Hamari Adhuri Kahani is a perfect example of how a descent storyline can go haywire when crafted with over pitched emotions laden with hackneyed dialogues resulting in yawn fest for audience. When an experienced director like Mohit Suri helms a movie starring good actors like Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi & RajKummar Rao, one expects an engaging emotional flick. But, on the contrary Hamari Adhuri Kahani has turned out to be diddly-squat.The movie turns out to be a disappointment right from the beginning and fails to hit the right chords with the audience. The movie is reportedly based on the lives of Mahesh Bhatt's parents and has been penned down by him. Undoubtedly, the story had potential but the way in which Mohit Suri has conceived and crafted this tale, it robs the story and the film of its could be plausible moments. The movie has fair amount of cliched scenes and especially dialogues which seem too outdated as per 2015. Hamari Adhuri Kahani looks into various aspects of married lady, Vasudha (Vidya Balan) whose husband has been missing for years. A rich guy, Aarav (Emraan Hashmi) enters her life and falls in love with her, brightening up her otherwise dull life. This could have been a perfect ending for a love story but Alias ! our female protagonist not only keeps on clinging to her Mangalsutra but also gets to mouth some outdated dialogues that belong to 70's era like "Main kisi aur ki malqiyat hoon". Hamari Adhuri Kahani somewhere gets confused whether to portray love as a emotion of conviviality or love as an emotion that seeks a nod of approval from society. Perhaps, over enthusiastic Mohit Suri has filled the movie with so much of over the top emotions that at times one begins to laugh even when a serious scene is playing. This is ample proof that the audience fail to connect with the movie and this is the movie's biggest drawback. To sum it up all,Hamari Adhuri Kahani is one of those films that had lurking potential
with a tale of a woman who is going through troubled & abusive
marriage which got dissolved while crafting and portraying the tale. The only saving grace for the movie is earnest performances from its three principle characters and a well, tightly executed climax.
STORY & SCREENPLAY (SPOILERS AHEAD) :: The storyline of the movie has been penned down by Mahesh Bhatt and the credit for writing the dialogues goes to Shagufta Rafiq. Together, they have drafted a script which is full of cliches, cheesy lines and some outrageous dialogues that are reminiscent of bygone era. The script has been laden such excessive melodramatic moments that are hard to digest in today's modern times. To quote a few dialogues ; "Woh apni Vaasna ki keemat apne pati ke khoon se chukaegi" & "Hari ki laash par main mahal nahin banaungi". These are the kind of dialogues that make you cringe in your seats. It is a pity as what could have been a good film on woman's liberation who is going through a troubled marriage has been messed up by a convoluted plot. As far as storyline goes, the film begins with old, crumbling Vasudha (Vidya Balan) almost collapsing on the streets of Bastar District. Her old, worn out husband Hari (RajKummar Rao) is talking to a doctor telling him that Vasudha visited him wearing a red dress and doctor rubbishes his claim saying it might be his illusion. Soon, Vasudha departs from this world and Hari turns up at his son's home to perform her last rites but is turned away by his son. Before leaving his son's home, Hari leaves a dairy for him to apprise him about the past of Vasudha. Flashback begins and we are taken 20 years back where Hari leaves Vasudha after a year of their marriage being solemnized. Vasudha is shown leading a reclusive life as a florist until a chance encounter makes Aarav (Emraan Hashmi) enter her life. Aarav is a big hotel magnate who owns 108 hotels. Vasudha saves him from getting caught in middle of a fire and in the process wins over the heart of Aarav who falls in love with her at first sight. He immediately offers her a job at one of his plush hotels. Affinity develops between both of them and when things begin to fall in place in Vasudha's life, Hari re-enters her life. He explains to her the reasons behind his disappearance & how he was mistakenly picked up by police thinking him to be a terrorist. Now, Vasudha seeks Aarav's help to get Hari free from clutches of law by proving his innocence. Aarav decides to help Hari for the sake of his selfless love for Vasudha. What happens thereafter forms the rest of the story.
STARCAST :: This can be touted as one of the most matured performances that Emraan Hashmi has delivered till date. As suave Aarav, he has given a restrained and subtle performance which is quite contrary to the characters that he has played in his earlier movies. He has mostly emoted through his eyes which speaks volumes about how he has grown in stature as an actor when it comes to acting finesse. Watch out for him in the scene where he can't confess his love for Vasudha as she doesn't give him a chance. He doesn't utter a single word from his mouth in that scene yet his face expresses all the emotions. Suffice to say, talented actress like Vidya Balan has been wasted in this film as her character has not been etched properly. She has done her level best to put life into the character of Vasudha. Vidya Balan's eyes were moist with tears in almost every second scene in which she appears. Though, she shows sparks of her acting finesse in scenes where she stands up against the male dominated social hierarchy. But the show stealer in Hamari Adhuri Kahani with his acting prowess is none other than RajKummar Rao. After Shahid & Citylights, RajKummar once again proves his versatility as an actor by playing a character having negative traits. His body language, eccentricity, persona, face expressions are apt enough as per the demand of his character and he hits the right notes with them. He had to display myriad number of emotions with respect to being ; a forsaken husband, jilted father, rancorous lover and to his credit RajKummar Rao has come out equally impressive while portraying all these. Despite of having negative traits, his character is able to win empathy from the audience because of Rao's earnest performance which can be hailed as a big big win for RajKummar Rao as an actor. Amongst ensemble starcast noticeable performances have been delivered by Madhurima Tuli, Namit Das, Suhasini Mooley & Saara Khan.
TECHNICAL FINESSE :: The musical soundtrack of the movie that has been composed by Jeet Ganguly, Mithoon and Ami Mishra is soulful. Two tracks namely; the title track "Hamari Adhuri Kahani" sung by Arijit Singh and "Humnava" sung by Papon are the real gems of this soundtrack. The background music for the film has been composed by Raju Singh which is apt enough and provides a further impetus to the visuals. The cinematographer of the movie is Vishnu Rao who has done a swell job of capturing the visuals. The movie is a visual treat as Vishnu has not only captured the outdoor locales of Abu Dhabi, Cape Town and Dubai with aplomb but he has captured the indoor shots with a certain degree of deftness. The editor of the movie is Devendra Murdeshwar who has kept the run-time of the movie to 131 minutes. The editing is not at all crisp, taut resulting in lot of lengthy emotional scenes which in turn keep on testing your patience. As a director, Mohit Suri has failed to deliver the goods this time. He had a good subject at hand but while crafting it, he has laden the screenplay with so much of emotional turbulence coupled with lengthy dialogues in chaste Hindi that the core issue of the subject has got dissolved in it. The movie fails to invoke any passion and hence is not able to absorb you into on-screen proceedings.
STARCAST :: This can be touted as one of the most matured performances that Emraan Hashmi has delivered till date. As suave Aarav, he has given a restrained and subtle performance which is quite contrary to the characters that he has played in his earlier movies. He has mostly emoted through his eyes which speaks volumes about how he has grown in stature as an actor when it comes to acting finesse. Watch out for him in the scene where he can't confess his love for Vasudha as she doesn't give him a chance. He doesn't utter a single word from his mouth in that scene yet his face expresses all the emotions. Suffice to say, talented actress like Vidya Balan has been wasted in this film as her character has not been etched properly. She has done her level best to put life into the character of Vasudha. Vidya Balan's eyes were moist with tears in almost every second scene in which she appears. Though, she shows sparks of her acting finesse in scenes where she stands up against the male dominated social hierarchy. But the show stealer in Hamari Adhuri Kahani with his acting prowess is none other than RajKummar Rao. After Shahid & Citylights, RajKummar once again proves his versatility as an actor by playing a character having negative traits. His body language, eccentricity, persona, face expressions are apt enough as per the demand of his character and he hits the right notes with them. He had to display myriad number of emotions with respect to being ; a forsaken husband, jilted father, rancorous lover and to his credit RajKummar Rao has come out equally impressive while portraying all these. Despite of having negative traits, his character is able to win empathy from the audience because of Rao's earnest performance which can be hailed as a big big win for RajKummar Rao as an actor. Amongst ensemble starcast noticeable performances have been delivered by Madhurima Tuli, Namit Das, Suhasini Mooley & Saara Khan.
TECHNICAL FINESSE :: The musical soundtrack of the movie that has been composed by Jeet Ganguly, Mithoon and Ami Mishra is soulful. Two tracks namely; the title track "Hamari Adhuri Kahani" sung by Arijit Singh and "Humnava" sung by Papon are the real gems of this soundtrack. The background music for the film has been composed by Raju Singh which is apt enough and provides a further impetus to the visuals. The cinematographer of the movie is Vishnu Rao who has done a swell job of capturing the visuals. The movie is a visual treat as Vishnu has not only captured the outdoor locales of Abu Dhabi, Cape Town and Dubai with aplomb but he has captured the indoor shots with a certain degree of deftness. The editor of the movie is Devendra Murdeshwar who has kept the run-time of the movie to 131 minutes. The editing is not at all crisp, taut resulting in lot of lengthy emotional scenes which in turn keep on testing your patience. As a director, Mohit Suri has failed to deliver the goods this time. He had a good subject at hand but while crafting it, he has laden the screenplay with so much of emotional turbulence coupled with lengthy dialogues in chaste Hindi that the core issue of the subject has got dissolved in it. The movie fails to invoke any passion and hence is not able to absorb you into on-screen proceedings.
CONCLUSION :: Hamari Adhuri Kahani comes across as a confused movie that fails
to tug at your heartstrings with its cliched storytelling, heavy
melodrama and hackneyed dialogues. It's one of those rare love stories that fail to invoke any passion and can be skipped without any regrets.
ROHIT SHARMA.
Follow me on twitter
at https://twitter.com/smgr105
rohitreview@gmail.com
http://rohitmoviereview.blogspot.in/https://www.facebook.com/moviereviewsbyrohit
No comments:
Post a Comment