Gehraiyaan Movie Review: ‘It’s complicated’ (and more)!

GehraiyaanStreaming on Amazon Prime VideoDir Shakun BatraCast Deepika Padukone Siddhant Chaturvedi Ananya PandayRating 12Of the two female leads in this film one Ananya Panday is a slightly squeaky plainest vanilla type with her expressions turning paler with every scene The other one Deepika Padukone appears permanently in an introspective mode mdash thatrsquos when shersquos not throwing away that precious full smile as response to practically everything said to herThe dude Siddhant Chaturvedi in between both mdash hersquos supposedly in love with the first Panday and instantly interested in the second Padukone is a confident stud variety sure But hardly killerirresistible swagcharm personifiedThis description despite the sea and the warm locale is simply to dispel notions of Woody Allenrsquos Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008 just so yoursquore pressing the right button in your head and remote If anything it veers closer to Allenrsquos Match Point 2005 Exploring which is beyond the scope of this conversationreview if you havenrsquot watched this movie alreadyThis is director Shakun Batrarsquos third feature If you discount the copout of a Netflix documentary Searching for Sheela 2021 His first one Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu dealt with that grey friendzone in relationships among men and women mdash a progressively lsquozeitgeistyrsquo urbane subject given walls of segregation falling between genders everywhereLikewise Kapoor amp Sons 2016 looked at dysfunctional families and siblings with similar professional ambitions mdash in a way that no Bollywood movie had touched upon beforeGehraiyaan taps into the same Indian demographic going through its longest phase of emergent adulthood which could even be a permanent state mdash where couples live together rather than get marry early They imagine a future together yes but arenrsquot necessarily bound by itChoices are potentially infinite as are preconditions to make a relationship work What does this do to rosetinted notions of romance Can tell you this mdash forget reasons for rise in divorce rates potholes in Mumbai as a politician put it includedOne thing I notice causing the collapse of relationships everywhere is the frickinrsquo cellphonetechnology mdash too much getting saved traced and shared Too many people getting instantly caught out mdash while exercising so to say their personal agency and potential choices You observe that in this movie And concur with every moment of itThe world being zoomed into decidedly belongs to a Bandralike neighbourhood in Bombay which feels niche because it is And yet itrsquos sort of nextdoor real too mdash as you look at lsquoTiasrsquo and lsquoAlishasrsquo with hipster hobbiesprofessions like pottery class and yoga building software apps yachting in high seas You only feel sorry for the fellow in this film biding his time to sort his lifersquos finances out once his debut novel is finally written and published In your Indian dreams dude mdash he shouldrsquove been an aspiring film actor director even screenwriter at bestThere is a caressingly litshot threeway romance going on here of course With all the main characters geographically placed mdash own home parentsrsquo home hotel room travelling mdash to make such an arrangement possible Without the wrong person ever sussing outEveryone is already in a relationship mdash the girls are first cousins the delusional aspiring novelist boyfriend that Padukonersquos character is cheating on is her cousinrsquos best friend You know what I mean itrsquos a mess Not just complicated in the Facebook senseWhich is hard to convincingly portray without adequate passage of time mdash thinnest line I guess between a flirt and creep or believable love and momentary lust Probably why as an audience you might wanna fly over the first thirty minutes to sink your eyes into the movie itself which is about a lot else The filmmakers have to cover much groundscript in under two and half hours flatThis is really a film about young cold clinical professional ambitions at the base Something we donrsquot usually watch messing with movie romances about goodlooking desi people in generalNo you wonrsquot go all lsquodeeply dippyrsquo reference that super rsquo90s Right Said Fred song Meaning Dippy Deepika Padukone giving it her all for a movie that promises to be meditatively deep GehraiyaanWith ocean waves washing over beating hearts and the lsquodroprsquo in the titletrack constantly teasing you on Insta reels before you click on the flick That depth if at all lies mostly in backstories of lead characters Not so much in their relationships on screen per seActually this bears the skin of a characterdriven film revealing the soul of a plotled potboiler eventually Not to suggest you canrsquot do both Woody Allen has evidently As the picture sort of switches genre the question is Did I ever wanna switch the OTT platform Not at all Sat through all of it pleasantly intrigued in fact

Gehraiyaan Movie Review: ‘It’s complicated’ (and more)!

Gehraiyaan
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Dir: Shakun Batra
Cast: Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday
Rating: ***1/2

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Gehraiyaan Movie Review: ‘It’s complicated’ (and more)!

Gehraiyaan Movie Review: ‘It’s complicated’ (and more)!

GehraiyaanStreaming on: Amazon Prime VideoDir: Shakun BatraCast: Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya PandayRating: ***1/2

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Gehraiyaan
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Dir: Shakun Batra
Cast: Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday
Rating: ***1/2