Gehraiyaan review : Portrayal of complex love drama
The first five words of movie’s title song Tu Marz Hai, Dawa Bhi – encapsulate every protagonist in Shakun Batra’s complicated story, which he co-wrote with Ayesha DeVitre and Sumit Roy. Deepika Padukone plays Alisha, a yoga instructor, and Dhairya Karwa plays Karan, a writer, in Gehraiyaan, a film about a couple who live together. On the other hand, Siddhant Chaturvedi plays Zain, a real estate agent and Ananya Panday plays Tia, a privileged woman. The duo is committed, and a lavish Tuscan wedding is in the works.
Shakun Batra begins peeling the layers of Alisha, Tia, and Zain’s characters as the four meet in a lovely backdrop of the Arabian sea, luxurious Mumbai flats, and a beach-front property as the four meet. Alisha and Tia are cousins who grew up around each other, but as situations change, they move apart, and their stark reality now stands between them, as shown in the teaser. Batra produces multiple painful situations, which can be felt in every shot. This unease is dealt by Deepika as Alisha and Ananya as Tia on several circumstances.
Batra’s narrative magic is in the visuals he and his writers, as well as director of photography Kaushal Shah, create. In Gehraiyaan, he’s done a lot of that, taking inspiration from the ocean, reflections, and the colour blue. On the surface, Tia and Zain’s lives appear to be picture-perfect, but Batra unveils each protagonist’s flaws as the story unfolds.
Over the course of two and a half hours, Batra maintains his audience’s attention by allowing his screenplay to flow naturally. The characters sink further with each wave that the maker employs as a metaphor, from Alisha and Zain’s affair to family background stories. While the film’s first half is conveyed by the ocean breeze, it is in the last part that life takes a dreadful turn.
The empathic therapy of depression, PTSD, suicide, anxiety, and panic disorder is another distinguishing thing of Gehraiyaan. The movie’s plot and directors are conscious of not going overboard but showing enough to arouse feelings, using a board game of Snakes and Ladders as a metaphor for sensation trapped to portraying triggers. The movie’s dialogues, when combined with the sophisticated music in the background, provide even more weight to the storyline.
Overall, Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan is a great insight into the previous choices, connections, and why we do, and what we do for individuals and families. The director has achieved a successful balance of intimacy, astonishment, grief, and, most importantly, love.