Gehraiyaan (the depths) is Dharma Productions’ Amazon Prime movie which appears to be a family-drama/romance in the beginning but soon loses itself in the depths of pseudo-psychothriller/surrealism. The plot revolves around the frustrated, distraught Alisha (Deepika Padukone), who is in a relationship with Karan (Dhairya Karwa), as she meets and falls in love with her cousin Tia’s (Ananya Panday) fiancé, Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), in the film. She quickly realizes that their relationship is doomed to fail.
Director-c0 writer Shakun Batra draws the audience in with Deepika Padukone’s sexy, troubled personality as Alisha while Siddhant Chaturvedi also plays it well as Zain’s charming realtor personality- a low-key hustler and casanova, who is not oblivious of his power to attract people and to some extent manipulate them as well. The characters have their own baggage, flaws, as well as strengths but the story, with its overly complicated plotline and excruciating duration, fails to properly tie in all the loose ends. As a result, it all comes crashing down like a house of cards against a tide.
The Cons
Honestly, the makers make no effort in masking the fact that two attractive people just happen to meet and were immediately drawn to each other; not only that, but their relationships with their respective partners strained from the beginning. What’s troublesome is not a lack of effort in storytelling, but the clear lack of character development in the side characters other than Zain and Alisha, making them the center of attention whereas most aspects of the events that ensue are not entirely their doing. The length of the movie – 2 hours and 2o mins plus credits – is again a longer runtime than necessary.
Interestingly, there would be footage of waves every time there was a new conflict in the movie but it seemed more like a metaphor for the plot’s listlessness to me and its desperation to move ashore.
The Pros
If I were to talk about its good sides, I would say it’s not new for Bollywood to try and include some Gen Z themes like troubled parents and children struggling to find a common ground, or showing that cheating is more often than not an escape from chaotic relationships. I personally support the glorification of neither, but these clichés actually make the plotline tolerable as it drags on for that long runtime.
Moreover, Siddhant and Deepika’s depiction of the characters are so realistic that it’s almost too good to be true.
Deepika has been seen in a similar characterization – a hot mess – in Cocktail as Veronica, but her portrayal of Alisha hits closer to home, as it is more mature and more refined; it’s almost as if we can see her growth as an actress right through the screens.
Mixed Feelings
With mixed reviews, Gehraiyaan has sparked a flurry of gossip and social media debates, with some even questioning whether the sex scenes on the screen were real! Moreover the controversial plot seemed to trigger many mixed emotions for audiences as some could relate to them (or, the opposite), having to watch quite a few disturbing tropes in the story.
The film’s background music and original soundtracks by Kabeer Kathpalia and Savera Mehta, on the other hand, are quite fitting for the plot as well as the overall cinematic feel. The songs “Doobey” and “Beqaboo” are also important transitional dives as the movie faces one plot twist after another. The cliffhanger ending aims to show that every character is flawed, but they all come full circle; however, even with such a long duration it was unnecessary to drag the story even further with an inconclusive ending and time lapse.
The confused storytelling and experimental shifting between multiple genres can at times become a nuisance as it takes itself away from the audience just when they are getting deep into it, just to introduce a different plotline. Overall, I would recommend watching it, only if you can handle certain trauma projections (trigger warning).