‘When the besotted expression returns to his face and his eyes slide down to her mouth again, he toughens up his exterior and attempts to convince himself that she’s just a fool drunk on her privilege.’

When Namya arrives at Maurya College of Liberal Arts―an elite bubble in the middle of rural Haryana―she finds the brightest and the most privileged living a life of complete self-indulgence. Alongside academic excellence, promiscuity and incessant partying are also the norm.

Meanwhile, the village’s golden boy, Vir Kumar Yadav, has turned his back on a brilliant future and resorted to selling overpriced booze to Mauryan undergraduates to support his family.

As their paths cross, Namya begins to question her entitlement, while Vir finds himself struggling with the black-and-white notions he’s always held true. And when a Westernized pub, Tej Ka Theka, opens next door, the walls of the glass palace begin to crumble, setting the stage for an irrevocable culture clash.

Fresh and witty, Nayantara Violet Alva’s vivid and cinematic debut, Liberal Hearts, is as much a college romance as it is a coming-of-age story.