Kho Gaye Hum Kahan

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age drama film directed by Arjun Varain Singh, in his directorial debut. Written by Singh, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Akhtar, Kagti, and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby Films, the film stars Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Adarsh Gourav as three friends who navigate their goals and relationships against the pressures of social media. Kalki Koechlin, Anya Singh and Rohan Gurbaxani appear in supporting roles.

The film is named after a song of the same name from the film Baar Baar Dekho (2016), also produced by Excel Entertainment. Principal photography of the film began in March 2022 and was wrapped up in August 2023. It released on Netflix on 26 December 2023, to positive reviews from critics.

Plot
Imaad Ali, Ahana Singh, and Neil Pereira are three best friends that have been together since their school days. Imaad is a stand-up comedian, Ahana is an MBA graduate from London School of Economics and works as a corporate consultant, and Neil is a personal gym trainer. They each have their own personal dependencies on social media. Ahana's boyfriend, Rohan, suddenly asks for a break from their relationship, leaving Ahana confused and hurt. She starts stalking Rohan, and discovers that he has a new girlfriend, Tanya. She eventually starts making her own posts on social media to get his attention.

Imaad is a serial dater, often meeting girls on Tinder under his alias "Zeeshan" and has one-night stands with them, ghosting them thereafter. One day, he meets Simran Kohli on the app, an older woman and a photographer, with whom he genuinely connects and starts to open up to emotionally. However, he keeps using Tinder despite Ahana and Neil urging him to delete it and pursue Simran seriously.

Neil comes from a humble middle-class background and aspires to open his own gym. He often compares himself to more successful personal trainers on social media and desperately tries to land high-profile clients. He is also in a secret relationship with a popular influencer, Laxmi Lalvani a.k.a. "Lala".

During one of his sets, Imaad jokes about Neil's relationship with Lala, calling it fake, to which, Neil quickly takes offense. He verbally and physically attacks Imaad after the show, telling him to confront his own problems with emotional intimacy. After this, Neil and Imaad stop talking, worrying Ahana, who has quit her job to open a gym with them.

Meanwhile, Imaad and Simran's relationship progresses, and they confess that they have real feelings for each other, and they move in together. Ahana's social media posts recapture Rohan's attention. He flirts with her at a sangeet event of their friend's wedding, and the two hook up that night. However, when Ahana wakes up, she realizes Rohan is gone and has blocked her number and on social media.

Neil confronts Lala after he sees her post a picture of her kissing another man. She states that she only spent time with him because she was bored and never considered their relationship to be real. Later, she files a complaint against Neil, who is fired from his job as a trainer. Afterwards, he angrily hacks into her Instagram account and makes several posts, exposing her as a fake.

Simran sees messages from a Tinder date on Imaad's phone and realizes he is still hooking up with other women. He insists that it does not mean anything, but she ends their relationship and tells him to leave. Meanwhile, Ahana drunkenly confronts Rohan at his birthday party, exposing their hookup in front of Tanya. After she leaves the party, Rohan insults Ahana, but Imaad arrives and tries to fight him. As Rohan is about to strike Imaad, Neil arrives and punches Rohan. Imaad and Neil reconcile and leave with Ahana, who realises that Rohan is not something she must base her self-worth on. Neil publicly apologizes to Lala after seeing she is being harassed online.

At a comedy show, Imaad tearfully shares that he was sexually abused as a child by his father's business partner. He admits that the abuse led to his issues with intimacy but now he wants to take control of his life. His show receives a standing ovation, and Ahana and Neil, who are in the audience, comfort him as he cries backstage.

All the three friends start taking their lives seriously and depending less on social media. They all eventually open the gym together, much to the joy of their parents. Imaad later re-approaches Simran at the opening of her art gallery, for which, she smiles indicating that they have reconciled.

Cast

 * Siddhant Chaturvedi as Imaad Ali / Zeeshan
 * Ananya Panday as Ahana Singh
 * Adarsh Gourav as Neil Pereira
 * Kalki Koechlin as Simran Kohli
 * Anya Singh as Laxmi Lalvani / Lala
 * Rohan Gurbaxani as Rohan Bhatia
 * Rahul Vohra as Imaad's father
 * Sahil Pathan as Vijay, Neil friend
 * Vijay Maurya as Malcolm Pereira, Neil's father
 * Divya Jagdale as Sally Pereira, Neil's mother
 * Garima Yagnik as Meher, Ahana's colleague and friend
 * Kashyap Kapoor as Melbun, Imaad's manager
 * Roshmin Mehandru as Malaika's primary trainer
 * Mahathi Ramesh as Aisha
 * Devarshi Shah as Ashish
 * Shiven Tharyamal as Karthik Sethi
 * Narendra Jetley as Paresh Phadnis, Lala's neighbor
 * Kat Kristian as Tanya, Rohan's New girlfriend
 * Malaika Arora as herself (cameo appearance)
 * Farhan Akhtar as himself (cameo appearance)
 * Sapan Verma as himself (cameo appearance)

Development
In June 2021, it was reported that Zoya Akthar had cast Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Adarsh Gourav in her next production. In September 2021, the filmmakers officially announced the film with the trio titled Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. In April 2023, Zoya Akthar announced the film had started shooting being directed by debutante Arjun Varain Singh and written by Singh, Akthar and Reema Kagti. The film would be produced by Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby Films. The film marks the second collaboration between Panday and Chaturvedi after Shakun Batra's noir romantic drama Gehraiyaan (2022). The theme is billed as a coming-of-digital-age story of three friends based in Mumbai. In May 2023, Kalki Koechlin confirmed to be part of film.

Filming
The principal photography of the film began on 20 March 2022 and was wrapped up on 13 August 2022.

Music
The music of the film is composed by OAFF–Savera, Sachin–Jigar, Ankur Tewari, Karan Kanchan, Rashmeet Kaur and Achint. While lyrics written by Javed Akhtar, Ankur Tewari, Dhrruv Yogi and Yashraj.

Reception
Writing for Rediff, Sukanya Verma gave the film three and half stars and praised the film's examination of "what it's like to share a gehri dosti in the digital age even as the photos grow shallower by the day". Rohan Nahaar of The Indian Express had a similar take, reviewing "Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, a coming-of-age drama that will make everybody with a fast-depleting CultFit membership feel seen". In her review for Hindustan Times, Monika Rawal Kukreja also praised the film stating "Kho Gaye Hum Kahan packages as a coming-of-age tale in a simplistic yet impactful manner". A critic from Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3/5 stars and wrote "Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’s strength lies in its performances, memorable moments and most importantly, depiction of the reality of today's social media era. The target audience, that is the urban youth, is sure to lap up the film".

Rahul Desai of Film Companion found that the film "reflects the mental frame-rate of the digital generation". Despite liking the film, Sneha Bengani of CNBC criticised how "all the conflicts are neatly packaged and airbrushed to perfection" adding that there is "little room for the chaos that is real life". In a negative review for The Hindu, Shilajit Mitra wrote that "debutant director Arjun Varain Singh and co-writers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti present a half-baked critique of social media and influencer culture in this superficial drama about three best friends in Mumbai".

Umesh Punwani from Koimoi commented that "It tries to showcase the not-so-gleamy side of social media to educate through entangled relationships". He goes on to say that "How they fall deep into the illusion of connectivity created by social media is what the main crux of the story is all about". Lastly, Umesh mentions that "This has to be, hands down, Ananya Panday‘s best performance to date, and the confidence she evokes is commendable".