Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha is a love story with classic shades

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In its smallest narrative and technical nuances and detailing, one can sense writer-director Neeraj Pandey’s craving for something extraordinary. This is his first love story, and the master of espionage dramas who has also made the con caper, Special 26, and the sports biopic, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, wants Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha to have a classic dimension.

Never one to follow the trite-and-tested path, Neeraj makes even the core story different. We have a pair of young lovers, Krishna (Shantanu Maheshwari) and Vasudha (Saiee Manjrekar). They fall for each other in their middle-class chawl (a Mumbai residential housing in which multiple people reside in adjoining rooms), but though some neighbors know of their relationship, their love is largely undisclosed. Besides, each of them wants to make something of their life. Krishna looks at going to the US for two years, and Vasudha will become someone, support her father and help in educating her younger brother and sister who have their own ambitions.

On the day Shantanu is told he has to leave for the US within two days, he decides to have a last day out with his girl. But something happens that night that changes their lives forever. Now convicted of two murders, Shantanu is jailed for 25 years, and tells a broken Vasudha to move on and be focused on her priorities.

Twenty-two and a half years later, Shantanu (now Ajay Devgn), is released from jail because of his good conduct, though he is actually reluctant to be out before his time. Vasudha (now Tabu) has spent her life well, except that she has never forgotten Shantanu, is otherwise happily married to a caring husband, Abhijeet (Jimmy Sheirgill) and is a prosperous and global businesswoman.

Now out of jail, Krishna decides to move to Dubai, where Mahesh Desai (Sayaji Shinde), who he has helped while in jail, is willing to support him. But his friend and roommate, Jignesh (Jay Upadhyay), who has always been in touch with him as well as with Vasudha (who Krishna had instructed never to see him again!), engineers a meeting between them.

In turn, on the evening of his departure, Vasudha also takes him to meet Abhijeet, who she says knows everything about Krishna. And that night is full of surprise revelations between Krishna and Abhijeet before he flies off after a final conversation with the woman he always loved and who still loves him.

In a sensitively conceived screenplay, Neeraj can be faulted only on one score: his intense desire to tell a story with undiluted passion and lots of emotional flourishes (besides his typical earthy humor) increases the runtime. And it is ironical that circa 2024, our capricious audiences accept such self-indulgence only in (largely action-oriented but also others!) South Indian or Hollywood movies, but rarely now in Hindi.

Also, I would have preferred that the Mahesh Desai angle had been eliminated and something else worked out in its place. This detour seems rather incongruous to the delicacy of the core story. Also the whole Pakya (Hardik Soni) episode gets very ‘filmi’ in the way it is shown—Pakya is a fellow-resident in the chawl.

But for these blemishes, the film is more than a cut above the ordinary and Neeraj’s mastery in arranging even the warm colors of the film (brilliant work by cinematographer Sudhir Palsane and also the VFX and DI team) heighten the emotional dollop of the story, though it is narrated in a non-linear fashion. Neeraj’s dialogues are excellent and the last sequence is fabulous despite some clichés in the writing.

All through, there are multiple sequences, some done with technical help, that detail Neeraj’s storytelling ardor and skills both. And above all, he gets fantastic support from his composer M.M. Kreem (a.k.a. M.M. Keeravani) and lyricist Manoj Muntashir. This is the first film score I have heard after about two years that has substance in the music, lyrics, orchestration and singing. This, in a nutshell, is what Hindi Cinema and Hindi Film Music is all about!

On the performance side, Ajay Devgn is extraordinary in his intense simplicity, whether as a lover, a jail inmate or an aggressive criminal, a trait he develops to survive in that seamy and wicked world for over two decades. His scenes with Tabu and Jimmy Sheirgill show his understated brilliance.

Tabu herself, is like a dormant volcano of emotions, with her eyes doing all the talking. As their younger counterparts, I liked the way Shantanu Maheshwari sets the character of Krishna who evolves into someone different yet same, later! Saiee Manjrekar, on the other hand, is routine. Jimmy Sheirgill, in his cameo, is excellent in his complex character. Jay Upadhyay is a delight.

This is a love story that grows on you. The more you think about Krishna and Vasudha, the more you will wonder at Life’s ironies.

Rating: ***1/2

Friday FilmWorks, NH Studios & Panorama Studios present Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha  Produced by: Shital Bhatia, Narendra Hirawat, Kumar Mangat Pathak & Sangeeta Ahir  Written & Directed by: Neeraj Pandey  Music: M.M. Kreem  Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Saiee Manjrekar, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jay Upadhyay, Sayaji Shinde, Hardik Soni, Shahrukh Sadri,  Jiten Lalwani, Kushal Shah, Benedict Garret & others