Gehraiyaan film assessment: Nuanced Drama Dooms Itself With Odd Choices

Gehraiyaan — the brand new Amazon unique film with Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Ananya Panday — is a basic case of being in all places. It begins off as a romantic character drama, because the Gehraiyaan trailers and songs have hinted at. An aimless girl (Padukone) is making an attempt to select between two guys and their polar-opposite philosophies, and a person who takes no prisoners (Chaturvedi) is making an attempt to have all of it and juggle two worlds. But Gehraiyaan transforms into one other beast over the course of its bloated 133-minute runtime (sans credit), changing into increasingly plot and event-driven. It’s been described by “domestic neo-noir” by the Gehraiyaan forged and director Shakun Batra, nevertheless it’s not that — Gehraiyaan bears no traits of the neo-noir style. It’s simply poor drama.

To be truthful, Batra’s course shouldn’t be at fault. The 39-year-old competently handles the character work, lends small little touches that embellish the movie, and his resolution to shoot on location — Gehraiyaan shuttles between Mumbai and Alibaug, plus a yacht within the Arabian Sea — and the manufacturing design by Abid T.P. (Moothon) give the Amazon film a lived-in really feel.

But it is the writing decisions that in the end doom it. Batra co-wrote Gehraiyaan — that is Hindi for depths — with frequent collaborator Ayesha DeVitre (Kapoor & Sons, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu), and Sumit Roy who has contributed to 2 upcoming options for Karan Johar’s Dharma (Takht, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani). On Gehraiyaan, Batra and DeVitre are working in a really completely different area, away from the broad-brush household drama of Kapoor & Sons.

For causes I can not fathom, Batra and Co. push Gehraiyaan in an unnatural course. Films must really feel constant on this planet they arrange — and for 100 minutes or so, this one is. Gehraiyaan’s world includes millennial women and men looking for which means and happiness, coping with childhood traumas and issues left unsaid, and navigating some thorny ethical quandaries. But quickly after, Gehraiyaan fully loses itself in what can solely be described as some extent of no return. Its world is fractured, it is all uncontrolled, and it goes overboard (in a single occasion, fairly actually). Staying via Gehraiyaan’s remaining half hour looks like a extreme case of whiplash.

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The disappointing factor is that Batra did not have to push the story to the levels it goes to. Gehraiyaan might have been about on a regular basis individuals and on a regular basis occurrences, which it kind of is for some time. But the brand new Indian Amazon film will get worse and worse within the third act — earlier than succumbing to a final-shot twist that erased all my good reminiscences of the movie. Batra delayed Gehraiyaan by a few weeks on the final minute — it was slated for Republic Eve initially — as a result of he was nonetheless placing remaining touches to his film, nevertheless it’s clear now that it wanted a a lot larger rethink at a a lot earlier stage.

Gehraiyaan primarily revolves across the lives of the aforementioned two characters. Alisha “Al” Khanna (Padukone) is a 30-year-old yoga teacher — she’s been in a six-year-long relationship with Karan Arora (Dhairya Karwa, from 83) who give up his profitable advert copywriter job and is now a struggling and unemployed novel author. Alisha feels caught in life, her profession is not going wherever and he or she thinks she’s moored to her boyfriend. And there’s Zain Siddiqui (Chaturvedi, from Gully Boy), an actual property developer who’s engaged to Alisha’s cousin Tia “Tee” Khanna (Panday). Though Alisha and Tia grew up round one another, Tia is definitely nearer to Karan as they studied collectively within the US. As Alisha says early in Gehraiyaan, she is aware of her cousin via her boyfriend.

Returning to India after some time, Tia invitations Alisha and Karan to spend a weekend with them at their Alibaug beachside bungalow. It’s how Alisha and Zain’s paths cross for the primary time — and shortly they uncover they’ve extra in widespread with each other than with their respective beaus. For one, they each like to think about themselves as outsiders. They are additionally comparable in that they each have a traumatic previous. And regardless that he is now in fiancée territory, Zain cannot cease himself from flirting continuously with Alisha. You know the place that is going — in spite of everything, the Gehraiyaan advertising and marketing machine has advised you already. Alisha and Zain begin seeing each other behind Tia and Karan’s backs, which naturally results in all types of problems. Though it is greater than what you may count on.

Sidenote: rather a lot has been product of Gehraiyaan’s intimate scenes, which is humorous as a result of there may be not a single intercourse scene within the film. There is a variety of kissing, that is about it.

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Siddhant Chaturvedi as Zain, Ananya Panday as Tia in Gehraiyaan
Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video

These are one of the best parts of Gehraiyaan — the primary half-hour or so — and Batra does effectively to develop the characters. Padukone’s feels essentially the most fleshed out. She’s ambling via life, by no means able to take cost, and he or she has satisfied herself she has the worst luck. It’s presumably a coping mechanism. Alisha would not need to find yourself like her mom who felt suffocated in her personal relationship, however by reminding herself of this truth each day, it is nearly as if she wills it to occur. Padukone appropriately performs Alisha as insecure and a bit bitter. Some of that is paying homage to The Worst Person within the World, Joachim Trier’s fantastic portrait of a girl in her 20s who would not actually know what she desires out of life. But then it stops being that film.

Following the primary act that is largely advised via Alisha’s perspective, the majority of the second shifts to flesh out Zain. Chaturvedi brings a cheeky and menacing edge to Zain, although I could not assist however really feel that the character slid into generic territory. Gehraiyaan is clearly excited about displaying that the man who takes what he desires is clearly an emblem of poisonous masculinity immediately. When pushed right into a nook, Zain is not past gaslighting his family members and never proudly owning as much as his BS. But it is also right here that Gehraiyaan will get dragged into pointless narrative beats — which not solely elongate the movie’s runtime, but additionally detract from what was till then a strong exploration of human nature.

Just like Alisha, Gehraiyaan mires itself in quicksand. Most of the second act additionally incorporates a music each 10 minutes or so. It occurs each time — save on one event — Batra desires to maneuver the story ahead in time. It looks like a cheat. (It’s additionally clearly a industrial tactic. After all, Bollywood songs exist to advertise the film. They not often serve a function within the movies themselves.) Unable to jot down scenes that will push the characters in a significant method, Gehraiyaan opts for a frivolous musical montage.

The most ineffective factor although is the pivotal second I’ve hinted at, which careens Gehraiyaan and sinks it into an abyss. Not solely does it break the film, it depends on a personality deliberately behaving in a dumb method. Naturally, it feels artificially constructed — just like the writers are pulling strings.

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Deepika Padukone as Alisha in Gehraiyaan
Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video

Speaking of artificiality, the ADR course of — recognized colloquially as dubbing in India, an extended Bollywood custom — feels unnatural at occasions and pulls you out of the scene. You can inform that the actor has spoken over their very own traces. And talking of technical issues, there’s unusually poor CGI or the digicam indulges in bizarre Dutch angles.

The cinematography in any other case, from Kaushal Shah (Mumbai Diaries 26/11), is elegant and harsh. It’s not a mix, don’t fret. Batra and Shah aren’t afraid to push into their actor’s faces throughout intense moments, however in addition they pull again to showcase their dreamy lives that often contain chilling on a yacht or by the beach-house pool.

Ultimately, Gehraiyaan is a confused film — one which units itself up properly at basecamp, solely to climb up the unsuitable mountain. The fall shouldn’t be gracious. Gehraiyaan additional suffers from the expectations it itself constructed. Caught in a spot the place they did not know the way to promote the film with out spoiling its secrets and techniques, Dharma and Amazon’s advertising and marketing machine bought it as a full-on romantic drama. I’m not saying the trailers are deceptive, however they pass over a lot. The impression audiences have of the film earlier than they hit play shouldn’t be what the film is for many of its runtime. This is not precisely the movie’s fault, nevertheless it’s not like Gehraiyaan pulls off the switcheroo effortlessly. Instead, it sinks to the underside — and all life is drained out of it when it re-emerges from the depths.

Gehraiyaan launched Friday, February 11 at 12am IST on Amazon Prime Video worldwide.