Movie Review – Gehraiyaan

Gin and Toxic

‘Gehraiyaan’, just like the name suggests plays with the depths of human emotions like no film has ever done in recent past. ‘Kapoor and Sons’ was my 500^th movie review and probably one of the best, if not the best movie which I watched in that Corona period. No movie has ever been done so well in a “Bollywoodish” way. It’s very much Bollywood and that’s the beauty of it. So, I was naturally intrigued to watch ‘Gehraiyaan’. No matter how many bad reviews were there, my temptation to watch the movie never went down. Still it was a shocker…

I remember watching ‘The Descendants’ in theatre. It was an Oscar season and Escape had been newly opened. I wanted to catch up as many Oscar movies as possible in that season. The least likely film to win the Oscar, first. In that way I ended up watching ‘The Descendants’. Alexander Payne is a really heavy director. He infuses pain, like no other, just in a subtle way. The beauty about ‘The Descendants’ was that it was very American and unapologetically so and more so, without wanting to prove a point. Maybe it didn’t effectively work for me because I couldn’t understand the culture, but ‘Gehraiyaan’ was an answer to it. How strong the movie was and how well it suits the generation where people aren’t showcased stupid.

The movie was haunting right from the word go, as ravishing as Deepika might look, we know something is wrong when we struggle to focus on her beauty. The music or the lack of it affects our mood too. The constant sound of waves tries to soothe us but its only on the surface level, it pushes us into hopelessness even before that. I think no other actor would have understood Alisha like Deepika did. There are films which people elevate and exceed the director’s expectation. Just like how Kangana did in ‘Queen’, I’m sure Deepika would have flattered Shakun with her acting. Not only him but also his costars. I feel she’d have been the centrifugal force for the other actors to get in mood.

She could be as great as she was, may be because of her personal experience. If really, she had undergone something like that, how difficult it would have been for her to rekindle those memories and relive if for the movie. I remember Imitiaz Ali telling in an interview, that for heavy scenes he’d say cut before Deepika completely zones out, because he personally knows her and wouldn’t want her to get into it as he knows how difficult it would be for her to get her out of it. I can only feel for her, thinking about her experience for acting Gehraiyaan. One of the reviews had rightly commented that, “Deepika is an actor we won’t deserve”

In a county which is still coming to terms with subjects such as mental health and people thinking that rich people won’t undergo depression, this movie was such a revelation. Even though for a movie like ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ one tends to think that they were able to experience all of it due to money, here people’s thoughts wouldn’t even go to money. I don’t remember any movie using a Yacht as an object for depression. Yacht is always related to parties and al fun stuff. Here a lot of other emotions are experienced in Yacht. It’d one of the main prop of the movie.

The casting was perfect. Deepika as a yoga instructor was a dream. Siddhanth fresh from the success of ‘Gully Boy’, does a fabulous job as a confused person. Even though he’d be perceived as a villain for everything he does in the movie. Look how it was not all straightforward. He has a struggle of his own. Keeping aside the aspect of morality, think how much would be going in his mind too. The fluctuations were beautifully written. Hell, Shakun can make even Ananya act. And she was perfect for the movie. Dhairya Karwa didn’t have much to do. Probably the most straightforward person. And I love the touch of how there are writers in all of Shakun’s movies. He’s only made two, but I guess it’ll be his motif. Only confusing thing was, they all were shown as same age, which was weird.

Thanks to all bad reviews, I knew this movie was going to be personal for movie. I’d have hated to give a bad review for this movie. When I was watching in Prime, the first thing I noticed was the IMDB rating which showed as 5.9. Most of my personal films have been seven pointers. They’d be the best experience I’d have had. But noticing the low rating, I was happy that this movie could also have a scope like this.

The only thing I didn’t want to happen was showing Naseeruddin Shah as a good guy after projecting him as a bad guy throughout but even that was handled beautifully. I’d have still preferred him to have been hated by Alisha (Naseeruddin Shah) throughout, but I liked the twist. If that doesn’t work, the climax twist would really leave you with a chill… There are some movies which can totally spoil your mood and push you in that zone. If you don’t hate it, it’ll consume you. Just like how it did to me.

Movie Review – Gully Boy

Apna Time Aayega

Ever since I knew that this Gully Boy was a good boy, I was not interested to watch the movie. The whole rock n roll concept without drugs seemed to be too goody goody for me. I thought this movie would be more to prove a point that a good boy can become a Gully Boy. But I was proved wrong, thanks for that. Zoya Akthar holds her fort in a unique way. She is not afraid to make movies which are generic yet infuses her own charm.

Similar thing had happened with ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. When I watched it the first time I was not so impressed with the movie. That might partly be due to the fact that I was in terrific form during that time, watching all art house movies. But when you accept what kind of film it is, then it becomes a terrific film. It’s not a ‘growing with time’ film but more of a ‘accepting the fact’ type of film. The film can be not liked for reason such as ‘not being a heavy film’, ‘a little more serious exploration of each characters’ but not because ‘it’s by rich boys’. I remember seeing a stand up where the emcee says something like, “I’m depressed, let’s go to Spain” in a funny way, which was irritating by the way. Of course, they’re not meant to be taken seriously. In spite not being taken seriously, the comment still sucked. As if its only the poor people who get depressed.

Coming to Gully Boy, the film doesn’t jump into music mode just like that. Music is a part of Murad’s (Ranveer Singh) life and so is Safeena (Alia Bhatt) and his family. It’s not one of the stories where a protégé couldn’t be a performer because he had to convince people. He couldn’t because he couldn’t convince himself first that it’s his future. At some point everyone who watches movies would want to become a filmmaker, I guess he had not even reached that stage but he’s not matured enough or accepting enough to consider that this is life and this is what he’d do. He just goes with the flow.

Luckily for Murad, he has got Safeena, except for some skull breaking, face punching pyrogenics she’s a fine woman for one who’s in love, and a dream woman for spectators. She does a great job, the way she teases her friends, the way she handles her father and the post breakup sequence, how she pinches her cheeks and gets back to meet Murad. What a scene that was. Safeena is an encouragement without any annoyance. Of course, she doesn’t go to Tara level of encouragement. Because Murad is not as deep down in dumps like Ved. But she does enough without being dramatic (except for those skull crushers of course). So, Murad has a fine support in her. He can do his job without thinking about one aspect of life, marriage.

On the other hand, the real hero of the movie MC Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi) just oozes with his performance. I thought he was a rapper for real. I was even more amazed when I came to know that he was not. I grew more respect for him. The way he says ‘bhaaaai’ was like wow. If it was so fantastic for someone who loves Mumbai but not been in Mumbai, how fabulous it’d have been there for people living there. I was afraid at some point he’d become villain or what’s worse, his character would be killed but nothing of that sort happened. Even in the scene where he fails to enter the final, his spirit is intact. Like Murad, ‘is jungle ki asli sher tu hai bhai’. He indeed was.

Another character who woos you every single time she enters the screen was Sky (Kalki Koechlin). Guess Kalki Koechlin is in her best phase of life. I thought with her so non-Indian face she wouldn’t survive in the industry. But she made a mark and made quirky, sexy. Oh, she does ooze oomph doesn’t she. Not only in this movie but all of her recent movies. She’s so good when given minimal screen space, like a pinch hitter, she just comes and hits every ball for boundary. So effortless.

The movie so effortless moves forward from one stage to other, there were some fine scenes like the one where he drives and her owner cries, instead of consoling, he raps. He enters the same bar where the bouncer previously asks him to go out. In a way it was a ‘Checkhov’s gun’ scene. When the same scene happens in climax, there is no extended shot of the bouncer. Rather the lady who checks ID lets Gully Boy in without even asking for his identity. That was cute.

Most of the songs work whether or not you understand lyrics, I guess that’s the real win. But when the film moves and moves without the title song and finally ‘Apna time aaega’ happens it works like hell. When Safeena comes for encouraging him I couldn’t help but remember ‘Tamasha’ climax. But it couldn’t match up to that level yet it worked beautifully. Post that the title appears like a stamp, wish the movie had ended there instead of needlessly making a soupy scene and spoiling the punch.