's father sends his men after them. Zoya and Parma prepare to run away to Jaipur, but when Parma leaves the safety of the bus to get water, their pursuers spot him and seize Zoya. She breaks free as Parma furiously fights to save her. They are reunited briefly, but quickly are found by Parma's former friends and run to the local college, which is closed for Eid. The two rival families decide that Parma and Zoya's marriage is a stab to their respective religious communities and political careers, and they try to kill the couple by joining forces.

Parma and Zoya take refuge on a terrace, engaging in a gunfire battle. With only a few bullets left, Zoya realises that they are outnumbered. She asks Parma to shoot her so that their love can win and they can die in the victory of their love, rather than be riddled with bullets by their own families, and allow hatred to win. The two shoot each other in the abdomen willingly and die in each other's arms, smiling. The goons check if they are dead and go inform the two families, who leave satisfied.

The movie ends with Parma and Zoya's bodies lying on the terrace, and an on-screen message that explains how thousands of lovers like them are killed every year only because of falling in love outside their caste and/or religion.

• Arjun Kapoor as Parma Chauhan/Pervez
• Parineeti Chopra as Zoya Qureshi
• Gauhar Khan as Chand Baby
• Ratan Singh Rathore as Aftab Qureshi
• Anil Rastogi as Surya Chauhan
• Natasha Rastogi as Paarvati (Parma's Mother)
• Charu Rastogi as Zoya's Mother
• Pravin Chandra (PC) as Chauhan Goon
• Aradhana Dhawan as Rakshan
• Akash Bathija as Bikram
• Abdullah Osman as Chandu
• Shashank Khaitan as Dharma Chauhan
• Ankit Kakkar as Karma Chauhan
• Aftab Khan as Shadaab Qureshi
• Jafarpal Dhillon as Sohraab Qureshi
• Faisal Husain as Mehtab
• Romil Saraswat as Javed
• Meeta Bandhu as Archana Nahak
• Jay Shanker Pandey ' Jay ' as Chauhan flunky

The film itself was both praised and drew some anger for its blunt confrontation of current issues in India regarding things such as premarital sex, marriage outside an individual's religion, caste, or other community, as well as the very real issue of honor killing. It also addresses and somewhat criticizes the hypocrisy of men who engage in premarital sex (they are celebrated and considered men in the eyes of the community), versus women who do the same (they are considered a disgrace and a source of shame). In addition, the film is notable for presenting the struggles of Indian widows and prostitutes in a sympathetic light.

Casting

It was announced that newcomer Arjun Kapoor had joined the cast of Ishaqzaade in late 2011. Earlier, Arjun Kapoor was to debut in another Yash Raj production, Virus Diwan. However, the film got delayed and therefore Yash Raj Films designed Ishaqzaade for Arjun Kapoor. Rekha and Chinni Prakash, National Award winners for Jodhaa Akbar were chosen as the choreographers, while Sham Kaushal is the Action Director.

Filming

Filming began on 15 October 2011. A big part of the movie was shot in Lucknow, Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh and at other sites near Lucknow.

The music of the film is composed by the music director Amit Trivedi, who has worked the first time with Yash Raj Films, and lyrics were penned by Kausar Munir, except where noted, though the background score was composed by Ranjit Barot.

Track listing

Reception

The album received positive response with major praise for Pareshaan song which also topped the charts for a long period of time.

Music Aloud rated the album 9/10, saying that "Amit Trivedi brushes off that relative low phase of 2011 with a stunner for Ishaqzaade." Bolly Spice gave the album 9/10, explaining that "Amit Trivedi is definitely one of the best composers around and he proves his detractors wrong with this soundtrack that stays true to his style and shows his versatility. It is easily the best soundtrack of this year so far." Glam Sham gave the album 8/10, noting that "Overall the album delivers a satisfying listening experience and should add one more s