GEHRAIYAAN (2022)
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| Critic No. 263 |
Director: Shakun Batra
Written by: Shakun Batra, Ayesha Devitre, Sumit Roy, Yash Sahai
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Viacom18 Studios, Jouska Films
Casts: Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panda, Dhairya Karwa, Naseeruddin Shah
Music: Kabeer Kathpalia, Savera Mehta
Language: Hindi
Genre: Drama / Romance
SYNOPSIS:
Alisha Khanna, 30, ambitious, now finds herself at a crossroads in life. Her six-year-long relationship has grown monotonous, her career seems to be going nowhere. But just when she had begun to accept this reality as unchangeable, her life is usurped by the arrival of her cousin, Tia, and her fiancé, Zain, with whom she bonds over a troubled past and a common wish to break from its confines.
REVIEW:
When an upcoming and promising director like Shakun Batra sets out to make a film about dysfunctional and complicated modern-day relationships, you can’t help but have high expectations. Why? Because we know and expect some innovation and depth when it is told from a fairly new age director. With quite an interesting cast ensemble led by the astonishing star of Bollywood, Deepika Padukone, Gehraiyaan might be one of the most awaited pure romance flicks of Indian cinema in 2022.
Alisha (Deepika Padukone), a yoga instructor, and Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), a real estate hotshot, set off with a fiery attraction from the moment they meet. A heady phase of passion consumes the two until reality hits them in the face. Deep into the relationship, the couple finds themselves on a slippery slope as things get complicated. Zain is engaged to Alisha’s cousin Tia (Ananya Panday) and Alisha happens to be in a live-in relationship with her partner of six years Karan (Dhairya Karwa). Can their forbidden romance survive the complexities of life?
The juicy premise starts off nicely with four characters that are flawed in their own way. Alisha carries heavy emotional baggage from her childhood trauma of witnessing her mother’s suicide and develops hate for her father that carries for years. The characters are quite complex and the situation is even more. Zain gives a very antagonistic aura (partly because of the casting as well) from the first frame he appears in and designed to be rich doesn’t help but make us think that Alisha is a gold digger who ditches her poor writer boyfriend. I am not justifying the fact that Karan’s distanced, self-indulgent persona is also the contributing factor too.
This kind of distances us from their love and personally, I couldn’t care enough about their relationship (which sets off ‘deeply’ without much development). In fact, I wished that they get caught red-handedly. I was more concerned for Tia and Karan throughout the film. As the relationship between Alisha and Zain feels surface level, until the conflict hits, we find ourself dragging ourselves to see a bunch of flawed people getting into an unfair (not judging here), toxic relationship. The frequent inserts of a few passionately acted and shot love making scenes doesn’t really help to solidify any character development.
The film then transforms into a thriller in the second half and as I said, the casting of Zain will make us predict the route of the second half, miles away. However, besides the romance track, Batra’s touch on developing the relationship between Tia and Alisha, and Alisha and her father was emotionally affecting. The last 30 minutes of the film elevated my experience with the film and the resolution between Alisha and her father, laced with the juxtaposition of her current stake is masterful. Montages from the lead characters’ childhood have been introduced smoothly whenever the story needed them. I just felt that the film had focussed more on the conflict or the development of the relationship between Alisha and Tia, it would have hit us more.
The cinematography and sound also play a significant part in the film’s subtly highlighting the subtext of the theme. Scenes are designed with a lot of pauses and silences, which are left for us to interpret. For instance, the yacht serves as a perfect example of how locations could be used as a character in a movie. Batra must be credited for his choice of introducing sea waves as an important part of the film. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Kaushal Shah, the waves serve as a symbolic expression of danger, passion, and love during various parts of the film.
Deepika Padukone is terrific as usual with her nuanced performance while Bollywood legend Naseeruddin Shah steals the climax with his brief but brilliant performance. Ananya shines well in the third act as well despite her wafer-thin character. Siddhant is just okay as Zain but as mentioned before, his antagonistic, arrogant look gives away the plot developments.
That said, Batra ends the film with a throught provoking tone that one can never hide or get away with the things we do, be it good or bad. Despite the meandering start, the practicality of the ending made me smile.
VERDICT:
Driven by Deepika Padukone’s layered performance, ‘Gehraiyaan’ is a romance drama about a bunch of flawed people falling into complex, toxic relationships that is engaging but not quite affecting as intended.
CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5:
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