Warning: Spoilers ahead!
White Arum lilies play the lead role in Mohit Suri‘s Hamari Adhuri Kahani, which ALSO stars a bunch of talented performers like Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Rajkummar Rao and Prabal Punjabi. If you watch the movie, you would know why my review begins with this sentence. But my dear friend/enemy, I wouldn’t want any of you to experience the agonizing pain of sitting through this film.
Talking about pain, all the characters in this love saga are perpetually tormented. Vidya aka Vasudha is a #BechariBiwi. Her husband’s name is Hari and he is NOT a terrorist. Emraan aka Aarav is a hotelier with a rags-to-riches background story and a fetish for flowers (he can sniff and recognize their scent from a distance). Aarav’s business partner and BFF Apoorva (Prabal) is the only real, non-dramatic person in this oh-so-tragic tale.
The film traces the journey of Vasudha, who stays with her son and works in a five star hotel to make their ends meet. She wanted to marry a someone after falling in love but her sanskari father gets her married to Hari, who forces her to tattoo his name on her wrist and then disappears mysteriously from her life after a year of togetherness. Then one fine day, she meets Mr. Aarav while arranging flowers in the presidential suite of the hotel. The two have a deep conversation about flowers and Aarav finds himself falling for this damsel-in-distress already. Then follows a love affair between them which is far from convincing. Soon Vasudha comes to know that her husband is a terrorist, takes off her Mangalsutra and begins her new life with her lover.
But that’s when Hari makes a shocking comeback in her life and turns her world upside town. It turns out that he’s not a terrorist after all, he was framed! So she wears her Mangalsutra again and asks her lover boy to help her in proving her husband innocent. So Aarav heroically takes off on a journey (in a helicopter!) to a jungle that accommodates a secret garden of arum lilies (hell, yeah!), a bunch of terrorists and several landmines. Being a good friend, Apoorva tries to warn him about his stupidity ends up joining Aarav in this quest to find a certain professor who can give a statement about Hari’s innocence. Surprisingly, finding the professor turns to be quite a cakewalk as they spot him rather effortlessly. Post their triumph, they ditch the helicopter and hit the road in the terrorized area on their way back, because why not?
The script written by Mahesh Bhatt is a letdown. And the dialogues by Shagufta Rafique mar it further. Our audience definitely doesn’t dig super melodramatic dialogues like: “Kyonki kaaynaat bhi sachche pyaar karne waalon ko milaane ki koshish karti hai” and “Iis garden mein murjhaye hue patton ki kami hai.” anymore. Jeet Ganguly‘s music makes Hamari Adhuri Kahani slightly tolerable from time to time but obviously fails to rescue it completely. Even the gorgeous cinematography and Vidya’s beautiful face don’t really manage to save it. Despite a supremely talented star-cast, this one fails to cut it unlike Suri’s previous romantic outings like Aashiqui 2 and Ek Villain.
I had carried a bunch of tissues in the outer most section (easily accessible) of my handbag because I was sure the tear-jerking saga will make me sob. But the pack of unused tissues are still lying in my bag.
Pro tip: Let your money be lying in your bag and give this one a miss. Or give it a dekko just out of respect for the terrific performers who have been wasted in this outing.
Rating: *