 "Vikrant Massey & Shanaya Kapoor’s Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan Movie Review: Is love really blind?")
Language: Hindi
Director: Santosh Singh
Cast: Vikrant Massey & Shanaya Kapoor
Though Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan lacks the kind of depth we expect to see in a Vikrant Massey film, it is a great one-time watch. For the first time, Vikrant’s fans will see him in a completely different avatar. In a landscape suffocated by gore, it is a welcome break to see one romantic movie after another.
Debutant Shanaya Kapoor has definitely put in a lot of hard work, knowing very well that the pressure is double on her for being an insider from the industry. She no doubt is promising. But I have seen a better movie in the past about a blind girl falling in love with a man who is not good-looking and he fears what if one days she rejects him after gaining her vision.
The movie is called Dekha (2001), directed by Gautam Ghose. I remember watching this film as a kid. Dekha tells the story of a blind poet who becomes the object of affection for a woman who cannot see him. He struggles with his feelings and worries about her reaction when she eventually regains her sight. The film explores the theme of the pressure society puts on us to look good and the complexities of relationships. Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan doesn’t have those complexities and layers of mature storytelling, though the initial idea of the film is good. The film has its heart in the right place, yet it falters because of the execution.
Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan starts with a train journey to the hill station when a visually impaired musician, Jahaan (Vikrant Massey) and a theater artiste, Saba (Shanaya Kapoor) meet. Written by Mansi Bagla, initially the film looks promising, but as it progresses, it loses the zing.
Not denying that _Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan_ does have a lot of freshness, but what we really wanted was the solid execution of the story to do justice to a brilliant craftsman like Vikrant Massey. For the first time, you will be surprised to see Vikrant Massey kissing so passionately on screen. Otherwise we have always seen him perform passionately whether it was Mirzapur, 12th Fail or The Sabarmati Report. As for Shanaya Kapoor, it was a smart choice for her to start her career with a film like Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan which is not going to typecast her. She in fact beautifully weaves a tale of emotions, and showcases the warmth of first chance encounters, the innocence of falling in love, facing betrayal and heartbreak.
But the two of them together, Vikrant Massey and Shanaya Kapoor, that mad and passionate chemistry was missing. And you keep waiting for it throughout the film to hear the pitter patter of heart beat, just like the rain on the window pane, but that just doesn’t happen.
Not completely running down the effort of the filmmaker and the cast, but what I genuinely believe is that Shanaya Kapoor truly has the potential and she has done more than a decent job as a newcomer. Vikrant Massey’s performance is just fine, but definitely not his best. But the real hero of the film is the dreamy music.
Everything said and done, director Santosh Singh’s cinematic adaptation of Ruskin Bond’s short story ‘The Eyes Have It_’_, will definitely bring back fond memories of your first flame only through the look of the movie and the music, but not through the performances or the way it was executed. It is definitely not a movie that will keep lingering in your mind. It is a movie that you will just watch and forget.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan is playing in cinemas
WATCH the trailer of Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan here:
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