'Hamari Adhuri Kahani' review: Emraan, Vidya's love story will give you a headache

Love is painful, everyone has heard that. But `Hamari Adhuri Kahani` is even more painful. Painful to your mind and soul.

What happens when you go with sky high expectations from a promising star cast including Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi and Rajkummar Rao and given that it is a Mohit Suri film? You at least anticipate some good drama to unfold on-screen because of their potential.

Sadly all hopes of watching a good romance went down the drain with this film.

Before I start narrating, I might need a full bottle of Disprin to ebb away the constant throbbing in my temple that the Vishesh films production has successfully managed to inflict on me.

Let's start with the story. A tormented wife Vasudha (Vidya Balan) meets the super 'Richie' rich Aarav (Emraan Hashmi) who comes as a 'knight in shining armour' for the lady-in-distress here. So, our Vasudha is a pro at shedding a tear at the drop of a hat, simply on the memories of her typically male chauvinistic husband Hari (Rajkummar Rao) to the point of being a whimpering damsel.

Vasudha and her son, live through the torment of being deserted by Hari, who runs away only to fall prey to the Maoists in the jungles of Bastar. So, Vasudha portrays the character of a typically loyal wife who tries her best to resist the dapper business tycoon. But, as they say who can resist the temptations of a man who goes over the board to profess and woo her – with helicopters, a garden of flowers and even going flower hunting.

But how can our clichéd Bollywood film just have a simple happy ending? It has to drag and drag and how! Just when everything was sorted for our 'tear jerking' heroine, Mr lost Hari comes back complete with his familiar over-possessive, jealous, ego-eccentric avatar, who cannot stomach the fact that his wife has the audacity to fall in love with another man; forget the fact that he had tortured her when together.

There is a twist in the movie, but alas! Nothing which is concrete or logical at the end. Apart from the chunks of overdone filmy dialogues and over emotional mess, one is bound to seriously wonder what went wrong with the story?

The storyline is simply empty and has nothing fruitful to offer. True, that the movie is a romantic, emotional drama, but every bit of emotion comes across as fake. It is difficult to connect with Vasudha's pain or Aarav's love that he holds for her. `HAK` is a pot of messy drama.

The saving grace is the music and the soulful songs - the only things that connect with the audience.

It is Vidya's character that has left me the most disappointed. She is reduced to nothing but a whimpering cry baby. Emraan, who has so much potential as an actor has been completely wasted by the director. Amidst his racy cars, hotel suites, flights, and sophisticated designer suits, one cannot make much sense of him.

And spare us those cheesy dialogues. The movie in bits and parts looked like it was trying hard to ape Ekta Kapoor's serials. And no wonder, there were a few TV stars too in the film. Extra mushy dialogues and melodrama killed even the little bit of romance that Vidya-Emraan showed.

And even in this century, if a tormented woman who suffered at the hands of her husband, talks about the values and tugs at her `mangalsutra` to remind herself of her marital status, then even Alok Nath (India's sanskari father) cannot help her.

Rajkummar tried his best to play the villain of a husband but he too was lost behind the sloppy conversations and his stammers. But still, he pulled it off as well as he could.

It all boils down to how dumb can the script be that one is unable to see the evident downward spiral of the movie.

Anyway, till the time you read the review, it reminds me I have to take the headache relief medicine as I don't think I can bear the incessant pain any longer. More than a heartache, as it was expected to be, I was left with a heartburn from the overflowing over-the-top dialogues and old school scenes.

And if this is the `adhuri` kahaani`, I dread to think what would happen if the makers wanted to show the entire story.

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