Ae Dil Hai Mushkil - Difficult to Please Everyone

A few minutes into Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), and I wondered if this was a real portrayal of an urban Indian youth? Since I was seeing this movie on the heels of the very watchable web series Bang Baaja Baraat where the principal characters’ first date actually starts with a quickie, yes a quickie... in a bar (yes, this happens in insanely populated India where people can’t pee without being seen) and only then followed by any exchange of information, I had to quickly come to terms with what was unfolding before my eyes in ADHM. If you are wondering that this was surely a lift off from some Western movie, then like me you are probably of the other - older generation. This my friends is how the rich, urban youth of India are presumably dating these days.

So here too, Alizeh and Ayan meet in a London bar where she is grooving rather prettily to techno music and minutes after she notices him, they get physical, or at least attempt to get physical. No worries that he is a complete stranger with whom Alizeh has not shared even half a dozen words. For all she knew, he could have been a serial killer. However, due to the unsatisfactory sexual encounter (perhaps), their relationship status is irrevocably set in Alizeh’s mind; it getting cast in iron as she continues to become friends with him. Due to a painful past she is determined to stay out of love and sticks to her guns to the very end. It doesn’t help that she doesn’t feel for Ayan in the physical sense and can only look at him as a good friend whom she loves a lot. That Ayan goes on and falls completely and rather pathetically in love with her makes this a movie on unrequited love.

I am so glad Karan Johar cast Ranbir Kapoor to bring out the ethos of this emotional, totally in love man-child; rightly figuring out that RK could cry unashamedly, and also make it look like he is going through a life altering experience which incidentally is unravelling in front of the camera. I have been a die-hard Ranbir Kapoor fan, and I think he can take on any role and do justice to it. I have loved every single movie (except for Besharam) of his, right from his Rocket Singh days. He brings such depth and sincerity to his acting, quite unlike Hrithik Roshan’s over the top one or Aamir Khan’s ‘see I have worked hard’ type acting. His boy next door looks make it so easy to relate to any of his characters and that he can emote and romance naturally on screen makes him a delight to watch in romantic dramas.

Anushka as the fiery, self assured and passionate Alizeh, takes the movie to a different level. She convinces us, with her easy camaraderie and rapport, of how easy it was for Ayan to fall in love with her. I mean, who wouldn’t? They get each other, like best friends do. Their rapport over old Hindi movies and the way they poke fun of songs from the 90s (who wouldn’t? I belong to the generation that will have to hang its head in shame whenever my children ask me – Hai huku hai huku hai hai...really, you guys call that a song?), their absolute comfort in each other’s company, the way they bring out the best in each other, especially she in him, the very moment she realizes he is in love with her (through a beautifully, rendered Channa Mereya song) had me laughing, giggling and choking up a bit throughout the movie. If the cancer part was rather contrived and forced, then I was willing to overlook it. The credit then had to go to the principal actors who managed to keep the plot together and not appear sappy and pathetic.

Many had complimented Aishwarya Rai Bacchan’s acting, but I couldn’t see past her superficial, stilted attempt.  Why couldn’t it have been Tabu? I wondered. But having recently read a deep and insightful interview of Karan Johar’s in my only go-to film reviewer Baradwaj Rangan’s blog, I realized that as with the logic behind the cast and the production of the whole of movie, he did have a reason to cast her as the beautiful, rich but not so famous poet. The cameos by Lisa Haydon and her unforgettable ‘vatavaran’, Sharukh Khan and Alia Bhatt were all weaved very realistically into the movie.  

All the songs in the movie are fabulous and have been chartbusters with good reason. Pritam is at his best here with the very playful and extremely addictive Break Up song. I didn’t think I would enjoy mouthing lyrics of a couple’s break up. Channa Mereya is the stand out song for me, mostly because of the way it has been pictured and it’s placement in the movie. Bulleya plays out as a love anthem, trying to reach grandiose levels that the story demands. The title song is melodious but the lyrics are terrific and plays out beautifully in Arijit’s voice.

Since I had gone expecting the worst, courtesy the feedback of a few like-minded individuals who had watched the movie earlier and also knowing that Ranbir doesn’t get the girl, I was surprised by how invested and interested I got. So why didn’t they like it? Was it because of the promiscuousness of lead people? (yes, we are not ready for that yet, even though a movie like Great Grand Masti becomes a hit here) or because of the un-realistic, portrayal of Indian tourists, even the millionaires, in foreign countries (aww come on, this is a Karan Johar movie remember? Here, people have such self confidence that they can dance on the streets of Paris in impractical clothes) or was it because Ranbir was shown as a man-child (again?), a singer (again, but what of it?) or perhaps it was due to the beautiful yet a bit plastic Aishwarya Rai cast in a movie where the lead actors wear their emotions on their sleeves (highly possible, but she has acted better here than in her earlier outings) or maybe it was the cowardly-way- out, perhaps even unnecessary cancer element that did it? (In the interview with BR, Karan Johar wonders if he could have done away with that twist).

Any or all of the above reasons could have been reason enough for people to have given it a ho-hum review, but all of these points are an integral part of a Karan Johar movie. You go expecting the foreign locales, the insanely rich guys and girls giving it a go in those foreign locales, the flamboyance and the extravagance, the songs and the dance, the works. But not liking a movie just so Ranbir is acting again as a man-child or as a rockstar (though in this he isn’t one) is merely finding fault for nothing.  Even I felt Alizeh was being nitpicky for hating her perfectly reasonable, good looking doctor fiancé, even before we catch him cheating with Ayan’s girlfriend. I did wonder if this was the kind of message Karan Johar wanted to let out, that you don’t settle for anyone/ anything that is less than perfect for you.

However, my non-judgmental, reasonable self asserted itself. This was a story of a guy named Ayan and a girl, Alizeh. It was fictional and if the girl is so sure that the guy is not for her, then who is anyone to have an opinion about, just like it is articulately put in this article. Once I crossed that mental block, the whole movie was very watchable and even relatable.

And therein lies the beauty of perception and diversity. You either get the characters (like me) or you don’t (like some others). I know that I don’t like all the movies that have received good reviews.  The passive, romantic in me was thrilled to bits with this surmise; with this movie which showed that the hero (as we identify him) doesn’t always get the girl. Somebody had to tell the story of the other person, the one who stands to the side and watches the love of his life get along with someone else happily while he is left with her memories. It is beautiful, painful and pathetic.

When had Karan grown up?  He was good with the mushy romance and happy endings wala movies albeit with a finger on the pulse of relationships in the current times.  But this movie is neither mushy nor does it have a true blue happy ending. This was bittersweet and mature, and for me it was like getting to enjoy the bitterness in bitter gourd, after all these years of playing it safe with my palette.  For that matter, when had I grown up?