Romance thriller flatters to deceive

Nonika Singh

Tales of star-crossed lovers have given us many touching films. Add to it the deep shade of sacrifice as in yesteryear classics or modern-day ‘Raanjhanaa’, and there’s nothing better to tug at our heartstrings. As ‘Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha’ walks the same path, we are ready for yet another heart-rending drama of love, tears and emotions. It begins well. The first few minutes inside the confines of a jail not only introduce us to Krishna, but more importantly, his contrasting traits.
Ajay Devgn playing the angst-ridden man simmering with blazing intensity serves the character well. Serving his sentence for murders, he is respected, feared and loved by jail inmates. The good news is that his jail term has been commuted by a few years; only, he doesn’t want freedom. Why? The question is as loaded as the answer.
Lurking in the past is his lady love Vasudha (the ever beautiful Tabu) and we continue to oscillate back and forth in time to get a grasp of their prem kahaani. A younger Krishna (Shantanu Maheshwari) and younger Vasudha (Saiee Manjrekar) are very much in love. The twist in their fate and love is meant to hold our interest and the film together. For a while, we are all agog and hope against hope that the reason for the conflict and the murders of which Krishna is accused of, is not a regular cliché. Coming from noted filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, who gave us the slow burn and incredibly thrilling ‘Special 26’, here too the tempo is unhurried. No quarrels with that, for if Shakespeare said, ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’, it can be no less leisurely. Only, the denouement, despite Pandey’s signature storytelling, is not even half as exciting as it promises.
Written by Pandey himself, if the scenes take a long time to build up, equally exasperating is the repeat of a few scenes and dialogues. Love is steadfast… we get it, but why rub it in with the dialogue ‘mausam thode hi hoon jo badal jaaunga’ time and again, even if its import is almost like the gospel truth in the Bible of love.
Indeed, replay of the same scene, like the famous Rashomon effect, can create both dramatic tension and newer perspectives. Not much luck here on that count.
The ebullient pair of Saiee Manjrekar and Shantanu Maheshwari does bring in some fresh energy. Even though certain sequences, especially the Holi and Janmashtmi shots, have that déjà vu feeling, their love blooming in Bombay’s chawl has an earnest quality. Manoj Muntashir’s lyrics, especially the song ‘Ae Dil Zara’ with music by Oscar winner MM Kreem, captures the romance and even hints at the imminent misfortune. The camera work (cinematographer Sudhir Palsane) does not do injustice to Bombay/Mumbai either.
The chemistry between Devgn and Tabu is palpable too. Only, as the mature love of lovelorn aashiqs relies more on a long-drawn gaze and pauses, silence does not speak as eloquently as the two lead actors are capable of. Ajay Devgn must be credited for playing his age but his intensity is wasted. The emotion-scape of Tabu, whose face becomes an emotional mirror in an instant, can’t lift the film either.
As for the ever-consistent Jimmy Sheirgill, well, we keep waiting for the spin. Especially the way he has a sit-down conversation with Devgn, we are deluded into thinking there is more to him than meets the eye. Only his part ends up so perfunctory that it appears deployed only to state the obvious and unlock the so-called mystery behind the murders.
The film tries to intersperse the world of crime within a prem kahani. Only, the flashback scene involving Krishna and a fugitive seems to stand out like an unnecessary intrusion.
Romantic thrillers can thrill and touch hearts deeply as last year’s ‘Merry Christmas’ proved most enigmatically. ‘Auron Mein…’ however is that idea which may have sounded better on paper, but is lost in execution. For a love story that pretends to be oh so different, it ends up pregnant with so much anticipation, yet never delivers on the promise. Despite the sublime ground the film takes, it does not translate into anything more than we have already seen or experienced.
We don’t know whether other lovers have the same spine as our dear hero in the film does, but we are still looking for that special dum in the film. ‘Jail mein mere paas bahut time tha,’ says Devgn’s character. Check it out if you too have plenty of time to spare.