Gustaakh Ishq is a story set in Delhi in 1998 where Nawabuddin Saifuddin Rehman Rizvi aka Pappan (Vijay Varma) runs an Urdu printing press by the name of Mustaqbil Printing Press. Pappan’s press is one of the few ones left in Delhi which is in ruins. To save his business he gets a sleazy writer, Faruqui (Lilliput), on board which doesn’t work out. That’s when Faruqui suggests the name of a seasoned Urdu poet Aziz who was popular in the 70s. Pappan finds Aziz’s telephone number and calls him but the latter’s daughter Mannat (Fatima Sana Shaikh) picks up the phone. She gets intrigued by the offer and she asks him to come over to Malerkotla, Punjab, where they currently reside. On meeting Pappan, Mannat makes it clear that her father doesn't want to publish his works. In order to persuade Aziz, Pappan introduces himself as an aspiring shaayar and requests him to be his mentor. To achieve his objective, Pappan woos Mannat and tries to keep her in good spirits. What happens next forms the rest of the plot.