Saba meets Jahaan on the train to Mussoorie. Saba (Shanaya Kapoor) is playacting at being blind in preparation for a role. She appears to be a direct descendant of Konstantin Stanislavski, so steeped in method acting that she never once takes off her blindfold. As a consequence, she does not realise that Jahaan (Vikrant Massey) is actually blind.
Jahaan goes along with Saba’s experiment, training her to see with her ears, as it were. Saba proves to be a worthy student. From method cooking to method sex, Saba gives her craft her all. She even dances around with a cane at one point.
Love develops between the aspiring actor and the singer-songwriter. But when the time comes to take off the blindfold, Jahaan has disappeared.
Santosh Singh’s Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan, based on short stories by Ruskin Bond, initially flirts with its metaphorical possibilities. The idea of lovers who are blinkered by their expectations has promise, as does the notion that acting involves deception.
But the screenplay by Singh, Mansi Bagla and Niranjan Iyengar proves to be literal-minded to a numbing degree. Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan intends to follow the love-is-blind principle all the way through, and it does. From a regular, 1960-style drama filled with Vishal Mishra’s soulful tunes, the movie rapidly collapses into an unintended comedy with mediocre dialogue and never-ending absurdity.
It’s hard to choose between Jahaan’s exaggerated poetic air and Saba’s hand-wringing. Although Jahaan rejects the description of being “specially abled”, his angst about his condition or his poor self-esteem isn’t exactly a vote in favour of the blind. Saba’s inability to understand why Jahaan might want to stay away from her boggles the mind.
Much of the 140-minute film focuses on these two mismatched lovers. Zain Khan Durrani, briefly popping up as a character who directs Saba in a play, is a regular supplier of risible moments.
The film itself feels like a stage production, or more accurately, a radio play. Vast chunks of Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan can be consumed through the ears, rather than the eyes. Perhaps viewers too should go along with Saba, blindfolding themselves to the drab visuals and giggling along with the earnest exchanges between the couple.
Vikrant Massey looks haggard in some scenes, as though unable to shoulder the burden of Jahaan’s misery. Shanaya Kapoor makes a passable acting debut, but Saba’s lack of will or basic intelligence is jarring.
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