Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha Review: Shantanu-Sai is the strongest link in Ajay-Tabu’s amazing chemistry

Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha Review: Love stories are always welcome at the box office, especially in times when political thrillers, patriotic dramas and action films seem to be dominating. And if these love stories reflect the lives of people in their fifties, nothing can be better than that. When you have age-appropriate casting, it’s like a cherry on the cake. Like a breath of fresh air, isn’t it? Neeraj Pandey tried to create the most amazing cake with the sweetest and juiciest cherry with Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, but what we end up eating are slices of jam-filled bread made to look like a cake.

The film opens with a sepia coloured frame of young Krishna and Vasudha sitting on the rocks facing the Arabian Sea and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Don’t forget that this is 2001, when the famous bridge was still under construction and hence, it is slightly broken in the middle. This gap in the sea link symbolises their love story which is still incomplete. Vasudha, too naive for the real world, says to Krishna, ‘Pakka na? Koi humko ujala toh nahi karega na?’ To this, Krishna replies with the same innocence, ‘Hum check kiye tha, abhi tak koi baarna nahi hui.’ And this is the irony that becomes the essence of the narrative.

To get into the story, you have to go into a flashback. A young boy and girl live in a Mumbai chawl and fall in love with each other. Their romance is traced through several festivals like Janmashtami, Diwali and Holi. However, their lives turn upside down the night Krishna confesses to Vasudha that he has to go to Bangalore for training and then to Germany, where he has to work for two whole years. Years later, they are introduced to the grown-up Krishna (Ajay Devgn), who was jailed 23 years ago for a double murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

However, his good behaviour results in his sentence being reduced by two and a half years. Most of the film shows the day he gets out of prison. On the other hand, Vasudha (Tabu) now runs her own handloom and other businesses. She is now married. She is married to Abhijeet (Jimmy Shergill). Will Krishna meet Vasudha? If they meet, will she leave her husband for her ex-boyfriend? What caused Krishna and Vasudha to separate? And what role does Abhijeet play in his wife’s relationship with her lover whom she was supposed to marry? The film is difficult to answer these questions. You may not get all the answers.

First of all, there is no concrete reason as to why Abhijeet is so eager to meet Krishna. This story seems a bit strange. Don’t get us wrong! Director Neeraj Pandey definitely gives a reason, but it hardly seems convincing. The story here seems a bit confusing.

Talking about the music of the film, its background music will impress you a bit. No disrespect to Oscar-winning composer MM Kreem here. He has released chartbuster Hindi film albums with ‘Sur’ and ‘Zakham’, but in this case, the music of ‘Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha’ fails to connect with you. It seems a bit detached from the emotional theme of the film. At times, it may remind you of a Hindi television series from the 2000s, but that is not its weakest link, as sometimes the nostalgic moments touch your heart.

Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha has many romantic and emotional scenes with strong actors like Ajay Devgan and Tabu. These scenes have also tried to make the film great. Yes, but sadly they seem dull. Because the first scene of the film in which they meet each other after decades in their old chawl had a lot of potential. However, it seems a bit weak. It could have been made extremely spectacular. But their chemistry in the film is quite amazing. There are many emotional and heart-breaking scenes in the film, which will make you cry. At the same time, there are some scenes that will make you smile. However, despite all this, this 145-minute film ‘Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha’ seems to be a very long film. The first half of the film is very slow. Here you will feel that my patience is being tested. Krishna’s scenes in jail, which show a glimpse of the complexities of his captive life, could have been easily shortened. The finesse of editing reaches its peak when the film ends abruptly. You keep waiting for the post-credits scene, but it never comes. Yes, there is beauty in incomplete stories, but this ending is so shocking that it can’t be true.