Gehraiyaan (2022) :
Movie Review -
On a nice wedding day, a simple girl is about to marry the man she loves. The next moment, she learns that her own sister has eloped with the groom, and they both marry each other. The sister's boyfriend, heartbroken, consoles the girl, and eventually these two fall in love. In the meantime, those two eloped lovers are having a troubled marriage. Wait, I was just talking about John Huston's old Hollywood classic, "In This Our Life" (1942), starring two of the greatest actresses of all time-Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland. Shakun Batra's Gehraiyaan reminded me of that film at the initial stage, but as it moved forward, I realised that it was a different one. There were similarities, like the Love-quartet involving sisters, but that was just about the basic plot, not the detailed one. Gehraiyaan goes deeper into relationship issues caused by professional crisis and conflict between love and business. That's all. Batra's Kapoor & Sons looked like a complete family thing because it involved the entire family at the same time and at the same place, while Gehraiyaan works for individuals at different places but at the same time.
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 hitting a lot of roadblocks, and just when she had begun to accept this reality as unchangeable, the arrival of her cousin, Tia, and her fiancé, Zain, with whom she bonds over a troubled past and a common wish to break free from its confines. The story charts the journey of Alisha and Zain as they fall in love and confront the ghost of their past on the path they take to avoid it. Expectedly, some terrible consequences follow to make the mess even worse, but then it finds a nice getaway through it. Remember Montgomery Clift from "A Place in the Sun" (1951)? Siddhant Chaturvedi's character will remind you of that (hopefully, it's not a spoiler) - but there are different implications to conclude it. Batra and his co-writers' rip-off of multiple flicks still stands pretty much original, owing a favour to its urbanised climax. Not great, but definitely good enough.
Gehraiyaan is mainly led by three actors: Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday, and Siddhant Chaturved. Dhairya Karwa doesn't really seem like a lead character. He is more of a supporting actor, similar to Rajat Kapoor, and both have more screen time than Naseeruddin Shah. Rest, it's all about the trio. Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi's steamy chemistry is indeed something to watch, but their performances have won the race here. Siddhant still carries that "Gully Boy" tone; it looks a bit unnecessary at the beginning, but becomes familiar afterwards. Deepika Padukone's sizzling hot avatar may cause you a slight diversion from the act; however, she captures it before it's gone too far. Ananya is that perfect urban girl even in real life, so there's no way she can go wrong with her natural features on the big screen. Deepika's character was a little contradictory to this urban thing I'm mentioning again and again, as she plays a middle-class working girl, but with Ananya, everything falls into place. The casting director is definitely at merit here for such a lovely casting coup.
What works in Gehraiyaan is the gripping storytelling. It's a long film with a runtime of 148 minutes (that's definitely too long) and the soul of its context is too short to convey the extension. Nevertheless, the screenplay is very pacy and engaging. There is not a moment when you can move your steady neck from the screen, and it goes on for two hours, almost. The problem appears in the last 20 minutes, when it loses its grip and its quota of new elements is over. There is nothing left but cliches. Thankfully, all the songs in the film are situational. "Doobey" and "Beqaboo" both work fine as long as they have situations to carry them. The cinematography is very nice, and the background score definitely adds to the mood-making frames
Kapoor & Sons and now Gehraiyaan. Shakun Batra is definitely a director to watch out for in urban cinema. His detailing of small, small things is commendable, and the way he presents his characters without any compromises is a fancy treat for his audience. His cinema is never made for the masses and is never even supposed to please them. The same goes with Gehraiyaan, only I am not damn sure because maybe they will enjoy those intimate scenes as to their comfort and forget what it's all about. Yes, that's the question. Was so much adultery really needed here? I don't think so. One or two kisses are fine, and even a few abusive words are fine, but here it's like raining kisses and storming the 'F' word. Superfluous! Rest assured, Batra has made a sensible urban cinema for an urban audience. These relationship issues planted by professional problems aren't anything new, but this film makes them look new and fresh. Gehraiyaan is a perfect fit for OTT with an "A" certificate. Our mass audience, which fills most of the seats in theatres, is not yet ready for this. Let's swim in the ocean of Gehraiyaan this Valentine's weekend, created by this fantastic team but only if you are an adult.
RATING - 6/10*
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