Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

The basic plot of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil looks like a collage of a few Ranbir Kapoor films like YJHD, Tamasha and the recent Nikhil Adwani film Katti Batti. But the fact that, Karan Johar, the guy who always plays it smartly with melodrama in relationships has shown a timely change in his style, gives Ae Dil Hai Mushkil the feel of a somewhat heartening love story.

Ayan Sanger is this single millionaire who is studying MBA in UK, but actually has an ambition of being a singer. Ayan is a little too childish and immature in terms of understanding life. The movie is actually about the relationship between him and Alizeh, an independent girl who takes life boldly and loves him as a really good friend. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil mainly navigates through three stages of their bonding and plays on that blurry line between friendship and romance.

Like I said, the initial segments will remind you of Tamasha. It moves in to certain instances where you get a blink of YJHD. The part I would appreciate Mr. Johar for having some novelty would be the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan portion. While conventionally movies try to safe play such situations with more of moralistic things, here Karan pushes things and goes in to the definitions of various kind of relationships. The fact that true beauty of a solid friendship has that charm to win over a relationship which is built to forget regrets and past gets stated in that part. Then the movie goes in to that part where you see something Karan Johar and Niranjan Iyengar has done in the past, but with drama that has quirks, more realistic outbursts, you sort of sense a sweetness that exists in the bonding between Alizeh and Ayan.

The kind of similarities I mentioned and the kind of less surprising turn of events are the things that are taking away the charm this film has. Karan has been collaborating with lots of young talents over the years and like he said in interviews, there is definitely a change in his approach because of that. The dilemmas and troubles Karan has given to his characters aren’t that new to us. But with a more appealing presentation that has a sense of self spoofing, he manages to take the film to a level where you won’t find it uncomfortable or not relatable. Anil Mehta’s cinematography was impressive. After a long long time, ADHM was that one album that managed to please me entirely. I would love to hear those improvised film versions of few of those tracks.

Ranbir Kapoor just keeps on surprise me. The character of Ayan lies pretty much in the same zone of many of the characters he has done and yet he manages to pour in individuality. He cries honestly, shows an impeccable on screen charm and yeah! the lip sync he has when he sings on screen is too good. Karan Johar who earlier discouraged Aditya Chopra from launching Anushka Sharma in fact has given her one of the most charming role in her career and she did it with ease. I loved the rapport the duo had on screen. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the other hand is casted mainly because the character of Saba demands everything she is well known for. From the seductive looks to delivering poetic lines, she was a perfect choice for the role. Fawad Khan whom might not be seen on Indian Screens forever has an extended cameo and a few more cameos are there delivering some of the key dialogues in the movie.

So to conclude I would say, the charm of the main leads and the areas where Karan Johar has tried to push the envelope gives the movie an advantage in connecting with the audience. The content on the other hand isn’t something that will make you watch the movie again for its freshness.

Rating : 3/5