Movie: Gehraiyaan

Gehraiyaan Cast: Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Dhairya Karwa, Rajat Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah

Gehraiyaan Director: Shakun Batra

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

Review by: Russel D'Silva

Leaving aside the comedies and lighter treatment on infidelity, Bollywood has had a profound track record when it comes to the unpredictable ways of the heart, or simply when tackling layered, complex love stories right from the 1960s, with classics like Gumrah, Sangam, Silsila, Arth, Lamhe, Aaina and Karan Johar (the producer of this film)'s own Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna to name a few. So how does Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi starrer Gehraiyaan, directed by Shakun Batra of Kapoor & Sons fame, on Amazon Prime fare before them? Let's just say that stands its ground with a pretty solid footing.

So, are you excited about what to watch this weekend or what to watch this week and wondering whether Gehraiyaan is worth your time? Scroll down for my full Gehraiyaan movie review...

What's it about

Alisha (Deepika Padukone) and Karan (Dhairya Karwa) reconnect with Tia (Ananya Panday) years after their families parted ways in childhood, only for Alisha to instantly get swept away by Tia's boyfriend, Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi)'s not-so-subtle approach. Needless to say, things get very complicated very soon.

Watch the Gehraiyaan trailer below:

What's hot

Gehraiyaan is brilliantly shot by Kaushal Shah, extremely well acted, written with depth and conviction, and directed with confidence and insight by Shakun Batra. Deepika Padukone delivers arguably the best performance of her career, Ananya Panday is good in a role that's tailor-made for her and Siddhant Chaturvedi excels in what's the most ambiguous character of the film. They're well supported by Dhairya Karwa, Rajat Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah. Most importantly, Director Shakun Batra and his co-writers, Ayesha Devitre, Sumit Roy, Yash Sahai, handle a complex narrative with extreme maturity, never once letting our attention slip despite a runtime just a touch over 2 hours and 20 minutes. And, after eons, comes a Bollywood movies, where the entire soundtrack is memorable, but then again, is it surprising that a Karan Johar production boasts good music.

What's not

The crux of anything story on indiscretion needs to be the motivation and when it comes to Alisha, her reasons are totally justified. However, there seems to be no strong push to shove Zain into her arms away from Tia, which makes it a clear case of attraction in his case, which in turn makes it undeniable that the makers have somewhat glorified cheating in a relationship, more so with how seem pretty insensitive to Tia. And then, as if Shakun and his writers certainly realise this, they try to make amends in a knee-jerk way, painting Zain as an out-an-out bad guy with no scope for redemption, taking inexplicably horrific decisions, thus abandoning their own matured treatment for a while. If not for these portions, Gehraiyaan would've been even better.

BL Verdict

Barring distinct flaws revolving around the motivations of Siddhant Chaturvedi's character and its resolutions, Gehraiyaan is a maturely written, meticulously crafted look on infidelity and adult relationships, with Deepika Padukone delivering her career best act and Ananya Panday coming of age. Shakun Batra and Karan Johar can be proud of their movie. I'm going with 3 out of 5 stars.