The Pinkvilla Review: Hamari Adhuri Kahani

Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Rajkummar Rao

Directed by: Mohit Suri

Produced by: Mahesh Bhatt & Mukesh Bhatt

Written By: Shagufta Rafiq, Mahesh Bhatt

Music By: Raju Singh, Jeet Ganguli, Ami Mishra, Mithoon

In ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’, a smitten Emraan Hashmi compliments Vidya Balan for lighting up a desert hotel for Diwali as, “Yeh Roshni tumhari andar bhi tou hain (This light is also within you). “And you don’t know if you should laugh or cry! Loaded with potential for an intense, raw, love story with stellar performances, this film fizzles out into a long drawn out attempt at tear jerking that actually leaves you quite dry eyed.

In brief, Vasudha (Vidya Balan) is married to Hari (Rajkummar Rao), a luxury taxi driver who disappears on her after just 1 year of marriage and holding an infant son. Working as a florist to make ends meet, Vasudha is monitored by a sharp Mumbai police crime branch (Narendra Jha) and told to cooperate to catch her now ‘Maoist’ husband (seriously?) hiding away in the jungles of Bastar. What do the cops do to get to her? They pick up her kid from school and bring him to a police station (don’t ask why). The grief laden Vasudha though unwittingly works her magic on super hotelier tycoon Aarav (Emraan Hashmi). Aarav loves arum lilies & his mother who has suffered similar fate as Vasudha (Amala). Thus begins a messed up plot of Aarav romancing Vasudha, who can’t let go of her husband because of her mangalsutra and traditional vow. A return of the captured, tormented husband after four long years leads to an immediate lecture on ‘riti-riwaaz’ to establish that she is the ‘fallen woman’!

What follows is Vasudha’s struggle to prove her husband innocent & Aarav’s sacrifice in leaving no stone unturned to help the misogynistic man. And then there’s tragedy, mostly forced.

This laconic, tear jerking mess surprises with the lack of empathy that it’s director (Mohit Suri) & writers (Shaguftaa Rafiq & Mahesh Bhatt) evoke for its characters. Each is conflicted on paper, but is saddled with terrible dialogues, archaic conversations & unreasonable amount of crying. Vidya Balan wells up sufficiently but her character never makes you connect to her pain; neither does Rajkummar Rao’s headstrong possessiveness make you feel anything despite the actor delivering the best performance here. Emraan Hashmi, underrated as always, has delivered a controlled, understated performance as the selfless lover. But he is saddled with the hollowest part- where his character’s whims & decisions simply invoke unplanned humor.

The plot- that of a married woman sticking it out for an undeserving man for the sake of tradition- is connected to Indian reality, this film doesn’t translate the premise convincingly. Instead, it tries too hard to fit in hackeneyed symbolism- flickering diyas (oil lamps), the mangalsutra and references to a woman’s place in her husband’s life- to give you a lump in the throat. The dialogues particularly are cringe worthy.

All in all, Hamari Adhuri Kahani is unable to capitalize on the proven acting abilities of all three leading actors- Vidya, Emraan & Rajkummar. It tries too hard. Unrequited love when done well onscreen, can make for memorable cinema. Remember “Zakhm’ by the same banner?

With hummable music, and satisfactory acting, Hamari Adhuri Kahani is strictly for loyalists of its stars and this brand of cinema.

Ticket Price Value: 50 Per cent