Gehraiyaan

About the film

Gehraiyaan (transl. Depths) is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Shakun Batra and produced by Dharma Productions, Viacom18 Studios and Jouska Films. The film stars Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi in lead roles, with Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa, Rajat Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah in supporting roles.

Gehraiyaan premiered on 11 February 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack, cinematography, visual style and performances of the cast; however its story, screenplay and climax received criticism.

Plot

Alisha "Al" Khanna, a 30-year-old yoga instructor is working on an app but struggling to find investors while providing for her boyfriend Karan Arora, an unemployed writer. She has anxiety, dealing with her mother Sonali's suicide as a child, and is estranged from her father Vinod, who she blames for her mom's depression. Alisha's cousin Tia is engaged to Zain Oberoi and invites the couple to their Alibaug beach house. Zain and Alisha bond due to their traumatic past. Alisha impulsively kisses him but regrets it. Alisha, Tia and Karan are childhood friends through their families. When Alisha discovers that Karan shared his draft with Tia but not her, even though she had been asking to read it for a long time, she is extremely hurt and begins an affair with Zain.

Zain gets his business to invest in Alisha's app. Karan proposes to Alisha in front of family and friends. She ends her affair with Zain to focus on a fresh start with Karan, only to break up. The breakup follows after her discovery that Karan's book had been rejected before he proposed, a fact he kept from her. Zain tells Alisha that he will end his relationship with Tia once he returns her dad's investment in his company. Zain's company provides Alisha with a new yoga studio and the two continue their passionate affair.

At Zain and Tia's anniversary party, Alisha reveals to Zain that she is pregnant. Zain's company is placed under investigation when one of his investors is charged with money laundering. After Tia finds Alisha's anxiety pills in Zain's jacket, she confronts him but he manages to hide the truth. Alisha's yoga studio is sealed by the investigating officers from Zain's company, and she confronts him; Zain's business partner, Jitesh, deduces the truth about Zain's affair with her. Tia agrees to mortgage the beach house in Alibaug to save the company, but Zain sells it instead, convinced he can buy it back within a year. At Alibaug, Tia accuses him of having an affair. When he shows her his phone, she feels guilty and signs the papers. Karan tells Alisha that Tia is helping Zain with his company. An angry Alisha gives Zain an ultimatum to reveal the truth to Tia, or she will.

Production

In April 2019, Shakun Batra was reported to direct the biopic on Osho, which was shelved. During the 21st edition of the MAMI film festival in October 2019, Batra was reported to direct Deepika Padukone in the lead, labelling the film's genre as domestic noir. In December 2019, Padukone went to the office of Dharma Productions and met Batra, where a script discussion about the film was held for a few minutes. Impressed by the narration, Padukone confirmed that she had a part in the film. In mid-December 2019, it was further reported that Vicky Kaushal and Siddhant Chaturvedi were reported to be playing the male leads, and another actress was reported to be on board for the project. The latter was finalized and, in the very same month, Ananya Panday was finalized as the second female lead. Dhairya Karwa was cast as Padukone's love interest in March 2020.

Pre-production of the film began in March 2020. Initially, filming was to proceed in Sri Lanka, however, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the shoot was delayed by six months and moved to Goa, owing to its similar landscapes. The first schedule began in September 2020 and lasted approximately one month. The team returned to Mumbai in November 2020, where the filming resumed in December. Shooting for the next schedule commenced in Mumbai at the end of March 2021. Filming was wrapped up in August 2021. After being known as Production No. 70 for two years, a teaser was released on 20 December 2021, revealing the title of the film as Gehraiyaan.

The production had an "intimacy department" of intimacy coach Neha Vyas and intimacy coordinator Aastha Khanna led by intimacy director Dar Gai.

Music

The film's music and original score is composed by independent musical duo Kabeer Kathpalia a.k.a. OAFF and Savera Mehta in their mainstream film debut. Kausar Munir and Ankur Tewari wrote the lyrics for the songs. The track featured in the announcement teaser of the film is the Hindi version of "Frontline" sung by Lothika Jha and the Hindi lyrics were written by Tewari.

Reception

Gehraiyaan received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack, cinematography, visual style and performances of the cast; however its story, screenplay and climax received criticism. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote, "Gehraiyaan has an enigmatic air from its opening scene and gradually takes on an additional layer of unrelenting foreboding." Sanjana Jadhav of Pinkvilla gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 and wrote, "Batra's Gehraiyaan is a deep dive into individual and family's past choices, relationships and why we do, what we do. The director has successfully struck a balance of intimacy, shock, grief and above all love." Renuka Vyavahare of The Times Of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Batra tries to decode complex human behaviour and its consequences, through a story that's tough to narrate." Umesh Punwani of Koimoi gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote, "All said and done, I don't remember when was the last time a film's title did so much justice to its story." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote, "The film is shot quite beautifully by Kaushal Shah. A technically sound film having some fine performances and carrying a hint of mystery as well."

Key details