First things first unlike Karan Johar said, Ae Dil… is definitely a love story, but for the first time, the friendship angle inside love is discussed elaborately. In Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Pyaar was Dosthi, and in Kjo’s latest offering, Dosthi waala pyaar is different from Pyaar waala Pyaar. If it sounds confusing for you, the doubt will be cleared once you watch the scenes between Alizeh and Ayaan, played impeccably by Anushka and Ranbir Kapoor. Their understanding of the characters was incredible.
Ayaan is an MBA student, which also stands for Mere Baap ka Aaarzoo, i.e fulfilling his father’s dream but his passion lies in singing. He meets Alizeh in a party and their tale of friendship begins. The only thing common in between them is they are totally filmy- crazy about Bollywood. They develop strong feelings for each other, but in their own ways. All is well until Alizeh accidentally meets her ex, Mr. Ali (played by Fawad Khan). Alizeh is confused and takes a decision that breaks the heart of Ayaan. Ayaan is broken but feels a respite when he later meets Sabah (Aishwarya Rai), who is a Shaayara (Urdu poetess). He gets in touch with Alizeh again and the sensitive Dil continues to faces its twists and turns.
The movie begins rather uninterestingly and awkwardly, but slowly the chemistry of Ayaan-Alizeh grows on you. The movie gets better and better and is at the peaks towards the intermission. Post-interval, enters the gracious Aishwarya Rai. Ranbir in one of the scenes describes her to Anushka as – “Woh ladki nahi hain..Painting hai Painting”. That is so damn true, for every frame that she appeared in the film. She plays a very interesting character with some amazing lines justifying the Shaayara role given to her. The screen time is not more though, it’s just more than the cameos made by SRK, Alia Bhatt and Fawad Khan.
Ranbir was extra-ordinary as Ayaan. We are used to the roles where the Bollywood hero is unmistakably charming, where he can break hearts but cannot be broken. Ayaan is sensitive, touchy and very emotional and shuts the false notion of “Boys don’t cry”. Anushka Sharma was terrific too. Her confidence was oozing. Karan Johar along with Niranjan Iyengar have penned some fantastic lines. The humour was well embedded inside the emotions which also made the conversations so natural.
The only drawback of the film is its length, which is annoyingly long. So long that it affects the overall viewing experience by the end of the duration. The last half an hour, though was unusual, but not at the cost of length. One can feel a deja vu of Kal Ho Naa Ho during the climax.
Karan Johar should be appreciated for taking up contemporary subjects whenever he takes one.
In a nutshell. Ae Dil Hain Mushkil. is an ode to the heart-broken.
