CHARACTERS & MOTIVE

Between the Sky and the Deep Blue Gehraiyaan

How Gehraiyaan’s (transl. “Depth”) story could have been told

Gehraiyaan (2022). Image from IMDb.

A couple of months ago, I remember discussing recently released films at the time with three other filmmakers over some beers. The topic of discussion inevitably turned to Gehraiyaan — a film that had varied expectations but led to many polarised conversations well after its release.

“The only reason the film had any hype was because of the director’s previous film,” the DoP said, releasing cigarette smoke (and pent-up venom at Gehraiyaan’s director too, it seemed).

“But isn’t he supposed to be good?” I wondered.

“No,” the three of them chorused. “He’s quite overrated, frankly,” one of them added.

And then, of course, we launched into a discussion about how the film was — for all intents and purposes — basically not good (I think “sucked” was the common denominator in everyone’s vocabulary when describing the film).

But I’m not going to extol Gehraiyaan’s lack of virtue here; there’s no criticism I can offer that hasn’t already been offered. Instead, I’m going to play a game of “what if” and offer a few suggestions that might help remedy the incomplete feeling that a lot of people mentioned after watching the film. A doctoring of the story, if you will indulge me.

// Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the film and still intend to watch it. //

To begin with, I boiled the four characters down to four questions in order of importance (or rather, screen time).

These were the questions that seemed to have gone unanswered in the course of the film, for which I am making assumptions about what the director’s and characters’ intentions were based on how they’re portrayed.

1. What draws Alisha to her cousin’s fiancé when her boyfriend of six years seems more like an unsupportive, freeloading roommate, plus there’s no explanation as to why she and her boyfriend are even together?

She got it from her mama, literally. (Screengrabs from the film)

2. What compels Zain to cheat on his rich fiancée who’s literally funding him, and he is indebted to her father for where he is in life?

Of course he’s lying. (Screengrabs from the film)

3. What exactly is it about Tia that attracts her to her father’s protégé who doesn’t seem to see her as anything but an ATM?

Nothing suspicious here. (Screengrabs from the film)

4. Why is Karan in a relationship for six years and why does he want to be a novelist when he seems to have the emotional range of a teaspoon and what is his novel about and just why?

In case you didn’t notice. (Screengrabs from the film)

And lastly, a question for the writers of this story — why does the film begin as a romantic exploration of an affair and then abruptly shift into murder mystery mode? Now, I do think multihyphenate genre stories can work if there’s some sense of cohesion, but this is clearly lacking with Gehraiyaan. It doesn’t make sense to have a character suddenly attempt murder without some earlier, deeper indication of murderous tendencies or motives — and not just a one-off visual to showcase it.

Probably how a lot of viewers also felt after watching this. (Screengrabs from the film)

Now that we’ve covered the questions, here are five suggestions that could’ve been fitting answers to them.

1. Change the title of the film to Alibaug (or Alibag), rendering a sense of place, context and class. This will also root the story in the house that was the bone of contention between the brothers — the girls’ fathers — and bring up traumatic childhood memories for Alisha when she revisits it many years later. It would then become the setting and root cause for all the conflict in the film (thus tying in the money issues that become important in the story later on).
2. Show more of the parents. Parallel the mothers and daughters, how one sinks deeper into despair because of her cheating husband, and the other into slowly approaching death — by the neck. Similarly, parallel the men in their lives — how Tia’s father was a ruthless, philandering scumbag who always got his way, and has now imbued that very trait in Zain, who is now treating his own daughter in the very same way.
3. A photo of Zain’s family, something he possibly tries to hide from the others, could add greater insight into who he is and where he comes from. A scene depicting his interactions with “the help” could also demonstrate his self-loathing and embarrassment of his past.
4. We do need more compelling reasons as to why all these people have chosen to be in the relationships they’re in. Alisha could possibly feel indebted to Karan because he was the one person who helped her deal with her mother’s suicide (In Dil Chahta Hai, Shalini’s character arc addressed this quite well). Tia could possibly be impressed by Zain’s ability to solve problems and move ahead in life, plus fulfilling her “poor little rich girl” character arc. Zain’s money-minded intentions can be brought out through interactions with Tia’s father, which could’ve been added as intercut scenes.
5. Karan’s character could parallel Alisha’s father as the one left holding the shit. As an aspiring novelist, his sensitivity to Alisha’s past should shine through. Unfortunately, as an aspiring novelist, his insecurities and self-obsession should also shine through. His indecision from the many novel proposal rejections could be the breaking point for his relationship with Alisha. As an overthinking writer, does he not have any suspicions that his girlfriend of six years is cheating on him? Even an ounce of, “Hey, is everything ok with us, etc.?” And hopefully, his novel is a device that can be used to further the themes of the story as well. Moreover, Zain must be a bit curious about why Alisha and Karan have been dating for six years and have actually stayed together for so long — something that would’ve answered a lot of questions in the overall story, too.

There’s a lot more to this story that I may not have covered here. However, with the potential for a story that could’ve been filled with depth (pun intended) and insight, I don’t think it held up its end. And no, literal visuals of the sea and turbulent waves aren’t enough to do it justice.