Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan

While narrating an unusual story is a great attempt and must be appreciated for the courage to experiment, if the messaging and end-product doesn't sync with the narrative, the film loses the engagement quotient. 'Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan', starts as a simple and poised tale of opposites attract and becomes monotonous as the film progresses. In the unnecessary effort to add all the cliched tropes and over-the-top humour in the first half, the movie easily loses its soul. As what one expects to be a promising and genuine relationship ends up being cluttered with repetitive scenarios. The conviction of Jahaan and Saba's connection is not depicted in the plot or the direction. Yet, Massey and Kapoor give their best shot at bringing believability to their characters.

The film stumbles right at the start. A girl boards a train to an unknown place with a stranger and doesn’t take off her blindfold even once? Sure, let’s accept the suspension of disbelief. Move past that, and you're treated to a few beautiful locations and pleasant music. Unfortunately, that’s about it. Written by Mansi Bagla — who also shares screenplay and dialogue credits with Santosh Singh and Niranjan Iyenger — the film starts off as a unique romance. You feel a breath of fresh air, only for it to quickly run stale. The plot lacks depth. Even the dramatic moments that usually elevate conventional love stories are missing. There’s no spark. You wait for that one scene, that one emotional beat that redeems the film, but it never arrives.

Some romances have a limited elasticity — stretch them too far and they snap in your hand. For all their awkwardness, the scenes in Mussoorie have an underlying sweetness and warmth, with merry stops at maggi and sunset points, Massey and Kapoor not as erroneously mismatched as their ages might suggest. Kapoor, making her debut, is relaxed and confident for the most part, though her crying game is strictly a B-minus (it falls behind cousin Janhvi.) Indeed, this becomes a problem when the film leaps ahead three years, to Europe, with a lot of weeping and yearning taking over the plot. We follow Saba’s winter of discontent, as Jahaan re-enters her life by blind chance (sorry) and tips it over. The auditing of emotions reaches a fever pitch, with big, Bhansali-like ideas weighing down on this modest film.