Moving forward and moving away are very different things. Moving on is a choice—it’s hard, it’s frustrating, and contrary to what movies, pop culture, and literature tell you, it’s not pretty. Walking away is just giving in to the desperation you feel at that moment.
Starring
Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan, starring Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Dhairya Karwa, Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapoor, seems to dive right into this mess. After a rather stormy middle, the Amazon Prime Video launch finds calmer waters.
Storyline
Tia (Ananya) and Alisha (Deepika) are cousins. Certain choices made for them when they were very young caused them to grow up as two very different personalities. But each is a reflection of its own past – Alisha’s, especially her mother’s. And this is something that Shakun Batra brings out slowly, almost sensibly, as you become more and more invested in the film.
Zain (Siddhant), Tia’s fiancé, is an aspiring real estate entrepreneur, while Alisha’s boyfriend of six years, Karan (Dhairya), is a struggling writer who has just quit his advertising job to write his first book. When Alisha and Tia head off for a vacation to their childhood beach house in Alibaug, things are settled and moving quickly.
Shakun Batra sticks to the metaphor he’s trying to go with the title gehraiyaan. So, on the surface, Tia and Zain’s life seemed perfect – they were madly in love, lived in luxurious houses, flew from the Mumbai coast to Alibaug on a yacht instead of a humble ferry.
Compared to that, Alisha is just stuck. Floating, but not actually reaching the shores. As the audience slowly learns, Zain and Tia’s lives may be very different, but on the surface they are perfect.
A little gentle flirting, a sexual tension you could cut with a knife, a little more prodding over the next few days, and Alisha and Zain are overcome with passion and can’t help but give in to their most carnal desires. Was Alisha attracted to Zane or the idea he came up with?
The best thing about Gehraiyaan is that it doesn’t show much in the trailer, just enough to hook you. It slyly charms you with its kissing and lovemaking scenes. Because, Alisha and Zain cheating on their partners is not the only complication that Gehraiyaan gives you. This is only the tip of the iceberg that their lives are about to hit.
Shakun was clearly going for the Hollywood vibe to make this story of a scam palatable to a wider Indian audience. He was mostly successful. Shameless tearing of clothes, hungry kisses, running after each other on the bed – the moments we saw in the trailer – take up the bulk of the film. Was it all necessary? Perhaps, in Shaku’s opinion, it was to justify that we are all captives of our desires.
Tia and Zain’s sophisticated, branded clothes blend perfectly with their lifestyle. But Zain and Alisha’s lavish wardrobes stick out like sore thumbs. The only thing middle class about this couple is that Alisha has to take out the trash herself, and their bathroom and kitchen tiles are builders’ quoins, not Italian. Still, there’s money between them – Alisha complains that she’s been living alone at home for four years on her income as a yoga instructor, while Karan can’t even finish the first draft of the book.
Performances
In terms of performances, credit must first go to the casting director. Deepika reveals Alisha’s desire and reluctance to get out of the hole she has dug for herself. Siddhant, on the other hand, beautifully portrays Zain’s cocky yet polite pride in getting it on his own, along with his easily crushed male ego rooted in something very modest. He wants to break every deal and he wants to escape. Ananya as Tia is perfect. It brings out Tia’s high society glitz with utmost sincerity, with a soft, pulpy heart. Dhairya as Karan does her job well with minimal screen time.
But Gehraiyaan’s running time may pose a problem.
