We are reviewing this Ajay Devgn Tabu starrer ‘Auron mein kahan dam tha’ which is about a couple’s love story that ranges 23 years from 2000 to 2023. After watching the entire film, any mature viewer would have felt that the apt title should have been – Audience mein Kahan Dimag tha??!!
This flick starring Ajay Devgan and Tabu with Jimmy Shergill in tow, and I wonder what made Jimmy to sign it? The movie is an old tale of Bollywood movies of 70s and 80s, that is about a young loverboy (Shantanu Maheshwari who plays the character of young Ajay Devgn) killing people to save the honour of his beloved (Saiee Manjrekar playing the young character of Tabu) thus going to jail and scarifying his whole life.
Yes, Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha delves into the emotional depth but isn’t is somewhat like the stories of the 70s and the 80s? Anyway, writer-director Neeraj Pandey has added an unnecessary twist to this same tale in the end just to salvage the plot (so it seems) the whole film has only this as story and yes there is also a weak plot of a gangster (for convenience). As there was a paucity of any plot or a story the scene where the heroine is to be raped by a local goon who wants to teach the hero a lesson because the goon was slapped by him. This scene has been shown 4 times, once as flow of the story and thrice in flashback.
Thankfully Ajay Devgn who is today’s Krishna and Tabu (the present day Vasudha) have not played their younger selves, that can be said to the credit of the director. And since Krishna gets involved in multiple murders and is sentenced to life imprisonment, Vasudha gets married to Abhijeet (Jimmy Sheirgill). It is now 22 years gone by as in the present day, Krishna is released from prison after getting pardon and he yearns to meet Vasudha. This culminates in one final meeting between Krishna and Vasudha.
As for casting, well Jimmy and Tabu as a couple was an eyesore. Ajay is his brooding self and looked like going through the motions of his own copybook style. Ajay’s pairing with Tabu appears good. Tabu was endearing. The young Ajay that is Shantanu Maheshwari and Saiee Manjrekar as the young Tabu were refreshing too. However the narrative was hampered with the use of flashbacks at several instances the marred the emotional impact of this film.
In this era of OTT where you get to see some brilliant stories, plots and great performance, the makers pulled out a dead rabbit from the hat. It was Deja vu… sending you back 30 years.
There is nothing else to celebrate unless you like dampening your eyes for watching this mediocre tear jerker.
– Review by PAWAN GUPTA
Cast of Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha:
Ajay Devgn as Krishna
Tabu as Vasudha
Shantanu Maheshwari as young Krishna
Saiee Manjrekar as young Vasudha
Jimmy Sheirgill as Abhijeet
Sayaji Shinde as Mahesh Desai
Jay Upadhyay as Jignesh
Kushal Shah as young Jignesh
Hardik Soni as Pakya
Shahrukh Sadri as Jamshed
Jiten Lalwani as Superintendent Solanki
Dhan Singh Rajput as Vasudha’s father
Usha Saksena as Vasudha’s mother
Nandini Karmarkar as Vasudha’s sister
Credits of Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha:
Production companies – Friday Filmworks, NH Studioz, Panorama Studios
Produced by Shital Bhatia, Narendra Hirawat, Kumar Mangat Pathak & Sangeeta Ahir
Written & Directed by Neeraj Pandey
Cinematography – Sudheer Palsane
Edited by Praveen Kathikuloth
Music by M. M. Kreem
Distributed by Panorama Studios