If there’s one thing that can be said about director Shakun Batra’s new film Gehraiyaan, it’s that its leads – Bollywood actors Siddhant Chaturvedi, Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday, and Dhairya Karwa – seem to feel keenly for it.
In some ways, that makes almost poetic sense, given that the word "gehraiyaan" translates to "depths" in English. The film’s extended trailer has only been released, and it’s piqued social media interest, at the very least.
By the looks of it, Gehraiyaan, out on Amazon Prime Video on February 11, telegraphs the messiness and theatrics of love, especially the kind that is universally understood and accepted to be the illicit, wrong kind.
Unhappy-without-really-knowing-it, stuck-in-a-rut, Alisha Khanna (Padukone) stirs up a hornet’s nest by falling for her cousin Tia’s (Panday) fiance Zain (Chaturvedi), while in a six-year-long relationship with Karan (Dhairya).
The betrayal for Tia is two-fold, as Zain reciprocates her cousin’s feelings. The movie ebbs and flows with the conflicting emotions that run through the two cheating lovers as they pursue each other, and the many kinds of hurts they inflict, in the process, on the partners they are wronging.
It’s hard to root for cheaters. Most people’s natural sympathies would first lie with the blighted Tia, with Karan next in line.
“I was both excited and pensive about this role,” Chaturvedi tells The National. “Zain is definitely more complex and mature than I am. When I heard the story, I was blown away by the freshness of Shakun’s take on relationships. I had no reference point for this version of infidelity. There was no way I was going to let it slip through, no matter how out of my own comfort zone it was."
Infidelity is not an unexplored subject in Bollywood. Heartbreak-through-disloyalty has been immortalised by the industry in all its forms – from vulgar and sexist depictions such as those in Masti and Thank You; meditative reflections such as Arth, Silsila, Masoom and Astitva; and even drama-fuelled portrayals of the kind that made Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Rustom and Life in a Metro seat-grippers.
So, what can Gehraiyaan tell us that we haven’t already seen and heard?
Doing this film taught me how to find empathy in situations I previously couldn’t
Siddhant Chaturvedi on making 'Gehraiyaan'
“Nuance,” Chaturvedi says, after a beat. “I can guarantee you this: everyone in the audience is going to end the film feeling something that is unique to them and their experiences. Gehraiyaan has no social message or moral stand. We’ve only taken the choices made by these characters and put them under the microscope for the audience to make of them what they will.
"I think everyone who watches the film will have different interpretations of what they’ve seen and root for different people as the layers are peeled back, bit by bit. We expect impassioned debates on social media," says Chaturvedi, his excitement apparent as he speaks about the film.
"How you feel and whose ‘side’ you pick could tell you a lot about yourself, because the story clearly doesn’t have a hero or a right or wrong."
The movie’s larger context aside, Gehraiyaan has been an enriching experience for Chaturvedi on an individual level, too. He believes it made him a better actor.
“There’s no greater thrill than really getting into the skin of a character you have nothing in common with. As much as I love romcoms and hope to do them some day, I know the motivations and the head space of a man in love. It’s fun, but it’s not new,” he says.
“Shakun and the writers gave us their vision and gave us a playbook. And then they asked us to find our own meanings within them. It helped me discover depths within my own acting.”
It’s also made him a better person, he claims.
“Doing this film taught me how to find empathy in situations I previously couldn’t. It also made me challenge a lot of my own assumptions about how one should react and how one actually does react when confronted with certain life situations.”
Consequences, as a concept, keep coming up in Chaturvedi’s reflections about Gehraiyaan.
“If there’s one thought that’s stayed with me through the unfolding of this film, it’s that everything has consequences,” he says.
“Everything,” he says again, to emphasise. "At the end of the day, you have to do what feels right for you because you only live once. But you also have to own your choices – even if you’re going against society – and make peace with the consequences that follow.”
Owning your choices. Getting comfortable with the consequences. That’s a tall order for a story, if there ever was one. And regardless of whether Gehraiyaan lives up to the promise, perhaps that’s exactly the kind of film the world needs on Valentine’s Day.
Gehraiyaan releases on February 11 on Amazon Prime Video
Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans
Jasmin Mujanović, Hurst Publishers
Results:
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah (PA) | Group 2 | US$55,000 (Dirt) | 1,600 metres
Winner: AF Al Sajanjle, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
7.05pm: Meydan Sprint (TB) | Group 2 | $250,000 (Turf) | 1,000m
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8.50pm: Balanchine Group 2 (TB) | $250,000 (T) | 1,800m
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9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (D) | 1,200m
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10pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,410m
Winner: Mountain Hunter, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
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Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
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The biog
Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Red Sparrow
Dir: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Egerton, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons
Three stars
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
