Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha : Movie Name
Directed by: Neeraj Pandey
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Jimmy Shergill, Shantanu Maheshwari, Saiee Manjrekar, Benedict Garrett, Pushpendra Singh
Genre: Drama, Romance
Running Time: 144 Minutes
Release Date: 05 July, 2024
Rating:
Production Companies: NH Studios
Showcases a love story that unfolds from 2002 to 2023.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha: Overview
Ajay Devgn and Tabu are back with a love story in acclaimed writer and director Neeraj Pandey’s Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha. The makers recently released the first glimpse of the film with a teaser, showcasing the intense onscreen chemistry of this blockbuster duo. The dynamic collaboration of some of the best talents in a single film has generated massive anticipation and excitement for the trailer.
Ajay Devgn’s impactful dialogue from the teaser has generated massive buzz amongst audiences and fans. Climbing onto the social media buzz, numerous brands have capitalized on the ‘#AuronMeinKahaDumTha‘ title and developed some creative posting strategies. The brands have responded and give their quirky reply to Ajay Devgan’s tweet. This has left internet in splits.
Auron Mein Kaha Dum Tha is touted as a musical romantic drama spanning 23 years, set from 2000 to 2023. Featuring an original soundtrack composed by the acclaimed Oscar-winning music director M.M. Kreem, Auron Mein Kaha Dum Tha boasts a stellar ensemble cast led by Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar, and Shantanu Maheshwari.
Presented by NH Studios and produced by Narendra Hirawat, Kumar Mangat Pathak (Panorama Studios), Sangeeta Ahir, and Shital Bhatia under the banner of Friday Filmworks, this eagerly awaited production promises to captivate audiences with its compelling narrative. Scheduled for a theatrical release on July 5th, 2024, it is set to be an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Movie Trailer:
#Trailer
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha Movie Review:
Sometimes we come across stories on the crime pages of vernacular newspapers where the motive behind the offense leaves us bemused. Stories where a person sacrifices his career and existence so that his love can live on. Writer-director Neeraj Pandey takes a break from his edge-of-the-seat espionage thrillers to mount one such tale of renunciation in romance with Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha. Promising to be rousing in its simplicity, it turns out to be a boring, dated, and, at times, inadvertently amusing experience.
The problem is that the soul of the story doesn’t consistently translate on screen. Perhaps the bittersweet idea would have been better served by a cast sans stars. Perhaps, the production could have made an effort to find some new locations for romance in Mumbai and create sets that don’t look like one. The trailer could have been less expository and in his treatment of the central character, Neeraj could have been less adulatory. It is the kind of film where the background score fails to keep the emotional secret of the scenes.
Deeply in love, Krishna (Shantanu Maheshwari / Ajay Devgn) and Vasudha (Saiee Manjrekar / Tabu) get separated by circumstances. Living in a chawl, her social background forces Vasudha to move on with life but she cannot keep Krishna out of her thoughts. For Krishna, Vasudha remains the purpose of his life. How the two would engage when they eventually meet again is the purpose of the film. Unfortunately, the journey to the incident that separated the two is more engaging than what happens afterward, largely because of the young actors playing younger versions of the stars.
Neeraj beats so many drums around Ajay to serve his image that the impact of sacrifice, the leitmotif of love, get silenced. The pain, loneliness, and suffering hardly seep through as the film is focused on creating a halo around its leading man. In keeping with Neeraj’s spy space, Krishna needed to remain under the radar but the director is a little too keen to celebrate the unusual larger-than-life appeal of the character. After casting a hero in a seemingly non-heroic role, he keeps manufacturing ways to shower stardust on him.
No doubt, there is still space for selfless love, there is still an audience for old school melodrama that Ajay and Tabu have the chemistry and the wherewithal to sell. However, their bond here doesn’t feel aligned with the soul of the story. Their conversations are more ho-hum than heady and M.M. Kreem’s melodies don’t help their cause either. Jimmy Shergill as the third wheel in a love story has become as predictable as sunrise. He serves merely as a ritual and he makes us well aware of it.
The situation provides opportunities for self-referential humour but it doesn’t quite land. The only time it really catches one by surprise is when Krishna’s friend Jignesh (Jay Upadhay, the ubiquitous malleable friend material in Hindi films) turns on the radio in the car and it plays Jeeta Tha Jikse Liye (Dilwale, 1993), the ballad of the spurned lover in the 1990s.
The lopsided treatment ensures seasoned players cannot carry forward the innocent romantic connection depicted by Shantanu and Saiee as their younger versions. Shantanu, who showed that he has the verve and skill for the big screen in Gangubai Kathiawadi, once again impresses as the young Krishna. Saiee proves to be a competent foil as the demure yet gutsy girl-next-door, but a TV soap-like treatment leaves only thin bubbles in the air. One never gets the impression that Shantanu and Saiee could become Ajay and Tabu physically and emotionally.
Usually in Bollywood sagas, the younger versions are positioned in a way that you wait for the seniors to arrive and take over the scene. Here one waits for the flashbacks to liven up the scenario. This divide reduces AMKDT to an uneven theatrical experiment where the source material is strong, the start offers a spark but the end product feels false.
Movie Songs:
Song Title: Tuu
Lyricist: Manoj Muntashir
Music Producer: M. M. Kreem
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Javed Ali
Song Title: Ae Dil Zara
Lyricist: Manoj Muntashir
Music Producer: M. M. Kreem
Singers: Amala Chebolu, Rishabh Chaturvedi
Song Title: Jahan Se Chale The
Lyricist: Manoj Muntashir
Music Producer: M. M. Kreem
Singers: Sunidhi Chauhan, Jubin Nautiyal
Song Title: Kisi Roz
Lyricist: Manoj Muntashir
Music Producer: M. M. Kreem
Singers: Maithili Thakur
Song Title: Title Track
Lyricist: Manoj Muntashir
Music Producer: M. M. Kreem
Singers: Ajay Devgn