Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

The film begins with the interview of Ayan Sanger (Ranbir Kapoor), a singer who has newly acquired fame with his non-filmy songs. He tells the story of his experience of love in a flashback. A few years ago, in London, a chance meeting in a disco between Ayan, the son of a millionaire, a novice in terms of sex-related matters, and Alizeh Khan (Anushka Sharma), who knows about sex a little more, ends up with them trying to make out, and it turning into a comedy. They get to know about each other and become friends. Later, when they discover their respective partners are cheating on them, they break up with their lovers: Ayan with Lisa D'Souza and Alizeh with "Dr." Faisal Khan and the two go to Paris to spend a week together. While Ayan falls in love with Alizeh but does not tell her while she considers him to be only a "friend". One day, Alizeh stumbles upon DJ Ali, her ex-boyfriend/lover, who wants to reconcile. Partially confused, but still in love with him, Alizeh decides to go with DJ Ali, and so unintentionally stops hanging out with Ayan and they cease communication.

A few days later, Alizeh calls and invites Ayan to her wedding with DJ Ali Khan ( Fawad Khan) in Lucknow. Ayan is petrified on hearing this but agrees to the invitation. At the wedding, he tells Alizeh he loves her but she rejects his feelings causing Ayan to leave the ceremony heartbroken. At the airport to board a flight to Dubai, he meets Saba Taliyar Khan (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), a poet, who is leaving for Vienna. She consoles Ayan and gives him a book with her poetry and number on it. Ayan calls after three months stating that he is in Vienna and wants to meet her. He learns that Saba is divorced and has no place for love in her heart. Later, he also meets Saba's ex-husband, Tahir Taliyar Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) in a fine arts gallery, who tells him that one-sided love is not a weakness but empowering. Ayan, who had blocked Alizeh from contacting him in all ways, finally calls and reconnects with her. He begins to send pictures of Saba to her to try and induce jealousy.

One day Alizeh informs Ayan that she's coming to Vienna and wants to meet him. Ayan invites her for dinner with Saba to provoke Alizeh into loving him, but Alizeh thinks Ayan has found love in Saba and is happy for him. Meanwhile, Saba begins to develop feelings for Ayan, but he loves Alizeh. Seeing his love for Alizeh, Saba asks him to leave.

Ayan continues to harbor love for Alizeh and becomes a famous singer with his channel. He meets Ali one day and realizes that Ali and Alizeh have parted ways. Ayan goes to Alizeh's favorite spot and waits there until she arrives. Alizeh tells Ayan that she is diagnosed with cancer stage IV and will not live much longer. Ayan and Alizeh try to make the best of their time together. Ayan tries to make Alizeh love him, to no avail. This leads to a fight between the two, and Alizeh decides to leave Ayan. Next morning Ayan tries to search for Alizeh, apparently reaching the airport and thus fulfilling her last wish also before death. Eventually, Ayan makes peace with the fact that he and Alizeh can at least be friends and nothing more. Alizeh dies soon. The screen blacks out and comes back to the present where Ayan, still a popular singer, is giving an interview based on the love of his life. Ayan sings the song "Channa Mereya", which is inspired by his one-sided love story, and finishes the interview.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was made on a total budget of over ₹100 crore ($15 million), including marketing and distribution costs. Prior to its release, the film had already recouped ₹75 crore ($11.2 million) from music, satellite and digital rights, so it needed to recover only ₹25 crore ($3.7 million) from the domestic box office. Worldwide, the film earned ₹90.84 crore ($13.6 million) on its opening weekend,[19] while ComScore reported an estimated $12.8 million from 14 markets.[20] As of November, it has made $21.3 million worldwide.[21]

In India, its domestic market, the film had to compete with Shivaay which was released on the same day during the lucrative Diwali weekend.[22] On its opening day the film made ₹13.30 crore, the third biggest for both Kapoor and Sharma,[23] and the sixth biggest for a Bollywood film of the year.[24] Through its opening weekend, it scored a debut of ₹35.60 crore ($5.3 million) net in its three days on 3,200 screens, equating to a gross ₹49.84 crore ($7.65 million), the ninth-biggest debut of the year[25] and the best ever debut for Johar, beating My Name is Khan's ₹31.50 crore ($4.7 million).[26] On Monday, it saw a hike in ticket sales, earning ₹17.75 crore ($2.65 million) due to the holiday season.[27] In its first full week, the film earned ₹80.19 crore ($12 million) in India alone and $20.2 million worldwide.[28] The film continued to dominate the box office in its second weekend, earning $3.2 million from 2,000 screens (−1,200 screens).[29] In just 10 days, the film earned ₹97.17 crore ($14.6 million) net and has become the sixth highest-grossing Bollywood film in the country. Moreover, the film now ranks as the highest-earner for Aishwarya, beating Dhoom 2's ₹82.30 crore ($12.3 million) in 2006; the fourth biggest for Anushka as well as for Ranbir.[29]

In the United Kingdom, it recorded the biggest Bollywood opening of the year with ₹4.88 crore ($772,891), debuting at eighth place at the U.K. box office.[20] However, this is inclusive of previews. Including previews, Sultan would be the clear winner with a $1.3 million debut in July. But excluding previews, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is ahead of the former.[30] In the United States and Canada, the film received a limited release across 302 theaters and grossed ₹14 crore ($2.13 million) in its opening weekend finishing in tenth place.[31]

By the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed ₹146.64 crore in India and ₹223.51 crore worldwide.[3]

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 50% score based on 14 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.[32] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[33]

Bollywood Hungama gave 4/5 ratings and commented, "a contemporary and a progressive take on relationships from the master story teller Karan Johar".[34]

Raja Sen and Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com respectively rated 4/5 and 3.5/5 and said, "Thank you, Karan Johar for this film feels like a sob. Johar has improved massively as a storyteller, this film is more polished and assured than anything he's done before."[35] and, "As evident by his body of work, Karan Johar has a sweet spot for this attribute, in the splendidly romantic and richly satisfying ADHM."[36]

Nihit Bhave of The Times of India rated 3.5/5 and said, "a beautiful-looking film that isn't bereft of logic".[37]

Subhash K. Jha of Deccan Chronicle rated 2.5/5 and said, "ADHM is one good looking film with actors who epitomise human beauty."[38] Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times rated 2.5/5, saying "ADHM offers little in terms of story and fails to get the audience empathise or feel for the characters and events in the movie."[39]

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated 2/5 and said, "Johar is unable to go the extra mile, hope that Johar will come up with something newer and sharper the next time around."[40] Mike McCahill of The Guardian rated 2/5 and said, "Despite controversy over the casting, Karan Johar's romance, has a failure of nerve about Hindu-Muslim relations."[41]

The Hindu commented, "ADHM is the latest in the brand of cinema that isn't so much as plot driven as it is focused on characters, relationships, and interactions."[42]

Reuters commented, "ADHM has neither gravitas nor the charm to be worth remembering."[43]

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