The most concerning fact about the present Hindi cinema and its filmmakers is that they conceive their movies with a dual or rather confused mindset guided by two extremely diverse thought processes. At one end, they make films like Gehraiyaan for the Indian audiences but then write and design them following a format highly influenced by western filmmakers such as Woody Allen. Besides, they keep both the Indian and foreign markets in mind while visualising their new-age projects with a conflicting motive of satisfying both kinds of audiences, resulting in a muddled project. That’s exactly what differentiates the love triangles of Mahesh Bhatt, Yash Chopra, and more from the present-day love-sagas.
Gehraiyaan is the latest example of this dual mindset that progresses like a rented (read borrowed) yacht, floating on the surface (in its limited area) with only a few scenes exploring the promised depth of its title. For instance, the sequences between the father-Naseeruddin Shah and the daughter-Deepika Padukone are the best scenes of the film, representing the Indian soul in the characters and their emotional expressions. Rest everything in the 150 minutes of a corporate-designer show of the rich and the pretty remains utterly superficial, missing the required sensitivity and seriousness of a matured love triangle.
Directed by Shakun Batra, the film has an intimacy director too, probably because the director was not in favour or willing to shoot the not-so-required sensual scenes. Perhaps they missed another name in the list of directors, of Karan Johar, who seems to be behind every such controversial film in the present times featuring the known names. The conceptual conflict is also there in its writing and dialogues (using an over-the-top lingo) where in one scene the reference of ‘the art of pottery’ is related to ‘potty’, showcasing the shallow desperation of bringing in some humour. Whereas in the other, the characters truthfully admit that they are all seriously living messed-up lives looking for help.
In reality, the love triangle has been one of the most repeated themes in our Indian cinema right from the late 40s with Mehboob Khan’s Andaz (1949) iwidely quoted as the pioneer classic of this genre, though his Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Anokhi Ada (1948) also revolved around a similar premise. Many successful films of our past have been based on love triangles, and the most important twist in their script had to be the reason behind the switch that forces an individual to betray or ignore one and go for the other. In this case, the reasoning becomes even more important, as here we have a girl snatching away the fiancé of her cousin-sister, disturbing the entire family.
Strangely, Gehraiyaan never stresses upon this specific reason, giving it some justified time or stay and Deepika just falls for Siddhant Chaturvedi in a few seconds, making it highly unconvincing in terms of true love and affection. The missing justification remained the key reason I could never feel for its characters guided by the monetary status of the other, making no mention of his or her immensely likable qualities or persona. To be specific, there would have been no love triangle at all, if Siddhant was a middle-class man struggling with his finances and Dhairya was successful with his debut novel. In fact, all the four key characters in the storyline keep following money and status, but never love, making it a soul-less saga with no relatable depth. You never feel love guiding them all for their next moves, not even once in the entire duration, and that’s where their so-called love stories fall flat.
The last hour of the film made me strongly feel Gehraiyaan could have been much better as an emotional thriller, focusing on the unexpected twist and the family secrets, instead of the complex and ineffective relationships. The film also looks like a half-baked drama with Siddhant lacking the required matured look and feel (with a single expression throughout), no chemistry between the two couples, and Dhairya establishing no connection with the viewer. On the contrary, Ananya tries to give a decent performance in comparison and Deepika becomes the only saving grace of the film along with Naseeruddin Shah (in a cameo). The impressive lead act can easily be included among her finer performances if not career-best to date. However, I wish the act was a part of an equally appreciable film receiving loud praises.
Hence, for me, this was yet again a missed opportunity wherein the makers (read multiple directors) were more interested in showcasing love through the excessive and unnecessary intimate scenes, skipping the intense conversations. Following the vision, the film does have a glossy, pleasing look but never uses music or songs as any major component of the narrative, which once used to be the most significant feature of a love triangle in Hindi cinema.
On the whole, you can watch Gehraiyaan if you must, but only because of Deepika Padukone alone and almost nothing else.
Rating : 2 / 5
(Streaming on Amazon Prime)
Bobby Sing
bobbytalkscinema.com
