Gehraiyaan review: Too modern, too niche?

Deepika Padukone starrer had a good base but was miserable in storytelling. 

11th February released Gehraiyaan is yet another edition of the urban-high-profile storytelling with a niche audience that works well for those keen on knowing the insights flimsy urban relationships. 

Plot: No Spoilers

Alisha (Deepika Padukone) is a yoga instructor struggling to sell a Yoga-based app in the corporate world. She is stuck with her live-in-partner Karan (Dhairya Karwa), who once had a fine advertising job, and now is scribbling his WordPad for his upcoming book, barely making any money. Alisha feels the burden of running the house is too much for her, and all of her life, she is searching for freedom, doing things she likes, and living life to her own terms.   

 Alisha then meets Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), an excellent, wealthy young businessman. It becomes easy for both to connect as they had a very similar past to Alisha’s. 

 Zain wants to get out of the favored surroundings that Tia (Ananya Pandey) and her family have placed for him. Since these two cousins (Tia and Alisha) had a bad childhood, their present is not well, and then it’s the aftermath of these people who are still traumatized in the present state, untying the trauma’s lace. 

The Film is directed by Shakun Batra and written with Ayesha Devitre, Sumit Roy, and Yash Sahai. Shakun’s previous works were Kapoor and Sons (2016) and Ek Main Aur Ek Tu (2012). 

Performance: 

Apart from Deepika, none of the actors could deliver to what was expected. Siddhant’s performance is also acceptable, but he’s playing a business person and it lacked the depth that the character requires. His Gully boy aura could still be felt. Ananya and Dhairya were fine, nothing exceptional. Supporting Actors named Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapoor have done an excellent job; they delivered the performances with great maturity and superiority. 

Music: 

The Film’s music is given by Kabeer Kathpalia and Savera, except for the song Dooley, nothing felt worth remembering. The piece is designed for a niche, curated audience; it lacks mass appeal. It would hardly be heard in the weddings and parties unlike ‘Tum hi Bandhu’ from Cocktail (2012). 

Direction and Editing:

The Film starts with a very slow pace and the characterization goes fast. When Deepika’s character meets Siddhant’s character, it barely takes them any moment to connect and due to more explicit scenes than romance, it may confuse the audience with Alisha’s actual needs. The Film’s could have easily been edited for at least 10 to 15minutes. 

Cinematography:

The only thing that saves the Film is its cinematography; it was shot in Goa’s villa and few office spaces  and Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Kunal Shah did a fantastic job capturing the moments, and at times, it felt like it’s a Hollywood flick. Kudos to him.  

 What’s good?:

The Climax. It talks about a critical issue in contemporary society which is good. The Film unfolds few surprises, but again, due to its average writing, the Film falls miserably. 

The character buildup between the two couples, Alisha-Karan and Tia-Zain, is not very interesting; maybe the actors lacked the chemistry the script demanded. 

The casting is the biggest drawback of the Film. We have seen Deepika romancing Shah Rukh Khan and her similar-aged actors. So, her romancing with young actors looked a bit dull on screen. 

A film shot, written, directed, produced in India, had Hindi speaking Actors, and barely had any Dialogues in Hindi. The Film might irritate many due to its consistent use of a single cuss word, said over 100 times. 

Overall, the Film was a below-average urban drama that lacked depth in its storytelling and had a very curated, selected audience. It lacked the equipment to pull the audience. Film has got a pretty low response in terms of its viewership. It is available for streaming on Prime Video. 

Rating 2.5/5. 

Edited By- Subbuthai Padma

Published By- Bharat Anand