Half Girlfriend Movie Dialogues: Famous Lines, Cast and Story

Quick answer: Half Girlfriend is a 2017 Hindi romantic drama directed by Mohit Suri, based on Chetan Bhagat’s 2014 novel of the same name, with Arjun Kapoor as Madhav Jha and Shraddha Kapoor as Riya Somani. Its best-known line is Riya’s offer to be Madhav’s “half girlfriend” rather than his girlfriend, and many of Madhav’s lines play on his struggle with English. Below are a few of the film’s most quoted dialogues, with English meanings, plus the key facts about the film.

Half Girlfriend: the film at a glance

• Released: 19 May 2017
• Director: Mohit Suri
• Based on: Half Girlfriend, the novel by Chetan Bhagat, published by Rupa Publications on 1 October 2014
• Screenplay: Chetan Bhagat; dialogues by Ishita Moitra
• Producers: Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Mohit Suri and Chetan Bhagat
• Cast: Arjun Kapoor (Madhav Jha), Shraddha Kapoor (Riya Somani), Vikrant Massey (Shailesh Pandey), Rhea Chakraborty (Anshika Patel) and Seema Biswas (Rani Sahiba, Madhav’s mother)
• Running time: 130 minutes

What is Half Girlfriend about?

Madhav Jha, a talented basketball player from a village in Bihar who is far more comfortable in Hindi than in English, gets into St. Stephen’s College in Delhi on the sports quota. There he becomes close to Riya Somani, a wealthy Delhi girl. When he wants a proper relationship, Riya offers to be only his “half girlfriend”, and a painful falling-out follows. Years later the two meet again in Patna, where Madhav is seeking a grant backed by Bill Gates for his village school, and the story eventually takes him to New York in search of her.

The film’s dialogue leans on that contrast between Madhav’s rural, Hindi-speaking world and Riya’s English-speaking one. That is why so many of its quoted lines are about language.

Famous Half Girlfriend dialogues

The lines below are kept short and are given in Hinglish, as they are usually quoted, with their meaning in English. The first three match lines and scenes described in press coverage of the trailer. The last two are widely shared online, but we could not match them to a published transcript, so treat their exact wording with caution.

Madhav (Arjun Kapoor)

1. “Hum kitna bhi koshish kyun na kar lein, Riya, tumhari iss English medium duniya mein kabhi fit nahi ho paayenge.”
   Meaning: however hard I try, Riya, I will never fit into your English-medium world.
2. “Sir, hum Hindi mein uttar dena chahenge.”
   Meaning: sir, I would like to answer in Hindi. Madhav says this in his college admission interview after struggling to answer in English.

3. “Humari amma bachpan se sikhayi: haro mat, haar ko harao.”
   Meaning: my mother taught me from childhood: don’t lose, defeat defeat itself.
4. “Hum bahut pyaar karte hain usse. Hum nahi chahte woh humari half girlfriend ban ke reh jaaye.”
   Meaning: I love her very much. I don’t want her to remain just my half girlfriend.

Riya (Shraddha Kapoor)

5. “Main tumhari girlfriend nahi hoon… par I can be your half girlfriend.”
   Meaning: I’m not your girlfriend, but I can be your half girlfriend. This is the line that gives the film and the novel their title.

An earlier version of this article quoted about ten lines from the film, including some we could not confirm and one that appears to come from a song. To respect the film’s and the songwriters’ copyright, we have kept a handful of short, well-known lines and removed the rest; song lyrics are not reproduced.

Half Girlfriend songs

The soundtrack was composed by several music directors, including Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi, Rishi Rich, Farhan Saeed, Ami Mishra and Rahul Mishra, with a background score by Raju Singh. Songs from the album that were recognised at award shows include “Baarish”, “Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga”, “Thodi Der” and “Stay a Little Longer”, sung by artists such as Ash King, Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal and Anushka Shahaney.

More Bollywood dialogue collections

If you enjoy film dialogues, read our collections from Raees, Kaabil and Dangal, or our pick of motivational Bollywood dialogues.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the dialogues of Half Girlfriend?

The film’s dialogues are credited to Ishita Moitra. Chetan Bhagat, who wrote the novel, wrote the story and screenplay.

Is Half Girlfriend based on a book?

Yes. It is based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel Half Girlfriend, published by Rupa Publications in October 2014.

Who plays Madhav and Riya in Half Girlfriend?

Arjun Kapoor plays Madhav Jha and Shraddha Kapoor plays Riya Somani.

When was Half Girlfriend released?

The film was released in cinemas on 19 May 2017.

What does “half girlfriend” mean in the film?

Riya uses it to describe a relationship that is more than friendship but less than a committed romance: she cares for Madhav but will not call herself his girlfriend.

Film details checked in October 2026 against the film’s and novel’s Wikipedia entries and their cited credits, and against press coverage of the trailer for the quoted lines.