Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha Review: Serves up Retro Nostalgia
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Everything about the 2024 Bollywood movie “Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha” screams 1990s, that’s besides the fact that much of the story takes place closer to the 90s than the 2020s.
Written and directed by Neeraj Pandey, “Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha” follows Krishna (Ajay Devgn), a convict who is about to be released from prison after two decades, and the truth about his crime is slowly unraveled through the 2-hour-30-minute runtime. While his plan is to fly away to Dubai the same night of his release, his former lover Vasudha (Tabu) surprises him with a visit and confronts their past.
Flashbacks slowly reveal what transpired between the two, with Shantanu Maheshwari (Gangubai Kathiawadi) and Saiee Manjrekar playing the younger versions of Krishna and Vasudha, respectively. Both young actors pull off their roles with ease and grace, without getting lost under the shadows of Ajay Devgn and Tabu, although the older actors do most of the heavy lifting, with the more emotional aspects of the plot rightfully falling on their shoulders.
“Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha” essentially panders to an audience looking for some retro Bollywood nostalgia – it’s slow-moving, dramatic, predictable, and even features a soundtrack that’s melodious but slightly outdated. In fact, while the songs have a dramatic, old-school flourish to them, some of the background music is annoyingly loud, like it’s out of those theatrical saas-bahu shows from the early 2000s. For instance, there’s a scene in the present where Vasudha catches Krishna off-guard when she invites him to meet her husband Abhijit (Jimmy Shergill). It’s a refreshingly modern, mature plot development, where a woman doesn’t see the need to conceal her past from her spouse, but the dramatic music that plays during the scene sounds like the character has announced the discovery of a terrorist plot to bomb a café.
Neeraj Pandey probably aimed to serve a romantic thriller like Keigo Higashino’s “The Devotion of Suspect X,” which was made into the Bollywood movie “Jaane Jaan.” However, “Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha” never builds up enough suspense over Krishna’s crime and unfolds like a clichéd, familiar tale, with even the eventual plot twist failing to come as much of a surprise. Props to the writers for not reducing Vasudha’s character to a damsel in distress; she grows up to be a strong, successful businesswoman who has a healthy relationship with her husband.
Even though Ajay Devgn and Tabu don’t really have any romantic scenes as the older Krishna and Vasudha, there’s palpable “former lovers” tension between the two. So, while the first half of “Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha” wasn’t as gripping, Krishna and Vasudha’s emotional reunion in the last half of the film delivers a tear-jerker climax. The ending is unconventional, practical, and emotional, wrapping up a long saga of love, separation, sacrifices, and regret with a cathartic curtain call.
If you’re in the mood for some old-school drama, “Auron Main Kahan Dum Tha” has the right amount of dum to be entertaining on a weekend evening.
Rating: 6 out of 10. Watch the film on Prime Video.
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