‘Gehraiyaan’ — the ‘Hyperloop’ minuscule that went unnoticed

Sohani Paul
5 min readFeb 14, 2022

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WARNING : Read ONLY if you have watched the movie, because I will only talk about the part that has literally intrigued me, & things like these which and why I love, and loved the movie too! And I am not gonna make it lengthy. So if you have watched the movie, go ahead and have a read!

[Talking to myself, in conversation with Shakun Batra ! speaking my heart out to him.]
I am screaming with happiness inside, because honestly with you, I am only a movie old, before Gehraiyaan. And, finally I managed to sneak some time out for Gehraiyaan. I watched it.

Q ~ What did I scream for?

A ~Thanking you for envisioning, and why the title. And here I state that minuscule, that totally went unnoticed. .
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Snap!

It’s Valentine’s Day, 2022. Also, thanking the team big time to release the Reprise Version of Gehraiyaan, by Mohit Chauhan today. The honest trigger for me, to write this piece about the movie.
(The only song version I loved in the movie)

[P. S : I have never done this thing before. This is my first. Writing my thoughts on a movie. But I had to do this, I don’t know why, but I had to.]

The swarm of criticism flocking in, & the wait that awaited for me, till I watched the movie. No, I didn’t watch the movie on its release day, and time. Although I planned to, honestly. After all the commotions, marketing, news all over , and I still remember the first still from Siddhant Chaturvedi’s Facebook page of him and Deepika, sitting near the beach looking towards each other(possibly used for promotions), the vibe told me that I want to give it a watch. And here I am, writing my thoughts on it post-watch!

While I watch the clownery, the criticisms that have surfaced, I blatantly read and smile inside. Because I can’t help it. Honing and mentioning the cavalry of chosen privileged, & the outcry of the criticism coming from this particular direction — yet, “that point untouched!”

Infidelity angle — Check!
Mental health — Check!
Modern Day Love — Check!
Trauma — Check!
[and, all the possible tangents it could touch].. — C H E C K!

Q : But did, the title reverberate with the story?
A : To all the check points, a positive thumbs up, yes!

Did anyone notice the somehow obvious-abrupt ending, with a profound message ‘hidden’ in it? The HYPERLOOP Shakun created with the final strike, when the curtain drapes down.
(in the last scene, just before the story ends!)
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{in-between the tides } — Alisha(Al) and Zain(Zen) : an attraction to affliction’s ride, with all steamy, dreamy, bracketed, loathsome moments. The childhood trauma somehow brought them more close under the same umbrella.

[Two couples, four lives somehow went for a toss.]

A Trauma following Al since childhood & keeping her under anxiety for so long, until she discovers the life changing truth about her father and mother, through Tia who is her cousin, and turns out to be her real sister — what a perfect time to know about it (if you know, you know).
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followed by ~~
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s n a p!!
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Two Years Later !!!
Karan is marrying somebody else now. His career dived in the Gehraiyaan, unfortunate! but he has a hand to walk with, always and forever.
The Two Real Sisters ( now ), of course united for the wedding party; while hesitantly shunning off the un-easiness, they get along. While Tia asks Al to move on in her life(which meant, to move on from her [*red flag*] : P A S T), & in parallel, Al goes through her flashbacks, and finally agrees to MOVE ON -

BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!! there you go!
The old lady (who got a lift from: hashtag ZeAl's, Yacht Cruise, along with her husband). As she is identified to be Karan’s in-law in the movie now, & was asking about the wedding preparations, she happens to see Alisha, and tells she recognizes her, as they both have met each other, before.

If you pay attention to the expression Alisha put immediately after that
(for about 4–5 seconds), and . . .

CUT!!!
(she knew she is screwed. Again). And there she was, standing in front of her past, again. It’s obvious of the naysayers , for raising their questions they could think of, who knows! But this point? Can you deny that Shakun Batra would have gone, past this angle too?

[The KARMIC Tangent : The past, present and future always cycles around a Hyperloop. The choices and actions take us to the loop, and where we see ourselves in that circle.]
Alisha’s hyperloop created then and there - astonished, & realizing what she saw, just before when the scene ended. The DEEP shit from where she thought of coming out — got created, again.(You know what I mean)
Had it been the revelation to Tia about everything, would she still have gotten free from her own karma? Her trauma might have healed with time but, the loop?One after the other..what decides that?

Do we ever get out of our own actions? Choices? Is there any fresh start?
May be, may be not.

The Gehraiyaan of Al’s life .. got created in a loop, in and with Karan, Tia & Zen . (Choices!)

Shakun has done the job for me as his audience. Brilliant strike in, at the end.
I am no expert, tbh! but I am an audience too. I have my take-away’s just like everyone else’s.

What I saw, is perhaps I haven’t even come close to read anything similar, yet!

The last scene came out so profound to me, I went numb for a moment.
I knew I won’t be coming out empty handed with this movie,(given the first promotional picture shared.. scroll up to read)I swear!! I got my take away and that too-YES! IT WAS THAT BEAUTIFUL FOR ME!

Thank you for showing what you tried to, Shakun. Ah Man! you have earned my respect more. I possibly have gone through every major interviews about this movie, and listened about your creative tales. I was puzzled thinking about you being the creative I imagined by now, and the post-movie hype that has been buzzing all around. Dots jud nahi rahe thhe!!
I now can, relate every bit of it. A person taking 46–48 takes for scenes, he cannot be a joke. And I say it from the perspective of what everyone is making a halla about VS. what also one of the major key point(IMO)they missed out on !
Cheers to you, and Gehraiyaan. And thank you for finally rendering a soulful, relatable track of Gehraiyaan, released this Valentine’s Day. As I mentioned, the last scene of the movie, those mindboggling shot of the waves, & finally this Reprise Version, I don’t know but there is a connected vibe in these three elements, I could feel strongly — alas! the wanderlust I was before the movie, but! my dots got connected.

~~With Gehra Love,
from Sohani.

#shakunbatra #gehraiyaan #deepikapadukone #siddhantchaturvedi #ananyapandey

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Sohani Paul
Sohani Paul

Written by Sohani Paul

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