Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha is a love story spanning a two decades featuring a couple who are deeply in love with each other until an incident separates them. Will fate give their love story a second chance? The story here is an old school romantic drama something that you would associate from the 70s(although the era showcased in the film is that of the early 2000s). But this is hardly the problem for the film given how slender the plot of the film actually is. Yes credit where due, it does try to evoke the necessary sentiments by creating an ambience of softness that tries hard to engulf you. But at its core, the central conflict(or in this case the incident) is so simplistic that you aren’t completely invested in the love story of the two protagonists. To top it, the sequences are stretched and repetitive to a point that you realise that the drama tries to say a lot of things but ends up saying nothing new over the course of the screenplay standing at a whopping runtime of 140 odd minutes.

When it comes to love stories set in a jail(or with jail as a setting), the first film that instantly comes to my mind is the exceptional Kannada film from last year Saptasagaradache Ello – Side A. The setup of that love story was such that all the conflicts felt organic and almost aching to a point wherein you feel for the characters and the situations that they find themselves in. But such is not exactly the case with Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha which falls in the bracket of a very generic and cliched love story. While it isn’t a complete washout, it isn’t great either. You are introduced to one of the protagonists, Krishna, pretty early on in the setup of a jail. You can also make out the mountains of pain that he has been carrying, almost reluctant to leave the premises of the prison given that he may have been lost in oblivion in the game of love. The drama switches the POV to introduce you to his love-interest Vasudha, who you feel is also longing to meet him. And while Krishna is soon set free of all the charges, he does set on a nostalgic trip to meet Vasudha probably once more in his lifetime.

I have to say this that the proceedings are layered alright, unfolding in a non-linear fashion with drama frequently switching between the past and the present. So as a viewer, this love story is more like a jigsaw puzzle wherein you are acquainted with the blossoming love story on one part versus the situation that the characters find themselves in, in the current setup. I liked how the writers incorporated the shores of Mumbai that plays an important part in the narrative. There is a sense of longing in the first hour that slowly engulfs you in the narrative while wanting to know on what separated the two lovers. And you do get a little glimpse of the same at the halfway mark, and that honestly came across as a bummer given how simplistic the core event actually felt. I was hoping for a further twist in the tale in the second hour, but there was none.

The core of the story lay in the second hour which had its share of complexities involving a third wheel in the love story that definitely seemed like destiny. But after a point, I felt that the writers were just going around in circles and had nothing new to say. The core incident was repeated as many as four times when in reality, the ‘mystery’ around it could be seen from a distance. The fizz in the love story suddenly went missing as I kept waiting for that final twist of fate that just did not arrive. The proceedings were plain, simplistic and pretty bland given that the writing had nothing else to say(let alone anything novel). It baffled me at the possibilities that the screenplay could have expanded to, as opposed to just about initiating a subplot that ultimately felt like a distraction and made you no longer care for the characters. The ending had to be emotional for the viewers to shed buckets of tears for the couple who are torn by fate, but there I sat feeling nothing for the couple even as the predictable mystery around the film was revealed in the form of a ‘genius’ move. I can bet everybody saw it coming but for the writers. Overall, the screenplay had a good buildup but ended up being such a cliche mixed with writing that said nothing besides stretching the drama to beyond convenience.