Gehraiyaan

The only objective of making such a movie is to showcase human emotions. This movie doesn't justify adultery or say cheating is cool. Worse, it doesn't do anything much at all. Shakun Batra does well with good cinematography. His attempt at bringing in a Sam Levinson-Luca Guadagnino type work into scenes is appreciable, much like Kapoor and Sons. So is Deepika's and Siddhanth's acting. But why cast Ananya Pandey? Her acting is so bad, she always seems like a clown in a board meeting.

Besides, there are glaring loopholes in the story. How does Zain run away from home, still manage to study in the US, scale up quick enough, return to India as a board member, start his firm, and still be young? Zain has no family? Why is Alisha onboard with cheating so quick? What is the cliffhanger even supposed to convey? 5/10 only for Deepika and Siddhant's acting, the cinematography, the music.

Everyone is cheating among their own relatives. Why?

If Alisha needed money for an app or for whatever cant see start with instagram influencing or just another social media platform?

She could have earned new customers or clients from there.

She is already wealthy , she could have taken help from her cousin Tia Lame story where everyone is animal just cheating with everyone possible.

Adultery, thrill, crime, drama, love (meh?).....nothing seems enough to carry this modern day version of 'kbhi alvida na kehna' None of the scenes seem to capture the essence of emotions; the viewers find it difficult to connect/empathize with any of the characters. Definitely a strech in terms of the length. It's time Bollywood brought us better versions of urban modern love stories.

The movie Gehraiyaan has no depth in the writing. Shakun Batra's failed to deliver a compelling movie like Kapoor & Sons (2016), here his direction is just mediocre. The first half is a half-baked romantic drama and when in the second half the film takes a different turn, it falls flat. Deepika Padukone delivers a good performance and Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday & Dhairya Karwa were average in their roles.

Direction 2/5 Acting 2.5/5 Dialogues 2/5 Story 2/5 Screenplay 1.5/5.

The weakest part of Gehraiyaan, I thought, was its abrupt transition into a crime thriller. This was always destined to be an emotional drama, and the unexpected jump in pace startled me, and not in a very reassuring way. That aside, the drama bits are fantastically done. The contemporary struggles and feelings of two lived-in couples are splendidly captured. The leads, to my surprise, have incredible chemistry. What also helps is the character texturing. It's a family affair (pun intended!) alright, and leaving some dots deliberately disconnected for that end reveal made that climactic exchange between the characters of Deepika Padukone and Naseeruddin Shah a lot more impactful. Padukone also depicts breakdowns and anxiety attacks as they are, in a remarkable performance. Also liked how they ended it with effective throwbacks to phrases like "small world" and "the past always catches up." While the songs, visuals, and some of the dialogue carry the feel of regular Bolly fare, I'm glad they don't weigh the film's engagement factor down.