Movie Review: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

After lots of juggling between whether to watch or not watch, I finally ended up watching this and tell you what it came across as a too much in everything. Our lead couple Anushka and Ranbir in a very filmy avatar takes the filmy bit too far. Ranbir does a overdo of his Rockstar act (with all that music comes from a broken heart and that pining and wining in love) but unlike in Rockstar where he managed to stir and touch the soul of the audience, here he comes across as a stubborn child dying to elicit a feeling if not of love then atleast of jealousy out of his lady love. Nah, that one doesn’t touch too many hearts.

Anushka on the other hand plays the mature one regarding love and friendship and is firm on her stance of not letting a thing like love ruin her priceless friendship. And however determined she might be of not giving a chance to the man who broke her heart once proves yet again that how helpless one gets in matters of the heart as she rushes back to her ex-lover’s arms. And a sincere bow to the lady for her style sense. It takes guts to sport what Anushka has towards the end of the movie. (No spoilers)

The movie takes its theme of unrequited love very seriously till the end but in return, it glorifies friendship. It gets love defeated by the hands of friendship during the journey of life. There are times when the Friendzoned anger erupts in our hero but friendship wins over it.

And in the midst of all this too much of everything and superficiality, there is subtlety and grace in the name of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The woman looks every bit the seductress and mysterious poetess she is meant to be. In a particular sequence where she meets Ranbir in a disco in Vienna and seduces him while ‘Aaj jaane ki zidd na karo’ plays in the background, the similar scene from Basic Instinct featuring Sharon Stone comes to my mind. Aishwarya did champion the seductress part to that level and she looked ravishing. But she hardly has 20 minutes in the film and I wondered if the movie really deserved to be called a Ranbir-Anushka-Aishwarya starrer.

So all in all, the movie does not have much to relate to as a love story like this can only be afforded by a private-jet rich kind of man as Anushka puts it for Ranbir’s character in the movie. Watch it for the good looks of the actors and good locales of London, Paris and Vienna. And even if you don’t, there is not much to lose.