Gehraiyaan

Gehraiyaan (transl. Depths) is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Shakun Batra and produced by Dharma Productions, Viacom18 Studios and Jouska Films. The film stars Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi in lead roles, with Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa, Rajat Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah in supporting roles.

Gehraiyaan premiered on 11 February 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack, cinematography, visual style and performances of the cast; however its story, screenplay and climax received criticism.

Plot

Alisha "Al" Khanna, a 30-year-old yoga instructor is working on an app but struggling to find investors while providing for her boyfriend Karan Arora, an unemployed writer. She also has anxiety, dealing with her mother Sonali's suicide as a child, and is estranged from her father Vinod who she blames for her mom's depression. Alisha's cousin Tia "Ti" is engaged to Zain Oberoi and invites the couple to their Alibaug beach house. Zain and Alisha bond due to their traumatic past and flirt with each other. Later, Alisha impulsively kisses him but immediately regrets it. Alisha, Tia and Karan had been childhood friends through their families. When she discovers that Karan has shared his draft with Tia but not her, even though she had been asking to read it for a long time she is extremely hurt, and lets Zain into her life, and they begin an affair.

Zain gets his business to invest in Alisha's app. He reveals to her that his father was violent towards him and his mother, which encouraged his move to America. Later, Karan proposes Alisha in front of all his family and friends, including Tia and Zain, to which Alisha accepts. She ends her affair with Zain to focus on a fresh start with Karan, only to break up with Karan soon after. The breakup follows after her discovery that Karan's book had been rejected before he proposed, a fact he chose to keep from her. She and Zain continue their affair, and Zain tells her that he will end his relationship with Tia once he returns her dad's investment in his company. Zain's company again invests in Alisha's app and provides her with a new yoga studio. Zain shows up to Alisha's apartment and both begin kissing. Eventually, Zain undresses Alisha and sex is implied. This continues for many days.

At Zain and Tia's anniversary party, Alisha reveals to Zain that she is pregnant. Zain's company is placed under investigation when one of his investors is charged with money laundering. After Tia finds Alisha's anxiety pills in Zain's jacket, she confronts him. He appeases her by saying that he is stressed from work. Alisha's yoga studio is sealed by the investigating officers from Zain's company, and she confronts him, in front of his co-workers, during a business meeting. Zain's business partner, Jitesh, deduces the truth about Zain's affair with Alisha. Tia agrees to mortgage the beach house in Alibaug to save the company, but Zain sells it instead, convinced he can buy it back within a year. At Alibaug, Tia accuses him of having an affair and asks to see his phone. When he shows her his phone, she feels guilty and signs the papers. Karan tells Alisha that Tia is helping Zain with his company and both are in Alibaug. An angry Alisha gives Zain an ultimatum to reveal the truth to Tia, or she will.

Jitesh slyly suggests to Zain that he can use drugs to get rid of the evidence that Alisha is pregnant. Zain calls Alisha to his yacht and lies that he ended things with Tia. Alisha however, sees him secretly mixing pills in her drink. Horrified, she tells Zain she wants to get back to land. Zain sees Tia's incoming call on Alisha's phone and asks her to decline; when she refuses, he attempts to push her overboard, but slips and hits his head on the railing of the yacht, drowning in the sea, as a result. A frightened Alisha rushes back home, where she has a miscarriage from PTSD.

Tia calls the police and they find Zain's body. Jitesh, who knew about Zain's plan, threatens Alisha to get him the signed papers of the beach house sale from the safe in Tia's house or he will tell everyone the truth about their affair. Alisha does so and Jitesh helps covers up Zain's death as a suicide. Tia reveals to Alisha that her father Kumud had an affair with Alisha's mom Sonali, and Alisha was actually born from their affair. Tia also informs her that Kumud had left the beach house in Alisha's name, in his will. Depressed, Alisha attempts to commit suicide, but is interrupted by Vinod. By not wanting to feel suffocated like her mother, Alisha realizes she has ended up exactly like her. She questions Vinod on why he never told her the truth about Sonali, letting her blame him even when he was the one who forgave Sonali, and he comforts her by telling her that he did not want Sonali's life to be defined by that one mistake.

Two years later, Alisha now has a better relationship with Vinod, and attends Karan's engagement party, where she meets Tia. Tia wonders if revealing the truth to her was right, but Alisha reassures her that it was. Tia, who is still unaware of the affair between Zain and Alisha, agrees to mend their relationship despite their family history. Karan introduces them to his fiancée's grandmother, who recognises Alisha instantly recalling how Alisha and Zain had helped her and her husband from a stranded boat. Zain had introduced Alisha as his fiancé at that time. Alisha stares blankly at the woman, realizing that she cannot escape her past without confronting it.

Cast

• Deepika Padukone as Alisha "Al" Khanna: Vinod and Sonali's daughter; Tia's cousin; Karan's girlfriend; Zain's lover
  • Ananya Anand as young Alisha
• Siddhant Chaturvedi as Zain Oberoi: Jitesh's friend and business partner; Kumud's former employee; Tia's boyfriend and later fiancé; Alisha's lover
• Ananya Panday as Tia "Ti" Khanna: Kumud and Vaani's daughter; Alisha's cousin; Zain's fiancée and girlfriend
  • Arzoo as young Tia
• Dhairya Karwa as Karan Arora: Raman and Neetu's son; Tia's friend; Alisha's boyfriend
• Rajat Kapoor as Jitesh: Zain's business partner and friend
• Naseeruddin Shah as Vinod Khanna: Kumud's elder brother; Sonali's former husband; Alisha's father
  • Imran Chappar as young Vinod
• Sahiil Sagar as Zain Oberoi's Office staff
• Vihaan Chaudhary as Bejoy Sen (Banker)
• Pavleen Gujral as Sonali Khanna: Vinod’s late wife; Alisha's mother (died by suicide)
• Deepak Kripalani as Raman Arora: Neetu's husband; Karan's father
• Kanika Dang as Neetu Arora: Raman's wife; Karan's mother
• Natasha Rastogi as Vaani Khanna: Kumud's wife; Tia's mother
• Anup Sharma as Kumud Khanna: Vinod's brother; Vaani's husband; Tia's father
• Shataf Figar as Ranjeet
• Yamini Joshi as Sejal

Production

Development

In April 2019, Shakun Batra was reported to direct the biopic on Osho, which was shelved. During the 21st edition of the MAMI film festival in October 2019, Batra was reported to direct Deepika Padukone in the lead, labelling the film's genre as domestic noir. In December 2019, Padukone went to the office of Dharma Productions and met Batra, where a script discussion about the film was held for a few minutes. Impressed by the narration, Padukone confirmed that she had a part in the film. In mid-December 2019, it was further reported that Vicky Kaushal and Siddhant Chaturvedi were reported to be playing the male leads, and another actress was reported to be on-board for the project. The latter was finalized and, in the very same month, Ananya Panday was finalized as the second female lead. Dhairya Karwa was cast as Padukone's love interest in March 2020.

Filming

Pre-production of the film began in March 2020. Initially, filming was to proceed in Sri Lanka, however, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the shoot was delayed by six months and moved to Goa, owing to its similar landscapes. The first schedule began in September 2020 and lasted approximately one month. The team returned to Mumbai in November 2020, where the filming resumed in December. Shooting for the next schedule commenced in Mumbai at the end of March 2021. Filming was wrapped up in August 2021. After being known as Production No. 70 for two years, a teaser was released on 20 December 2021, revealing the title of the film as Gehraiyaan.

The production had an "intimacy department" of intimacy coach Neha Vyas and intimacy coordinator Aastha Khanna led by intimacy director Dar Gai.

Music

The film's music and original score is composed by independent musical duo Kabeer Kathpalia a.k.a. OAFF and Savera Mehta in their mainstream film debut. Kausar Munir and Ankur Tewari wrote the lyrics for the songs. The track featured in the announcement teaser of the film is the Hindi version of "Frontline" sung by Lothika Jha and the Hindi lyrics were written by Tewari.

Reception

Gehraiyaan received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack, cinematography, visual style and performances of the cast; however its story, screenplay and climax received criticism. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.