Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Teaser Review

My favourite director, Karan Johar, is back at direction with what looks like a roller coaster of love and passion with “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” which will take us through a tale of One-sided love, deep friendship and heartbreak. Watch the teaser here:

The teaser is an old school style, similar to the way Yash Chopra used to release his trailers – a key song of the movie playing with a web of emotional romantic scenes spun to show the flow of story. The broad line approach may not be unique but the presentation is no old-school. It is fresh, intense, engrossing, captivating and stunningly beautiful with a depth added by the soulful voice of Arijit Singh.

After the director’s credits, the teaser starts with Ranbir on mike (Rockstar anyone?) and then some fun scenes with Anushka, which looks straight out of Jab Tak Hain Jaan. And when you feel what is new that this movie has to offer then comes the highlight of the teaser is the beautiful Aishwarya Rai, who maintains her title of being the most beautiful woman in the world. The teaser has been designed exquisitely with the intermingling of scenes with Aishwarya & Anushka drawing out the parallels between two relationships, one which is all about intense, serious intimacy and second is fun, friendship bordering on love with a tadka of Fawad “SuperHot” Khan. The movie has brilliant cast and they look ready to stun the audience.

The ascend of emotions is beautifully done with the first clip being a non-emotional Ranbir singing, then fun moments with Anushka, the touch of romance with Aishwarya’s introduction, then build of romance with both the women, the emotional drama with Fawad as the anchor, the intimacy with Aishwarya, little drama with the history and then boom – the last line about one sided love. For me biggest impact  – the almost into tears – the nerve wrecking moment was the ‘Ek tarfa pyaar..’ dialogue which I am sure will give sleepless nights to people reminding them of their one sided love stories. The pain in the dialog is almost like Sahil Ludhyanvi’s lines in Kabhi Kabhi:

Kabhi raste mein mil jao to, katrakar guzar jaana
Hame iss tarah se takna jaise pehchaana nahi tumne,
Hamara zikra jab aaye to yun anjaan baan jaana
ke jaise naam sunkar bhi hame jaana nahi tumne

With his movies, Karan also seems to have matured moving from college romance to mature emotions. He makes sure that this movie his cast also looks matured with bearded Ranbir & Fawad looking elder. Ranbir did sport a similar look in Rockstar and Ye Jawani Hai Diwani, which won him many accolades and gives him the serious guy effect. Fawad on the other hand has look mid-way between his Khoobsurat and Kapoor & Sons look, giving him a more contemporary yet casual look.  Anushka also seems to have added weight to get closer to Aish’s age and there is a transition shown from JTHJ like chirpiness to RNBDJ agony. There are scenes with younger looking Ranbir which probably are introduced to give a background to his and Anushka’s relationship. Aishwarya is the blue eyed beauty of the story, who looks younger than her actual age and wins your heart with that every look. The fun part will be the dynamics between the four of them and to see if Karan treats them in the strained and bubbling fashion like Silsila or boiling and bursting like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

Like in all Karan Johar movies, the movies is expected to be the fourth big pillar of the money after direction, story & cast. Though there is only one song to testimony, but the music sounds promising with Pritam touching the souls with the title song. Hope to definitely hear a fun-weird lyrics based song, an Arabic/Folky song with Anushka & Ranbir, a slow romantic duet based number and a heart wrenching slow sad song (if the director follows the traditional approach).

Dharma production is going big even with the marketing of this one with front page advertisements across dailies, a big viral and social media campaign, digital advertisement placements and star promotions. I expect a series of viral videos to also come in some time, not just the making videos, but web series. The teaser got launched today and is already getting closer to 2M views. 

Basis the teaser, I can say that this movie will get a 4 or 3.5/5 rating. Can’t wait for Diwali and for SRK’s cameo in the movie!!