It may have been named less than two months ago, but so much of Gehraiyaan comes from its title. Depth is what defines Shakun Batra’s third film, much like his previous two. Depth and intensity of emotions. Depth of relationships (that, conversely, often brings out their superficiality). Depth and darkness of human intent. Depth of depravement that one can plunge into when pushed against the wall. Depth of inner strength to tap into to rise again.
Depth lends tone and texture to a narrative where things are not what they appear to be on the surface. Shakun, whose Kapoor & Sons explored the yin and yang of familial equations with intense feel and keen insight, once again peels off the layers of human flaws and frailties to give us a film which, curiously, feels both personal and sprawling.
Infidelity may be the over-arching theme of Gehraiyaan, but that’s only the catalyst to spark off a journey, both individually and collectively, for its protagonists that throws them into situations where one’s survival hinges at the cost of that of the other.
It’s tough to bracket Gehraiyaan into a genre, but at its core, the film is a domestic noir. Novelist Julia Crouch describes domestic noir as one that “takes place primarily in homes and workplaces, concerns itself largely (but not exclusively) with the female experience, is based around relationships and takes as its base a broadly feminist view that the domestic sphere is a challenging and sometimes dangerous prospect for its inhabitants.” Gehraiyaan couldn’t be summed up better. Shakun, a self-confessed Woody Allen fan, takes the germ of the master film-makers’ 2005 film Match Point — which, in turn, has often been compared to Allen’s own Crimes and Misdemeanors (his 1989 film, and not his reported personal shenanigans) — to tell the story of semi-estranged cousins Alisha (Deepika Padukone) and Tia (Ananya Panday), Tia’s fiance Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Karan (Dhairya Karwa), Alisha’s boyfriend of six years.
The opening moments of Gehraiyaan show the quartet take off to Alibaug for the weekend. But this isn’t an ordinary catch-up. A certain awkwardness simmers below the surface in the interactions between Tia and Alisha, separated as they are by a deep chasm of luck and privilege. Quick flashes of the past show Alisha dealing with a scarred past that has set off a tenuous equation with her father (Naseeruddin Shah appears in just about three or four scenes in the latter half of the film and steals the spotlight in each of them). Her prickly, fatigued relationship with Karan also seems to have run its course, and it’s not long before Alisha finds herself responding to Zain’s overtures, initial flirtation quickly giving way to a heady physical relationship. For in Zain, Alisha finds a momentary escape from a reality that she’s grown tired of battling.
The initial hour of Gehraiyaan is about pretty people and their ugly issues, both at home and work. As it shows its primary characters hurtling down an abyss — some none the wiser for it, others, willingly or unwillingly, orchestrating it — Gehraiyaan subtly shifts into a dark thriller operating within the grey, where little, if anything, is black or white. Almost every character oscillates between being victim and villain, but all of them are vulnerable at some level. The transition in genre, brought on by Shakun’s trademark pressure cooker build-up exploding into a dramatic thriller, does feel contrived and convenient in places, but the consistent relatability that forms the core fabric of Gehraiyaan makes you believe good people are often capable of vile deeds.
What also holds Gehraiyaan together, even when things plunge into free fall every now and then, both in form and content, is the film’s strong emotionality, illustrated by some powerful scenes, especially the one in which Alisha opens up to her father and realises that she needs to accept the past rather than run away from it. Deepika is the beating heart of Gehraiyaan, embracing a part that demands a lot from her and which she owns every aspect of. The other layered character belongs to Siddhant, who plays Zain with a certain charm which can both be attractive and misleading. Ananya Panday surprises in many scenes, showing what she’s capable of in the hands of a good director, while Dhairya, in a role with less meat and depth than the others, acts as the perfect foil.
Gehraiyaan, much like its characters, is far from perfect, but just like life itself, it shows us that it’s the grey between the black and the white that truly defines us. Life heals and hurts in equal measure. Or as the film says Tu marz hai... dawa bhi.
Gehraiyaan is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Gehraiyaan Director: Shakun Batra
Cast: Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa, Rajat Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah
Running time: 148 minutes
