Gehraiyaan: Worth the Watch, Only If You Can Relate!

‘I don’t want to end up like her..’
‘I feel stuck when I am alone at home..’
‘I can’t live with my past,’
And, I don’t know how to let go mine!’

Yes, these dialogues are very much relatable for any random couple. But, the film deals with far more complex issues like anxiety disorder, separation anxiety, a dysfunctional family, culture shock, PSTD, suicide, and accidental death.

The story revolves around a lonely child, Alisha, who grew up alone, embracing the happy memories of her past. Every day, every moment, Alisha strives hard to be perfect and build a better life for herself. Yet, she ends up committing a silly mistake that turns her life upside down! It is a mistake of trusting a fancy dream boy, who eventually ends up stealing all their family wealth and ruining the lives of two sisters.

Alisha has been a sensitive child, a responsible daughter, and a solopreneur! She is a self-made woman who wasn’t fortunate enough to go abroad for her higher education, like her cousin or her boyfriend. But, Al aka. Alisha is a smartie and knows how to get her job done. This is perhaps because she has inherited that business acumen and skills through her genes. She has been a healer and a hustler. Yet all she ever wanted was some respect, attention, and love from her ready-to-settle-down-with-average boyfriend, who seems to lack the qualities that can heal a depressed or anxious woman (with a troublesome past). She has been following a strict routine, yoga, meditation, and letting go of her past.

Unfortunately, relapses can occur anytime, and the trigger elements can be anything. What happens when you struggle to communicate with your partner and you get gaslighted frequently? What happens when you bump into someone who woes you constantly? What happens when someone claims to offer you the life you’ve been dreaming? What happens when you accidentally cross the thin line between ethics and love? Alisha fell for the inner child of Zein. Alisha wanted to heal him and build a home with him. She wanted to build the perfect dream home with her sweat and blood, perhaps because she wanted to build a better life for her next generation! She wanted to have the child; she wanted to be a risk-taker in love!

So was Tia! She has been emotionally fooled and used by her boyfriend. Her mother failed to protect her, despite her desperate attempts. Tia fell for the fantastic entrepreneur, who genuinely deserved a beautiful princess like her. She observed him mindfully and tried her best to protect him by understanding his mental, physical, financial health. How far could you go to protect your loved ones? Tia could go to any level to build a dream life with her fiancé, Zein because she too wanted a different life than her parents.

In the end, two dynamic women emerge victoriously and swear on changing their reality and breaking the patterns! Alisha and Tia are single, skilled, confident individuals, solopreneurs, and age is just a number. They can start again, build their own identities and reality, and live in their own fairytale worlds.

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The key takeaway lessons of Gehraiyaan are indeed profound! Your past traumas or mental illnesses don’t define you; your perceptions, knowledge, and skills do. All you need is to stay clean and maintain a healthy communication system with your family or support systems. And, never forget your anxiety pills, if your doctor has prescribed them as mandatory!

It doesn’t matter where you come from; what matters most is where you are going!

For a mental health patient, every day is a new battle, a new challenge, but it is not impossible to laugh again and build your dream home again, with or without a man of your dream.

You don’t need to limit yourself if you are an ambitious woman, an overachiever, and a go-getter! Just slow down, lean back, meditate daily, and take baby steps. Most solopreneurs believe in taking one step at a time and taking time to heal yourself before you heal others.

Family can be your strength and weakness, depending on the communication system. You can start fresh, leaving behind your traumas gaslighting experiences by surrounding yourself with the right people. Forgive yourself, forgive those who have hurt you, and move on like Alisha and Tia. Needless to say, as a writer and solopreneur, with a history of depression and anxiety disorder, I could relate to the film to the extent, that I got triggered. My sincere gratitude, to actress Deepika Padukone, her Live Love Laugh Foundation, for breaking many stereotypes and increasing mental health awareness in our country.

Published here first.

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