Kho Gaye Hum Kahan Review – Dates, Dosti Aur Finsta
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Created by Arjun Varain, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, and Yash Sahai, “Kho Gaye Hum” follows the lives of three Gen Z best friends living in Mumbai and starts off with a fun montage of their childhood pictures, vacation clicks, smiling selfies, and beach escapades. Most of these photos are social-media posts, setting a promising tone for a tale of love, friendship, and work in a digitally saturated age.
Siddhant Chaturvedi is Imaad, a stand-up comedian who often uses his best friends’ lives as material for his jokes. So, before the opening montage rolls in, “Kho Gaye Hum” starts with a mildly funny set of Imaad taking a dig at his childhood bud Neil (Adarsh Gaurav), a gym trainer, for looking at his phone instead of laughing at his jokes. Next, he takes a shot at BFF/flatmate Ahana (Ananya Panday), who is in a serious relationship, so he talks about how he is hoping for the boyfriend to move in with them so they could have a free full-time maid.
Over the course of two hours, the three friends navigate the complicated waters of love and dating while also deciding to start a new business together. “Never do business with friends,” Neil’s father wisely warns him, but the words are ignored, and problems do arise quickly in the professional partnership. Meanwhile, the trio also drowns in personal battles. Ahana battles low self-esteem after being dumped by beau Rohan (Rohan Gurbaxani) for no good reason and tries to gain his attention by posting fake “happy” posts online. Neil also struggles with being in a hush-hush relationship with a popular “influencer” called Lala (Anya Singh). Imaad, on the other hand, is in therapy, which he doesn’t take too seriously, and swims through one-night stands, indicating an issue with intimacy. However, Imaad begins to fall for an older woman called Simran (Kalki), who he meets on Tinder, but breaking his usual “nail and bail” cycle is hard.
For a film largely about young love and friendship, it’s hard to understand why the cinematography looks like the makers were shooting “Batman.” There are too many dimly lit settings, with sepia tones dominating many scenes, as if you are watching a psychological thriller (like “Jaane Man,” if you need a Bollywood example). It’s not even as if the protagonists are poor kids living in slums or chawls – filmmakers often drench shots in sepia tones to symbolize poverty. Heck, even “Gully Boy,” which was about slum kids rapping, didn’t look this dull.
So, while the cinematography doesn’t complement the themes and mood of the plot, “Kho Gaye Hum” does have a great groovy soundtrack. From the nostalgic but upbeat “Hone Do Jo Hota Hai” track which plays over the opening collage, to the catchy dance number “I Wanna See You Dance” which is a fun ode to 80s disco era, the film boasts a great album. Although there are moments when the background music overpowers the events unfolding in the story or just doesn’t match the tempo. Like the track “Isqh Nachawe”, which is an excellent moody mujra-like sad love song (with some rap stuffed in) but didn’t seem to belong to this movie.
Siddhant Chaturvedi usually eats up his roles but didn’t really stand out as the comedian/playboy Imaad, who uses humour as a coping mechanism. Adarsh Gaurav’s portrayal of Neil is relatable – a young man from a middle-class family trying to make it big in an unconventional career. While his friends are richer, he symbolizes the young aspirational class, with twisted ideas about what it means to be ‘happy’; for example, he thinks traveling in trains is ‘downmarket’, even though he doesn’t use the term. Ananya Panday, on the other hand, seems to be picking the right roles for her; she was charming, cute, and vulnerable as Ahana, a hard-working corporate professional who is at a loss with herself when her boyfriend dumps her. Ahana’s character might be the most relatable of all; she is a young person stuck in a thankless job, and going through heartbreak only makes things worse. So Ahana sets up a fake account to stalk her ex and also resorts to dressing up only for Instagram posts, lying about having a good time, and thriving on the attention her staged (and filtered) photos get. The character searching for quotes online to put up with the posts was hilarious.
The writing for “Kho Gaye Hum” shines best when the makers depict how we’ve all become slaves to our phones, especially younger generations who grew up with the internet and weigh their worth in terms of the “likes” and “followers” they rack up on social media. The climax comes full circle – it ends with a stand-up comedy set by Imaad (just like it opened with his set too). However, Imaad’s content was way too personal and heavy for a comedy set, and the scene might look uplifting at first glance but sums up the problem with those who distance themselves from reality – they would rather talk to strangers about their problems than confide in their own friends or family. But well, each to their own.
Imaad and Neil’s platonic, protective affection for Ahana was the best part of the film; it subverts the “ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahi ho saktey hai” (translation: a boy and a girl cannot be friends) trope effectively. If you are looking for a “modern love” kind of story set in Mumbai, “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan” might be worth your time.
You can stream “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan” on Netflix.
Read Next: Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video Review
Also Read: The Ruins Book Review – Vine-tastic Horrors (Audio Version Below)
