Gehraiyaan: The movie actually makes you sink
Note: This review contains small spoilers
Gehriyaan, the much talked about movie released after much delay on February 11 on Amazon Prime. The movie revolves around four main characters, Alisha (Deepika Padukone), Tia (Ananya Panday) who are cousins, Karan (Dhairya Karwa) who is Alisha’s boyfriend and Zain who is (Siddhant Chaturvedi) Tia’s boyfriend. The movie starts off with a couples weekend at Tia and Alisha’s childhood home where Alisha and Zain fall for each other.
The movie’s main plot was the twisted love affair between Alisha and Zain. Their relationship starts off in a predictable way but ends rather dramatically.
I started watching the movie thinking it was about infidelity and expected a millennial version of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. However, to my surprise, the movie had more to offer than that. Gehriyaan discusses how childhood trauma impacts our relationships when we grow up. It also talked about mental health issues in a very sensitive manner.
The movie also stars Naseeruddin Shah who is Alisha’s father, but he is given very little screen time which was an injustice to his character. His character had a very strong impact on Alisha and the choices she made as an adult was the product of her childhood. In fact, one of the scenes in the movie in which Deepika and Naseeruddin Shah are having a conversation is one the strongest scene of the movie, and their conversation leaves you wanting more, which you don’t get.
What worked for me and even for the people who did not like the movie, is the fact that Deepika looked effortlessly hot in the movie. Some might disagree but her hotness is the reason that doesn’t make us hate her character even after she leaves her fiance for her cousin’s fiance and starts a torrid affair. But the way she looks, the trials she suffers makes Deepika the ‘end-all, be-all’ of this movie.
Final word: The movie does justice to the name Gehriyaan, as the movie actually makes you sink, especially in the last half of the movie. Its unpredictability and sudden twist in the story is what I liked most. However, the movie is facing criticism for the exact same reason, that it didn’t make much sense. However, the movie is worth the watch since it does highlight issues that affect all of us in the relationships that change the way we are.