Ironically, there is no real depth to ‘Gehraiyaan’. It is all a shallow mess.

I enjoy watching films that absorbs me and pulls my attention to the story consummately. I like to experience the story subjectively and like to connect with it.

Sometimes I feel its essence positively, and sometimes its journey doesn’t resonate with me for various reasons. Whatever it may be, I have to feel something to be able to write about it.

Unfortunately, I felt nothing for Gehraiyaan.

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I was trying hard to connect with the story, the characters, the emotions which were supposedly complex, and elements that perhaps a mature eye and sensibilities of life … but I felt nothing. And that’s something I rarely experience for a film of such a genre. In fact, I typically feel too much.

While watching the film I realized how misleading the trailer was, along with all the promotions, marketing and interviews. For starters, Gehraiyaan has nothing (or little) to do with infidelity. It’s deeper (gehra) than that.

It touches upon topics of the unhealthy patterns inherited by generations in a family, childhood trauma, relationships, trust, and a few other things.

However, it’s presented all too shallowly. No one subject feels critical enough to justify the actions of the characters, especially in the first half which is a stretch.

What tempted Alisha (Deepika Padukone) to suddenly cheat on her boyfriend of six years, that too with her cousin’s fiancé. It was obvious that Karan (Dhairya Karwa) and her didn’t have a perfect relationship and both were inching towards a break up. So what led her to act so irrationally?

Also, why was it okay for Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi) to flirt with Alisha, his fiancé’s cousin, from the minute he met her. And why didn’t Alisha resist, or better yet confront him and expose him to Tia (Ananya Panday)?

Having said that, what I appreciated was maker’s efforts in showing us the character’s progression and multi-faceted traits, rather than explicitly telling us. After all, no individual is black or white – we’re all flawed.

Of all the characters I could empathize with only Tia and Alisha’s father (Naseeruddin Shah).

I have to point out that Panday’s restrained acting deserves praise for playing such a mature character with such ease. Tia is someone who loves the people closest to her and is willing to bend over backwards for them, all while being a responsible adult. She carries some dark secrets but its her caring attitude that makes her endearing.

Alisha’s father has my heart. HIS character moved me the most because he is like any father, protecting his child from all evil or pain.

Speaking of Karan Arora (Dhairya Karwa), unfortunately isn’t given much to play with. But the actor manages to make his presence felt in the limited screen time and the basic character arc.

Padukone and Chaturvedi give a top notch performance, sinking their teeth in the characters. However, once again, given the subject(s) and exhaustive storytelling, I simply couldn’t relate to them or their actions.

Special shout out to actor Rajat Kapoor as Jitesh, for playing such a wily character with class and mastery.

Coming back to the film – I wish writers Shakun Batra, Ayesha Devitre, Sumit Roy and Yash Sahai focused on at least one of the many subjects intensively instead of outlining multiple issues in one.

The second half gains momentum as the missing pieces of the puzzle gradually come together, by which time I had lost patience owing to a crawling first half. I almost felt anxious and frustrated by Alisha’s choices… and stuck like her character.

Maybe that was the intention. Maybe not?

Final Verdict:

Ironically, there is no real depth to Gehraiyaan. It is a shallow mess of a variety of issues pitched for the viewer to unravel. While that may be a great experiment for new-age cinema and its audience, the storytelling failed to leave a pleasant impact as a film.

Popcorn Rating –   [2/5]

Gehraiyaan is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Check out our discussion about the film in POPcast: