Monday, August 03, 2009

Movie Review of 'Love Aaj Kal' - Hindi

The most anticipated movie from Imtiaz Ali, the director of Jab We Met and the first movie produced by Saif Ali Khan. The movie has Saif and Deepika in the lead role and supported by Rishi Kapoor. People cannot stop comparing with Jab We Met due to the huge popularity of that film which was blockbuster hit bringing Kareena and Shahid Kapoor to fame. Imtiaz Ali has to live with this comparison probably for his lifetime! unless he comes up with a brilliant movie which smashes all records.

First, this film Love Aaj Kal is not Jab We Met and does not try to be. LAK is a romantic movie set in London and ends in India. Jai and Meera (Saif & Deepika) are two jolly lovers who take love 'just like that'. After being 'together' for one year or so, they call it splits. Meera going on her way to pursue her own career in Delhi, India. Both keep in touch via the numerous communication tools like Chat, SMS, Email and phone. Both of them find new partners and Meera accepts the proposal from her new BF for marriage. Meera gets married despite the love for Jai. She understands that she cannot live without Jai in her life. She goes back and find Jai is preparing to chase his dreams in San Franciso. Intermission.

I guess you all can assume what happens to Jai in SFO. He realizes one day (after 4 years I think) that his world is doomed and knows that he loves Meera. He comes back for her to India and the lovers unite. This is the brief story of LAK but what makes it special? There is a parallel story of Rishi Kapoor set in 1965 (I think so!!) where Rishi tells Jai how he had won his lover Harleen Kaur. This story runs throughout the film based on the conversation between Jai & Rishi.

The special and dramatic effect can be seen and tell us that though the time changes, the circumstances change the 'Love' does not change. Time changes everything but Love remains same! Isn't that true!!!!!!! There are some brilliant instances where the 1965 story stops and comes to the current scene - Jai comments about that situation & asks questions to Rishi which he should ask himself for his situation. Maybe I will have another look at all the instances start & stop of 'old' story and compare with the current (Jai & Meera) story.

The weaknesses I can point out is characterization. In JVM all the characters had a purpose and the background was known. In LAK this is missing which keeps the audience guessing on what the characters will do next. Sometimes the scenes are funny. This is a serious fallout since it failed to keep me engaging.

The expectations were high, when you were looking forward to a feast but end up with a good meal only you know something is missing!

My rating for this movie is 3 stars out of 5.

Rating Details:
***** - Classic & Outstanding.
**** - Must Watch. Don't Miss!
*** - Good Movie. Watch it.
** - Watch it only if you really want to.
* - Not worth your money.