Gehraiyaan movie review: Strange mix of drama that doesn't qualify for much depth

What appeared to be a trivial tale of infidelity initially, turned out to be an account of how circumstances transform individuals. Shakun Batra's Gehraiyaan starring Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa in leading roles is in an intricate web of circumstances that unfold the unexpected. The story is about Deepika as Alisha Khanna who is at the most boring phase of her life and believes she has the worst of luck. Her relationship has gone stale, her career is on the roadblock and her equation with her father is still negligible. To rub it to her face enters her cousin Tia (Ananya) and her fiance (Zain). The latter is a thriving couple. Succeeding in business, madly in love and soon to take in plunge with a lavish Tuscany wedding.

However, when looked at closely, the two are walking on water; unstable and unpredictable but fancy and adventurous. As Alisha and Zain come face to face, there's obvious chemistry between the two. There's an awkward heat between them which sparks off as casual flirting and soon changes to palpating intimate moments. Guilty of charge, they start confiding in one another without the knowledge of their respective partners. It is short-lived though. Why? That makes the second half of the film which is full of surprises and a spoiler.     

At its core, Gehraiyaan speaks of changing circumstances. How do two people who had the same childhood grow up to be distinctly different because of one decision which is not even their's? It also explores the theme of short attention span and taking relationships for granted. Alisha and Karan loved one another and so did Zain and Tia. They may say opposites attract but similar people bond better and so did Alisha and Zain. Their troubled past brought them together and made them do things they didn't know they were capable of until then. 

However, the off-putting part among many other things is escapism. How the characters in the entire run of 158 mins don't confront their problems is frustrating to watch. Their plan of action is to run away from things, blame it on the other person till the tipping point and pretend to have a clean conscience. All these characters make grave mistakes, almost unforgivable, but somehow in their heads, they change the narratives in a manner where they become victims of circumstances. 

In the film, Deepika and Siddhant are afforded greater screen time than Ananya and Dhairya. They prove to be the film’s most valuable performers, straggling through multiple emotional shifts, each time displaying dissimilar styles of vice. Deepika, attempting more acting than the script demanded, is still more confident than Siddhant. He’s nicely courted when shrugging off business deals and is amusing when the flirtation rolls up (or down) a notch, but he gets tense midway and fails to channel the ferocity of his Gully Boy's Sher. 

As a concept, Gehraiyaan stays pretty grim. The characters are easily-led dummies who get what they deserve. Talking of sex and skin, Gehraiyaan does not skimp on the sensual stuff. The first time Alisha and Zain meet, it's kind of obvious what's to follow between them. You may even deem it a benefit that the film can’t uphold the stern moral conservativeness of relationships. 

The infrastructure supporting it – a smart deployment of anxieties precise to the past traumas, eerily placed shots establishing the chaos and the tantalising hints of the past capable to repeat itself – stands as particularly sound. The twist remains a shocking and unexpected moment.

However, the biggest problem with Gehraiyaan is that we’re given absolutely no one to root for. If it could have comprehensively adopted the base and evolved into something wacky or tipped completely into something dark and deranged, it would have been easier to be liked. But the film doesn’t quite comprehend what to accomplish with itself, both script and direction per se. It’s a weird movie; it appears to stretch and go down one road but fast gets mislaid, which delivers a strange mixture of drama that turns out to be some kind of half-traumatic and daddy issues package that doesn’t qualify for much 'depth'.