The trailer of the Deepika Padukone-starrer Gehraiyaan created quite the buzz when it was released, thanks to its moody cinematography featuring the complicated and chaotic lives of the four main characters. The movie will be released on 11 February 2022 on the streaming service platform, Amazon Prime Video.
Other than Padukone, the film boasts a talented cast, including Ananya Pandey, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Dhairya Karwa, Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapoor. Gehraiyaan is directed by Shakun Batra of the Kapoor and Sons fame and explores complex modern relationships, love and moral dilemmas.
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In this slice-of-life film, Alisha (Deepika Padukone), cheats on her partner of six years, Karan (Dhairya Karwa), with Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), who is Tia’s (Ananya Panday) fiancé. Tia is also Alisha’s cousin. In the gripping trailer, things go awry when Alisha and Zain begin exchanging salacious texts and are unfaithful to their respective partners.
Like Gehraiyaan, many Hindi films such as Cocktail, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Manmarziyan have explored similar themes of infidelity and other such complex emotions at the risk of rubbing the audience the wrong way. But such movies can be a refreshing change from the simplistic and clichéd boy-meets-girl Bollywood films and present the reality of relationships without sugar-coating them.
Here are 5 movies to watch while you wait for Gehraiyaan to hit the screens
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna
Karan Johar’s star-studded movie was released in 2006. Stepping away from conventional romance, the film presents a mature story of loveless marriages and infidelity that leads to the demolition of the institution. It was heavily criticised at the time because the audiences felt it was “justifying extra-marital affairs.”
On the contrary, the film intended to shed light on prevalent issues through the complex characters of Dev (Shah Rukh Khan) and Maya (Rani Mukerji) who were unhappy in their respective marriages with Riya (Preity Zinta) and Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan).
Dev and Maya’s paths cross and their intimacy develops into love, adversely impacting their respective marriages. The raw emotions portrayed by the characters on-screen make Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna such a brave film of its time.
However, the film concludes on a somewhat happy note with Riya and Rishi eventually finding love, which perhaps aims to convey that despite the horrific experiences in life, people still can pick themselves up and start again.
Amitabh Bachchan essays the role of Rishi’s father Samarjit Talwar.
Cocktail
The highly acclaimed Imtiaz Ali film, released in 2012, follows the lives of Veronica (Deepika Padukone), Meera (Diana Penty) and Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) as they navigate their tumultuous lives as friends, lovers and flatmates in London, UK.
Meera is an Indian girl with conventional beliefs who gets married to Kunal (Randeep Hooda) and moves to London from India to be with him. However, she gets a rude shock on her arrival and is sent away by her husband. She realises fate has other plans for her when she stumbles upon a spoilt rich socialite with a heart of gold, Veronica, in a public bathroom. Veronica swoops in like a knight in shining armour and offers Meera a place to stay.
Along the way, Veronica meets her no-strings-attached love interest, Gautam, and the three end up living together at her gorgeous London apartment. Things go south when Gautam’s frantic mother demands him to get hitched to a “nice Indian girl” and shows up at his doorstep unannounced. Gautam panics and claims that Meera, not Veronica, is his girlfriend to get his mother off his back.
This movie deals with the consequences of falling in love with your best friend’s love interest and the ensuing complex emotions. Cocktail is a mature depiction of a heartbreaking love triangle and explores the grey areas and moral fumbling in modern romantic relationships and platonic friendships.
Like Veronica, we can’t wait to see Padukone’s portrayal of Alisha come to life on screen in Gehraiyaan.
Manmarziyaan
The 2018 Taapsee Pannu, Abhishek Bachchan and Vicky Kaushal starrer, Manmarziyaan, is a film by Anurag Kashyap, who is known for his unconventional and raw storytelling. The film chronicles the love triangle of a vivacious Rumi (Taapsee Pannu), her free-spirited boyfriend Vicky (Vicky Kaushal) and her husband Robbie (Abhishek Bachchan) in Punjab.
Rumi and Vicky are blissfully in love until their plans screech to a halt when the latter has second thoughts about marrying Rumi despite their steamy and passionate chemistry. A heartbroken Rumi then decides to get married to the shy banker, Robbie, arranged by her parents. However, Rumi can’t get Vicky off her mind, which leads to chaos and heartache.
The contemporary film breaks conventional boundaries to explore the three complex characters and their differing concepts of love and marriage and how relationships unravel today. The story presents an emotional journey of toxic entanglements.
The Lunchbox
The brilliant Ritesh Batra film, The Lunchbox, underlines the unconventional themes of loss and yearning, as well as love. The 2013 movie won several accolades for the depiction of the soulful connection between the two main characters, Saajan (Irrfan Khan), a widower and government official close to his retirement, and Ila (Nimrat Kaur), an unhappy housewife stuck in a loveless marriage.
Hoping to revive a dying marriage, Ila prepares delicious home-cooked meals for her husband every day, which are sent through the trusted lunch-box delivery service in Mumbai, fondly known as the “dabbawalas”.
The film follows the endearing friendship that develops between Saajan and Ila after a goof-up in the tiffin-delivery system that leads to her lunchbox with handwritten notes being delivered to Saajan instead of her uninterested, cheating husband.
Although this is not a film about passionate young love or infidelity, it poetically presents the basal human need to connect with another person and the desire to be acknowledged, loved and heard.
Sir
Directed and written by Rohena Gera, Sir revolves around the US-returned architect Ashwin (Vivek Gomber), who is nursing a recent heartbreak, and his ambitious and resilient house help, Ratna (Tillotama Shome).
The award-winning film narrates the forbidden love story of two people that remain silently unified in the face of class disparity. As they steal soulful glances and communicate through silences, the film beautifully captures their emotional intimacy.
We hope more complex relationships such as these are explored in Indian cinema.
Hero and featured image: Courtesy Gehraiyaan/Amazon Prime Video/IMDb
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
