I watched ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ a few days ago, first day, last show, ahem!
For emotional idiots like myself, Arijit Singh’s intensity, Pritam’s composition and lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya for the title track, it was more than enough to sway us to the theatres. Add the much hyped Anti-National hullabaloo to the mix and you have the perfect recipe for desperately needed sympathy votes.
Now, the film is a tad bit like PMS.
It is intensely high in the ‘Happy’ part quickly followed by a sharp low soon after which there is a rather stable high if at all it can be called a high. The movie is a series of sharp mood swings.
The lighting, the editing (a little vague especially in Fawad parts) & the music – beautiful while the treatment of the subject matter was weak. The script and the treatment lacked in balancing the sharp highs the audience experiences in the first half with the intense low you absolutely need in the second half.
To justify the ending you need enough sadness, but the narrative is so happy overall, and perhaps so subtle, where it doesn’t need to be that it fails. Karan Johar’s ADHM subtle should have been melodramatic while ADHM melodrama could have been subtle. He just got the equation upside down. That’s where Imtiaz Ali succeeds and Karan Johar fails.
Imtiaz Ali’s lows are as sharp as his highs while Karan Johar being the optimist that he is, was rather reserved in making the audience feel the lows as intense as they should ideally be. Of course, the end is on a subtly sad meaning overall happy note; however, the audience fails to realize the necessity of the conflict. When you don’t feel the character’s pain as yours, you can’t feel attached to the character.
The lyrics, the characters and their storyline would have made much more sense had Anushka, Aishwarya and Fawad Khan’s characters been from Lahore and not Lucknow as originally intended. Once you realize they are from Lahore and not Lucknow you can replace the words in your head for those particular dialogues so that’s alright.
‘Sarhad K Paar Bulleya’ anyone?
A reviewer said that Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’s characters are not relatable. I read that review before I went to watch it. The characters are not relatable in the setting (super rich British Passport holders and all) but the turmoil of their relationships is pretty much relatable. Their personalities too are quite real. TBH, I saw a bit of myself in all characters.
Don’t speak Urdu, please don’t!
Finally, the performances – well Aishwarya looked the part but her Urdu diction is pathetic. I mean she adores Rekha, at least, she should have taken some lessons from her or got a teacher. She an urdu poetess, I mean, that’s the greatest disservice to the language of Urdu. Whenever she opened her mouth it ruined the scene for me, maybe, that’s why they introduced so many kissing scenes, which by the way were slashed.
Ranbir and Anushka looked like genuine friends who deeply liked and cared for each other. That shows how good their performances were. The best part about Ranbir is that he gets emotionally naked in front of the camera – it’s so honest and raw. For Anushka, she’s just herself, even if she isn’t, she just looks the part, she doesn’t look like herself. While, Aishwarya was Aishwarya, she couldn’t become Saba. Shahrukh cameo was okay, I mean it’s Shahrukh. His subtle melodrama, yes a contradictory term, but not if you watch SRK in Devdas. He brought the grief of Devdas to life in this wee bit of screentime.
Speaking of screentime, the tributes hogged a majority of screentime!!!
Dude, get over it.
I mean we all know Mr. Johar that’s what you have done. This isn’t an award show, it’s a film! Mellow it down a couple of notches. Imagine, you’re into the movie relating to the characters, you know it’s Alizeh and Ayan and here it is an entire dialogue with tributes and tributes. It totally made the characters unrelatable for me for a while.
When it did end, I was back to their world, but that was a good night, there were unlimited free pepsi refills so yeah that. That totally saved the movie for me!
3/5 Soppy Chick Flick (I love Soppy Chick Flicks – I am watching it again – Don’t tell anyone!)