A modern-day romance between consenting adults at cross purposes? A Bollywood movie with the courage to embrace no-holds-barred physicality? Finally, a film that takes mature viewers seriously. Can anything be better? Gehraiyaan raises our expectations but stops well short of delivering.
First things first. The fact of Deepika Padukone’s leading lady Alisha aka Al being a woman in her own right, who works for a living, and who bears the scars of her past, is something to be celebrated. Her relationship with her steady Karan (Dharya Karwa), a wannabe writer tapping away aridly at his computer, see-saws between old likes and irritations. On a weekend getaway with Al’s wealthy cousin Tia (Ananya Pandey) and her busy-making-millions-in-real estate loverboy Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), things start shifting, and it all becomes a breathless kaleidoscope of lust and betrayal.
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