Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. Review on Love Aaj Kal

Love Aaj Kal takes you through this journey called Love – the way older generation perceived it and the way the younger generation does.

The movie starts with Jai (Saif) and Mira (Deepika) meeting in a pub and thus starts their friendship/ relationship. Very clear about having a good time with each other, they decide to celebrate their break up by throwing a party (a farewell party would have been a better option given the fact that the two were not even sure if they were in a relationship) when Mira has to leave for India to pursue a career.

At the party, Jai meets Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) who is convinced that Jai and Mira are meant to be together. He tries to put this through Jai’s head, who is very clear about his priorities and how love need not be taken so seriously.

Thus begins the wonderful parallel track of Veer’s own love story. The younger Veer (played by Saif again – a great idea as the older Veer sees himself in Jai) is in love with Harleen Kaur and takes up a ‘pratigyaa’ to be with her - not only in this janam but every janam. Veer goes through the regular follow the girl routine all the way to another city where Harleen moves with her family. Harleen reciprocates and that gives Veer the courage to put up a fight against the girl’s family. The older couple is as clear about being with each other as the younger couple is confused.

The younger couple in the meanwhile is still trying to figure out who they like. Jai starts dating Jo (a Swiss girl) and Mira starts seeing her boss, Vikram (Rahul Khanna). Jai plans a trip to India with Jo and uses this opportunity to ‘catch up’ with Mira. Jai and Mira are back to their having a good time ways, behind their respective partners’ backs. The very casual friendship/ relationship suddenly starts showing signs of seriousness when Mira gets proposed by Vikram. And, we have a second ‘break-up’. What follows is a totally-confused main characters expressing love, getting married to the wrong person, walking out of the marriage the next day, waiting for the old love to return, etc, etc. I was completely exhausted trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Thankfully, the sweet love story between Veer and Harleen provided some respite.

What further kills the movie is zero chemistry between Saif and Deepika. One hardly feels for their characters – be it them so-much-in-love or so-much-in-pain and everything in between. Saif as Jai is good (similar roles in Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste, etc.). Saif as younger Veer is great (don’t mind his anglicized Punjabi accent too much). Deepika looks beautiful but could do with some Bollywood style dramebaazi :-). She comes across completely blank in most of the emotional scenes. She shows spark in the ‘Chor Bazaari’ song, though. The younger Harleen is played by a Brazilian model and though she has nothing much to do she suits the part. Rishi Kapoor is fantastic as usual. Neetu Singh as the older Harleen is neat.

There are some great dialogues one can watch out for. Songs are passable and do not flow with the story. Strictly, a one-time watch.