Before the film’s release the makers proudly praised their product in the press and an interview was there in a reputed Bollywood website too with Mukesh Bhatt saying,
“Mahesh Bhatt has written a movie after 14 years while taking it up as a challenge.”
and the title of the article was,
"We are not into bull-shitting business, we are confident of Hamari Adhuri Kahani" - Mukesh Bhatt. (Here is the link)
So the buzz was really there but now after witnessing the absurdly written and unimpressively directed film based on a pretty weak script, what can be concluded about the wide gap between the above mentioned vision of the makers and the final product placed before the public deserving ‘a big thumbs down’?
The easiest and most logical explanation can be that it was a clear case of a blind over-confidence in an unconvincing product following a completely wrong vision by the entire team. But then, reconsidering the names of creators having such a huge filmmaking experience to their credit as Mukesh Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt, it also seriously forces you to admit that perhaps the times have really changed and the veterans have probably lost the pulse of (new-age) public they once were very much aware of as seen in the cases of Subhash Ghai, Kundan Shah, N. Chandra, Ram Gopal Varma and more.
However giving the Bhatts an advantage of their recent success stories, majorly achieved due to their proven music sense and the low-cost model they have been working upon, its quite possible that they might not incur heavy losses in this poor HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI too as per business terms. But if one talks about direction, characterization, execution and the writing in particular using some honest words, then this is one of the worst offerings from the team in the recent times (post another pathetic dud MR. X).
Personally, I don’t even feel it was entirely written by Mahesh Bhatt (as publicized) since it has such silly, shabby and confusing story progressions that actually doesn’t fit in with the name of Bhatt as a writer. Yes, the film begins with some intense sequences having a clear MB stamp dealing with a father, son and the mother, but then gets scattered so childishly that one cannot believe it has been really penned down by the same person we know by the name of Mahesh Bhatt, who gave us films such as Saaransh, Janam, Arth, Daddy, Swayam, Sir, Naam, Tamanna, Zakham and many more specifically written around emotional outbursts in broken relationships. Hence as it seems, he possibly wrote few of the initial scenes of the script himself and then passed onto his team of (freshly appointed) assistants to continue with the rest on their own. In fact the same can be said about Mohit Suri (director) and Shagufta Rafiq (writer/dialogues) too keeping in mind the successes they have earlier been associated with before HAK.
(Spoilers Ahead)
To give you some specific reasons for my above assumptions, What can you say about a script telling you a story of a single mother of 7-8 years old kid, left alone by her missing husband (since 1 year after the marriage), getting involved in a fresh affair and leaving for Dubai to work, without taking along her only dependent kid for some undisclosed reason? In fact its so weird to even assume that a script revolving around a single mother, features the kid in only few of its opening sequences and then again towards the climax, not mentioning him even once in the middle section when the mother is stepping into a new phase of life with a rich hotelier. Now how could Mahesh Bhatt even approve it, making every single character in the script look like a dumb, stupid person knowing nothing about what ought to be his or her first priorities of life to be precise?
Moreover every key person in the story coming up with his own flashback after a while makes the narration heavy, boring and stale. Plus few absurd moments simply make you ask that, Is it the same film having those emotionally engaging promos promising a worth watching product from the Bhatts?
For instance post interval Vidya leaves the five star hotel in Dubai (for returning to India) and is shown moving on a deserted road with nothing visible on its both ends dragging her suitcase all alone, only to be chased by Emraan in a car! (Obviously she doesn’t hire a taxi as the scene would look more beautiful on screen, shot in a picturesque outdoor location!)
Later in another absurd sequence, the wealthy hotelier Emraan brings Vidya to meet his mother living in Shimla (a scene straight away reminding you of AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER), who is actually looking after a friend/old person in coma since years bearing all the expenses and pain. A patient who supposedly got into coma in an accident happening at the time when both Emraan (as a child) and his mother were extremely poor and the lady used to work in a hotel to earn for their daily expenses!
As Vidya’s missing husband (Rajkumar) returns (who is a terrorist as per the police records), he easily gets into his old house and hides as there is no police surveillance around the residence of a wanted terrorist. But above all, meeting his wife after many years, he is not even concerned to ask about his only son and then fast gets into a weird revenge mode (partially making you recall the basic plot of SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY and numerous Hindi movies made on the its theme unofficially). Besides the script in its climax (issuing bizarre death sentences to its lead characters), once again refuses to give any importance to the ‘Parenting’ aspect of the storyline making you laugh instead of cry putting it bluntly.
Being an uninteresting drag throughout after making a fine start, HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI doesn’t impress with its soundtrack too with only the title song making a decent impact on the listeners due to its relatable lyrics (since everyone has some kind of Adhuri Kahani in his or her young past). Probably that’s the reason the Bhatts had to buy an extra Rahat Fateh Ali Khan track from his private album to add into the film deliberately. So no credits for that good song can be given to the Bhatts.
The script full of all seen before, heavy melodrama fails to take any advantage from its otherwise fine background score and cinematography, mainly due to many badly written dialogues ruining the entire scene like “Mere Ghar Ka Choolha……...”, “Arey, Yeh Banjaaran Kaun Hai?” and more. Also the lazy, illogical & half-baked characterization doesn’t allow the actors to reach their viewers hearts ever in the film’s 130 minutes of duration.
To give the two key performers their deserving due, Vidya Balan tries really hard right from her first scene itself, but her character developments mostly remain dumb and highly questionable hampering the overall impact of the intense act severely. Similarly Rajkumar Rao too tries to deliver his best in the short role but doesn’t get the much required support from his confusingly written role heading nowhere. And talking about Emraan, I honestly cannot recall when he acted differently in a film other than SHANGHAI directed by Dibaker Bannerji. As a result, once again he remains the same as seen in his earlier films making no visible effort to somehow do it differently. However it was indeed a pleasant surprise to see one of my favourite actresses Amla back on screen playing Emraan’s mother.
In all HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI doesn’t turn out to be anything even closer to the ones written by the exceptional filmmaker a couple of decades back. In other words, it can easily be rated as a badly conceived film that evidently couldn’t express the basic idea in the mind of its reputed writer, for which everyone stands equally responsible in its entire team, including the one and only Mahesh Bhatt.
Rating : 1 / 5 (And that too just for the film’s initial 10 minutes & the title track.)
