Movie Review - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

I disagree. Not with the movie, with most of the audience. The people who are calling it the worst movie by Karan Johar. Those who are calling it the worst movie of the year. Those who are rating it 0 on 5 stars. I disagree.

Don't get me wrong! I am definitely disappointed. You see, I was hoping for a happy ending. I was expecting to come out happy after Anushka and Ranbir finally get together at the end.

But, there isn't a happy ending. The movie delivers one heart break after another. As some one who cried at the death of Optimus Prime in Transformers (even though I knew he comes back to life!), you can imagine my state during Channa Mereya. Yep, lots and lots of tears. Buckets! And, more of them as all the tragedies unfolded.

But, I didn't hate the movie. I actually don't quite understand why people are bashing it so hard. Is it because it isn't a Diwali dhamaka movie? It's not a movie at the end of which you exit the theater feeling cheerful. It's not the usual Karan-Johar-directed perfectly-imperfect or just-perfect love story, which ends with the our hero finally getting the heroine. And, I guess that most people were disappointed with that...?

Let's talk about the movie. Anushka plays Alizeh, an independent, carefree girl; living life mostly on her terms. Ranbir plays Ayan, a rich, spoilt man-child. He is doing his MBA to fulfill his dad’s wishes but really wants to be a singer. They meet, hitting it off instantly, and becoming "best friends". Anushka and Ranbir share an easy chemistry on-screen. So, you feel Ayan and Alizeh’s friendship. A friend you can be totally yourself with. Let your crazy, weird self out!

On a trip to get over the respective ex-es, while snuggling in a blanket in front of a fireplace, you can see Ranbir start falling for Anushka. Enter Ali, played by Fawad Khan! Alizeh’s one and only ex-true-love. He broke her heart and yet she never got over him. When she breaks down on the sight of him, you feel sympathetic. When Ali comes crawling back to her and she forgives him, it feels relatable. Most of us have either been in a relationship like this and/or seen a friend go through it. One person is a total ass, hurting the other countless times; but the other is too blindly in love and forgives them for everything.

Unable to say no to Alizeh’s wedding invitation, Ayan shows up and spends most of his time drowning his sorrows and newly discovered feelings for Alizeh in bhaang and alcohol. And, finally, breaking down right before her nikaah. Once again, Ranbir shows us he can act! As tears well up in eyes, he delivers a heart breaking ‘Channa Mereya’. It is a well placed song, with wonderfully sad lyrics, sung by the soulful Arijit Singh.

Flying back from the wedding, Ayan runs into Saba (played by the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) at the airport lounge. She lets him vent, he breaks down, and they bond. Saba is an urdu poet, who uses urdu in her daily conversations. It’s spell binding! You can see Ayan struggle to understand her words just as we do.

Shah Rukh Khan makes a short cameo appearance as Saba’s ex-husband who is still in love with her. His dialogue “Mujhe Saba se behentaha mohabbat karne ke liye, Saba ki hi zaroorat nahi” captures the pain of unrequited love masked behind a smile.

I have glossed over a lot of the plot and am stopping discussing the storyline altogether now; because, I don’t want to give a synopsis of the whole movie. As promised by Karan Johar in the trailer, the movie is about unrequited love. Saba falls for Ayan, but walks away because she sees that Ayan will never be able to reciprocate. Ayan on the other hand, till the end, is in love with Alizeh, who repeats over and over that she does love him a lot, just not in “that way”.

The audience is left longing. Hoping and wishing and praying that something somewhere changes. But, it doesn’t. Alizeh doesn’t get her Ali. Ayan doesn’t gets his Alizeh. Saba doesn’t get her Ayan. Tahir doesn’t get his Saba.

I have read reviews that say the movie doesn’t have a storyline. I disagree. The movie very much has a storyline. It’s just not the one the audience was hoping for. It’s Ayan’s story, from his POV. You see him be a spoilt rich kid with a gold digger girlfriend who he thinks he truly loves. Then, you see him realize what love actually is when he falls for Alizeh. Then, you see his struggle with the fact that he will never get his true love. He goes back and forth between trying to accept it and trying to get her to love him. The struggle feels real. Real enough that sometimes you want to slap him, and other times, you want to hug him. And, Ranbir plays the character with such an ease that you forget you are watching an actor. Ranbir absolutely steals the movie!

Ranbir, Anushka, Aishwarya and Fahad have all already received praise for their acting so I don’t need to write a lot about that.

The movie talks about friendship. It talks about love. True, and unrequited love. It has some situations that are uncomfortable AF. Like having an uncomfortable meal with an ex when you are still not over them. About having a meal with a friend and his/her girlfriend/boyfriend who you do NOT like. And, their uncomfortableness of these situations has been captured so well that. As a viewer, sometimes I was laughing at the awkwardness of it all, and at other times *I* started feeling uncomfortable.

So.. No, I don’t think it is a bad movie. I think the movie is well-made, well directed, with fine actors who have all acted well.. and, a good story. It’s just not the story you were hoping for. Karan Johar made a bold choice not to give the audience what they want. And, I can only guess that that’s what has annoyed people. That's what makes them uncomfortable. That none of these love stories get the "happily ever after". Or… Maybe they were looking for a “and so, the moral of the story is..”. But, that isn’t there either. So, as a viewer I am definitely disappointed. But, I wouldn’t hate on the movie like so many others are.