It is no denying that the colour palette of the movie was incredible, the granular details of the costumes and the sophistication of rooms and decor applaud worthy. It even managed to give Instagram a song that kept playing for months on every goddamn reel. But why it is a massive flop show for me is because it tells us that no matter how hard you try, whatever good choices you decide to make, the guilt you live with of leaving the ones behind in a toxic home, all of that doesn’t matter because ultimately your life is worth nothing and your anxieties will get the better of you.
Life is not hunky-dory, obviously, hardly any out there would deny that. But to not hope? How does one live without hoping that there is something better out there? Things have to get better. They must, there is no other way. Oh, but no! For the sake of aesthetics let us decide to tell the entire generation going through depression and mental health issues that it would have been better not to have spent all that money on a therapist. What point was it anyway? How does it matter if we are already battered by the seismic shocks of the pandemic, we just need something sadder.
I am being unabashedly critical of the plot. Not even once did I think Deepika, Siddhant, and Ananya were not terrific actors. The dynamic roles they decided to play with intense emotions are praiseworthy. Even the affair Zain and Alisha had was not enervating. Why would it be? Two people cheating. Eh, my opinions on that are neither black nor white. Rather colourful just like an affair. The movie was not about romance for me, it was the idea that adults with childhood trauma can not do better in life. The baggage that these adults carry every day is heavy and they should be appreciated for dealing with such dark pasts and not be told that they will stifle under its weight. Alisha constantly worries that she might hang herself just like her mother, or would lead a suffocating life - things we all must have worried about at some point in time, although with varying degrees and yet decide to go on because hanging yourself is not an option.
What truly vexed me is how Zain was making good choices, fighting the battle in his head, and letting go of guilt and inhibitions to make something out of his life. To be a better person. But no!
You had to tell me (spoiler alert) that the person I am so eagerly waiting to bring me lilies and tulips, might shove me off the yacht with the sure-shot intent of killing me. Wow! Well, there is my John Green romance drowning. What is this need today of making everything cruel and harsh? Isn’t life already doing that? Shouldn’t we be making art, cinema and movies that make you throw sunflowers and chamelis in the face of your enemies? Movies that show the real-life struggles with raw beauty that can eventually make us empathise with real humans? If nothing is impossible anymore in this world, who are we to trust?
A lot of people say it is a realistic portrayal of millennial and Gen-Z romance. Is it? Almost everyone I know is kind and looking for a person to shower their love upon. It is true people are capable of being beasts and can truly turn into monsters. It is also sadly very true that many spend their entire lives with people they are not happy with. But I doubt that any Gen-Z will be a manipulative evil monster waiting for his/her true love only to kill them.
Look at Marriage Story, a warm fuzzy romance gone wrong. An extraordinary portrayal of modern love that doesn’t end in a happy ending. If I recall properly, there was some horrible and bad stuff hurled at each other too by Adam and Scarlett, but that made us reflect on the truth of relationships rather than feeling vile and poisonous.
The first act of the movie was profound and required some deep thinking about what our lives can turn into. When Alisha says, “I don’t like being at home…I feel so stuck”, many would have resonated with it and thought, “Me too dost”. The empathy and journey before the botched twist could have very well turned into something reconciliatory. After all, didn’t Alisha’s father Vinod show us what it means to be forgiving and to truly love someone. Put Zain in jail by all means (that is where money launderers should be) but to shift the entire theme by making him the epitome of a “byproduct of an unhealthy childhood” is just (for the lack of better words) yikes!
Rather than focus on developing characters and building upon the sensitivity of intergenerational trauma, the movie began with, Shakun Batra deciding to go for an Instagram-esque content is a classic trope of romanticising people’s pain.
From a character-centric piece, it turned into a cheap Chetan Bhagat novel.
Why Gehraiyaan was BLEH
If they were trying to recreate/portray GenZ/millennial relationships, then it’s evident they didn’t do their research. Although, most of us go through a phase where we’re looking for temporary connections because, duh, attachment issues but not to that toxic extent. I understand the need for excessive drama tho, the movie had no depth script-wise. Loved the review/breakdown of the movie.