Love Aaj Kal: My Review. Review on Love Aaj Kal

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padulkone, Rishi Kapoor, Shweta Gulati, Giselle Monteiro

Director: Imtiaz Ali

To follow up on the success of a movie as successful as Jab We Met is not a small task. The super hit music and the near maniacal energy and spirit of Geet(Kareena Kapoor ‘s character), matched by Shahid’s restrained and mature act, were an unbeatable combination in Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met.

Imtiaz however has found another formula in Love Aaj Kal to make a refreshing film without trying to out do his first film. Instead of wondering how to have a character that outshines or at least does not pale in comparison to Kareena’s in JWM he goes in the opposite direction and gives us Meera(Deepika Padukone) who is as calm, rational and unflappable as Kareena was excitable and hyper-charged. In Love Aaj Kal(LAK) Imtiaz gives us a fresh and breezy love story that does not play by the usual rules of a Bollywood romance. Here we have a young couple, Jai and Meera, who get together right at the beginning of the movie and spend the rest of it going their own ways only to discover that what they had with each other was indeed magical and worth keeping.

The film shuttles between the love story of Rishi Kapoor(playing an elderly sardar ji) in his youth with his darling Harleen Kaur(Giselle) and the present day romance of Jai and Meera(Saif and Deepika). The cities(Kolkata, Delhi, London, San Fransisco) are captured beautifully and the switching back and forth between the old and the new love stories is kept from getting tedious by some brilliant editing. The dialogues are sharp and entertaining in an unpretentious sort of way.

Saif gives a well nuanced performance(although it is getting harder for him to play a 20 something character when he is pushing 40) and Deepika is so much a girl of the times. The supporting cast does a good job too. The story develops very slowly and may tax the patience of those who like fast paced films but the visual finesse of the film, the lack of a cacophonic background score and the casual every day sartorial style of the entire cast is a welcome break from the masala big star cast films that are the standard fare of Bollywood.

Though the continuous comparison of the romantic styles of the older and the younger generation over endless cups of black tea and coffee does get a bit taxing, it is still a decent, believable and entertaining pop corn romance that one can watch with the family. No vulgarity here in either the scenes or the dialogues. This is a film about a couple who has already lived together, shared their lives and are in that phase of a relationship where there is more ease and comfort with each other rather than crackling chemistry. The film may not be as entertaining as Jab We Met but should do alright with those in search of a light, non action film.

The music(Punjabi/English/Hindi mix) is easy on the ears but nothing exceptional.

My verdict: worth a watch. 3 ½ stars