Trailer Talk: AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL (2016) Teaser – Underwhelming For Such A Highly Anticipated Film
Karan Johar went from a prolific romantic film director to ace Bollywood movie producer. However, his storytelling is still what sets him apart from most filmmakers in the industry. After 4 years, Johar is bringing out his latest directorial project featuring stars who all have a vested interest in the success of this film.
Check out the teaser trailer for ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ below.
The over all trailer features a love tri/quad-rangle of characters with not much story. Although it’s expected as it’s a teaser meant to invoke reaction, emotions and excitement for the upcoming film. But when it comes to being a film’s best foot forward in its marketing campaign, this teaser failed to excite or invoke interest in anything that was happening on screen.
The teaser mostly features a montage of scenes between the lead hero Ranbir Kapoor, and the two leading ladies, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan & Anushka Sharma, in varying degrees of romance. While the scenes with Kapoor and Sharma show a playful dating lifestyle, the scene with Kapoor and Rai-Bachchan shows a more intimate and lustful relationship. A confrontation between rising star Fawad Kapoor (‘Kapoor And Sons’) and Kapoor’s characters leads me to believe that he may be pursuing Sharma’s character in the story.
The success of ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ is very important for almost everyone involved. Ranbir Kapoor has had his last 4 major releases do mediocre to poor business both commercially and critically. The industry has all but written off the once-promising star, so hopefully working with Johar will re-ignite his career.
Kapoor debuted as an actor who took risks so early in his career, experimenting both in the types of films he did which were unconventional to the Bollywood model for a new actor (‘Wake Up Sid’) and with roles that a new comer would not usually touch. (‘Rocket Singh’). But having had mainstream success seems to have put Kapoor in the same rut as most established actors, repeating the same formula over and over until it fizzles out. The same seems to be the case with ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, at least superficially.
For Aishwarya Rai Bachchan however, it’s a different ball game. Having made a comeback last year with ‘Jazbaa‘, Rai Bachchan has been on a trend of making films contrary to the type of cinema she made a career of in Bollywood. Following that up, she chose a bio-pic where she played an aged old lady for most of the film in ‘Sarbjit’. So ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ can be seen as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s true return to Bollywood in the kind of movies that she’s known for. The movie also marks one of the rare instances that a leading lady in Bollywood is almost 10 years older than the leading man, and here’s hoping it’s not the last time this happens.
The surprise take away from the ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ teaser, at least for me, is the appearance of Fawad Khan. Given we haven’t seen him in much else, Khan looks good and seems to have a role different than the two he’s played in Bollywood thus far. So here’s hoping the Johar directed film boosts his star even more.
From a superficial standpoint, the teaser for ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ looks like a conventional feel good turned dramatic romantic story. The stars and music feel appropriate. The underwhelming aspect is that for a Karan Johar directed film with this much star talent, one would expect something that isn’t conventional or typical. Here is hoping that the teaser is a poor representation of the actual film.
Were you as underwhelmed as I was with the teaser of ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’?
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