Okay here's my review.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Little heads-up: for people who may not be enjoying the best of mental health, the movie may have triggers like childhood traumas, anti-depressant/anxiety pills/drugs, suicide etc.
Aside from the issues that people may have with the technicalities of the movie (initial slow build-up/pace, abrupt ending - both which I personally enjoyed tbh), I highly doubt that the essence of Gehraiyaan is gonna be everyone's cup of tea and understandably so, because it promises a theme that a lot of people will categorically shun - cheating. I can people who refuse to see beyond that in comments etc and who are outright trashing the movie, whether they've watched it or not. To each his/her own, to be fair.
However, not only is the movie not what it seems (it's gehra-er u.u), but it's also written in a way that even though some characters are less likable than the others, I found myself making little to no effort to empathize with every single character throughout their tempestuous journeys as the movie flowed forward (I also observed that the waves that were constantly showed in between scenes tallied with the evolution of the plot, liked that a lot).
I feel like the makers took a lot of time to sketch out characters who are 'flawed' and grey to make them seem as real as possible and that's where the movie scores imo. Because so many individuals with specific experiences and unique minds in life carry a certain degree of emotional baggage, go through difficult situations/phases that may exacerbate their plight, and may impulsively screw up at some point or the other.
We all have shades - like Zain, the most effed-up character in the movie imo. As much as he loved Alisha, he still had to sort out his crashing career, ended up conveniently using Tia and manipulating situations, even though he wanted to end things with her after falling for Alisha. Shit happens and people fcuk up. It's not completely black or white. There's no 'glorification' of frowned-upon actions like cheating - it's just the story of 4 real characters whose lives and situations get entangled. The fact that the makers let their darkest sides emerge without taking them seriously was something that I found refreshing.
As much as Shakun's characters screw up in one way or the other, each one is relatable to a certain extent which sometimes makes you need to take several minutes to regain objectivity, which is still quasi impossible because you tend to understand everyone's reasons for doing everything. Again, that's what the movie evoked in me, personally; it can differ for anyone else.
It's pretty raw and real - if you've watched the movie and think about it well, the cheating part isn't the actual core issue, even thought it's the trigger that causes a butterfly effect. The roots of the whole chaos lie far deeper than that. It's basically a feast for anyone who's remotely interested in taking time to understand the complexities of the human mind and the messed-up implications of childhood traumas, especially when they're reactualised.
Won't bore you guys with a long detailed psychological analysis of traumas, projection etc, but I absolutely LOVED that movie. It's full of symbolisms, great dialogues and solid performances, especially Deepika's đ I think she hit aaaaall the right chords and displayed a wide range of emotions, from anger to lust to love to vulnerability, so damn well. Alisha is undoubtedly her most nuanced and best performance so far. Oh and she looked like a million bucksâ¤ď¸
Also I'm in looove with Siddhant Chaturvedi, he has a charming presence and he's hot xD Plus he's a good performer - he grasped Zain's intricacies well. And Deepu and him have crackling chemistry đĽ
Dhairya seems promising; he's quite natural!
On the other hand, I found Ananya to be pretty ordinary. She tried her best and was okay, but at times it was blatant that she's a newbie. However, she does have a lot of potential - she'll grow into a good performer with more experience. Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat K were, unsurprisingly, exceptional âď¸
I also loved that the title has several layers to its meaning - the depths of passion, secrets that find their roots deep into intergenerational traumas, how deep the influence of our parents can be on our behaviour patterns, how deeper the heart of the movie actually is, the depths of the waters in which Zain drowns, literally. (P.S. It indeed did end up drawing inspiration from Match Point)
The only thing is I feel that the writing could have been a little tighter especially in the first half. But overall, liked the unexpected twists, it made for good shock value imo.
Shakun Batra is defo in my top 5 Bollywood filmmakers - this guy's a genius at depicting the conflicts that overwhelm the human psyche, or choreographing chaos, like he says. It's wonderfully convoluted and deserves a watch!
I'd give it a solid 8.5/10 đ
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