Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha bears a slight resonance of 2023 English-Korean drama Past Lives. It tracked the lives of two characters over a period of 24 years as they go their separate ways and reunite after years under different circumstances, only for one of them to realise they never stopped loving the other person. It was straight to the point, and the emotions felt raw. Minimalism sadly isn’t friends with Bollywood’s style of storytelling.
This Hindi drama kicks off with convict Krishna (played by Ajay Devgn) who doesn’t want to leave prison. He’s serving a double murder sentence for 23 years now. Why he did what he did is basically the plot of Auron Mein, quite wafer thin indeed.
Shantanu Maheshwari plays Ajay’s younger self in 2001, in love with Vasudha (a sprightly Saiee Manjrekar). Their chemistry is believable, and that was important because their older selves are played by Ajay and Tabu, who are doing their zillionth film together. But one night changes their lives forever. Why does Vasudha not wait for Krishna? Why does he not want to come out of jail? Who makes them meet finally?
That daily soap aesthetic
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha is both conventional and unconventional at the same time. I am all for making love stories about different age groups. Here, we see how rash young love is. Also, how practical love becomes as one grows older.
The first half is excruciatingly slow. The story has multiple flashbacks, and we try to keep up with the pace. The premise wants to be intriguing, but… is too stretched. The first hour feels like a three hour long ‘maha-episode’ of a daily soap.
As we are finally told what happened on that fateful night years ago, the interval comes along to let us breathe. But you aren’t ready for what’s coming next. Without giving away anything, this is the dramatic version of what happened in the second half of Anees Bazmee’s hilarious 2007 flick Welcome. Only, we are shown the same sequence of events from different POVs three times. Did we mention daily soap parallels already?
Funny bits shine– in a drama?
What saves us are some smartly written one liners and cheeky references. At one point, the theatre erupted into cheers as Ajay’s friend puts on the radio in their car, and it plays Jeeta Tha Jiske Liye, from his own film Dilwale. When the film stays light, it shines. Some unnecessary songs like Ae Dil Zara Ke wear you down.
Review By Anupama Chopra
“Despite the strong performances by Ajay Devgn and Tabu, the film falls short in terms of its storytelling. She mentioned that the narrative is slow and predictable, failing to engage the audience effectively. While the chemistry between the lead actors is commendable, the overall execution of the plot does not live up to expectations. The film’s attempt to blend a love story with elements of suspense and drama results in an overstretched and less impactful experience“.
