Movie Review: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

Romance has always been the eternal essence of Bollywood films. There’s hardly any film whose story has not been written with a pen that’s dipped in the ink of love and romance. This week’s release AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL also happens to be one such romantic film. Will AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL have a ‘mushy’ dream run or will it face ‘mushkil’ at the Box-Office, let’s analyze.

AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL is a roller coaster ride between lovers, which mirrors the ups and downs of their lives. The film starts off with the introduction of the singer Ayaan Sanger (Ranbir Kapoor) giving an interview, wherein he talks about the inspiration behind his successful singing career. The story, then enters a flashback that has Ayaan and the free spirited Alizeh Khan (Anushka Sharma) meeting at a night club. They start enjoying each other’s company as friends, so much so that, that they become inseparable. One day, when Ayaan and Alizeh go on a double date with their respective lovers (Lisa Haydon and Imran Abbas), an untoward incident happens which leads to them breaking up with their lovers. And to ‘celebrate’ their break up, Ayaan and Alizeh head to Paris, where they find seamless comfort in each other’s company. Despite Ayaan repeatedly confessing his love for Alizeh, she maintains that they are only best friends and nothing more than that. One day, when Ayaan and Alizeh go to party at a club, Alizeh finds her ex-lover Ali (Fawad Khan) playing at the DJ console. Alizeh, who now finds her love rekindled for Ali, announces her decision to Ayaan. She tells Ayaan that she wants to get married to Ali, who happened to be the only person whom she ever loved. A heartbroken Ayaan, then meets the stunning Sabah (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), a poetess who is happily divorced. Despite the two having a great live-in relationship, Sabah finds something amiss in their relationship. Amidst all this, Ayaan gets to know something shocking about Alizeh that changes everyone’s lives forever. What is it about Alizeh that leaves Ayaan shell-shocked, what happens to his relationship with Sabah and whom does Ayaan settle the rest of his life with, is what forms the rest of the story.

Karan Johar’s films have always centred around relationships and emotions, which are woven together with larger than life opulence with music playing an integral role. AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL also falls in the same space. Ever since the time the promos of AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL were out, it had only upped the curiosity of the viewers about the film. The film, in totality, is worth the audiences’ expectations. The film’s taut screenplay (Karan Johar) makes its very realistic and extremely relatable to today’s relationships. The film’s dialogues (Niranjan Iyengar, Karan Johar) are really vibrant and its situational one liners will surely find resonance with the audiences (esp. the youth). Even though there is nothing new in the basic story premise of AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL as the audiences have seen this several times in the past, what sets the movie apart from others is its screenplay and utmost maturity with which Karan Johar has treated the film. AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL, which has all the required ingredients of a typical ‘Karan Johar’ film, oozes universal appeal in abundance. The film will surely be liked by all the age groups (majorly by youth), despite its mature storyline.

After having directed smash hit films like KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI, KABHI KHUSHI KABHIE GHAM, KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA, MY NAME IS KHAN, and STUDENT OF THE YEAR, Karan Johar helms the directorial chair for AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL. The film, in totality, bears the trademarked ‘Karan Johar’s impeccable style of filmmaking.

Karan Johar, who is known for extracting exceptional performances from his starcast, does the same with AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL as well. With AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL, Karan Johar only proves and reaffirms the fact as to why he is considered one of the best storytellers in Bollywood. The one word that describes Karan Johar’s direction in AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL is ‘exemplary’. Full marks to Karan Johar for handling and presenting the emotional moments and the twist towards the climax, without resorting to any kind of melodrama or ‘over-the-top’ scenes. While the film’s first half thoroughly establishes the characters and the proceedings, the second half sees a dip in the film’s pace (more towards the climax). Do not miss the scenes where Ranbir and Anushka go on a double date, Ranbir Kapoor dancing to the tunes of ‘Tohfa Tohfa’ and ‘Baby Doll’, Anushka Sharma explaining to Ranbir Kapoor the meaning of ‘dil ka dard’, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma living their ‘Bollywood dream in the Alps’ and the medley song sequences in the second half of the film.