Human Beings are complex, complicated and conniving creatures who are provoked and manipulated by those deceive little things called emotions which threaten to sweep them into a whirlpool which threatens to drown then into situations beyond their control.
Meet yoga instructor Alisha (Deepika Padukone) grappling with her own issues translated as childhood scars, living in with her aspiring writer boyfriend Karan( Dhairya). Her life is far from perfect.
Things change when her young super rich cousin Tia (Ananya Panday) arrives with her suave real estate broker fiancé Zain (Siddhabt Chatruvedi). Sparks fly between Alisha and Zain and before you know a passionate kiss leads to a sensuous love affair that threatens to destroy everything and everyone around them. Is the past ever forgotten or does it repeat itself when you least expect it and do our choices define us?
Do sincere truthful relationships exist or there are lies at its core and everyone is leading a life of shameless deceptions, Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan takes you through the choppy, stormy relationship between these four people who are caught in a vortex beyond their control.
The film’s dark blue grey tones reflect it’s theme of human’s being swept into an abyss. Batra Woody Allen inspiration is clear as he draws from the filmmaker’s works like Closer & Match Point. The sea as a metaphor and being an important character reminds one of the drama series Big Little Lies, as the sea side town of Monterey hides some dark deep secrets.
Deepika Padukone as the complex, conflicted Alisha dives deep into her character, she is uninhabited and real bringing to the surface her character’s melancholy.
Siddhant Chatruvedi as the smooth, ambitious Zain gives a fantastic performance and his chemistry with Deepika Padukone is nothing less than fire.
Ananya Panday is perfectly cast as the trusting naive Tia and slips into her role with ease
Dhairya as Karan in his limited screen time leaves his mark.
Gehraiyaan is far from perfect but in Shakun Batra’s trademark signature style Gehraiyaan sucks you into the abyss of complicated human relationships and its imperfections
