Love Aaj Kal (2009)

Posted by on Aug 8th, 2009 and filed under Latest Movies Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Synopsis :

Love Aaj London, San Francisco, Delhi – 2009. Jai and Meera is a modern-day couple in London. They are very happy together but do not believe in tying each other down. So when life pulls them in different directions, they decide to go with the flow. “These Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet type janam janam ka saath type couples exist only in story books”, Jai says. In the real life, we have to be practical. Love Kal Delhi, Calcutta – 1965. Veer Singh is struck by the thunderbolt when he sees Harleen for the first time. Soon after, he stands under a tree and swears that “is janam mein aur har janam mein… yehi meri votti banegi – Harleen Kaur.” He travels a thousand kilometers by train to stand under her balcony only to have a glimpse of her face. And yet not speak a word with her. Love Aaj Kal Veer does not understand how Jai can treat matters of the heart without passion, like a financial transaction. Jai does not understand how Veer Singh could have been so naïve and silly about Harleen in the days of his youth. But as both stories unfold, we realize that the process of relationship might be different in different eras, but the experience of being in love remains the same. So there is the frolic and despair of modern living
Review
The film opens, rather originally, with a break-up. Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone are parting ways with utmost cordiality, deciding indeed to have a break-up party to celebrate their rediscovered singledom. The girl leaves, the boy stays back and is then coerced by Rishi Kapoor , a genial London cafe owner, to say goodbye at the airport. Rishi drives Saif there and thrusts a bouquet into his hands, and Deepika’s delighted as she leaves. Kapoor then, on Saif’s insistence, starts telling him his own love story, and the film then narrates both romances side by side.

Love aaj kal

love aaj kal

Ali uses a very interesting device by casting Saif himself in the Kapoor flashbacks: Kapoor tells Khan how the boy reminds him of his youth, and so the Sikh Saif isn’t Kapoor as he used to look, but Kapoor as both he and Saif can visualise him as the tale is narrated. It’s a clever move even though Saif struggles rather laughably with his Punjabi early on in the film, and it doesn’t help how the narrative inevitably flips back and forth between that and the overslanged Lay’s-salesman Saif of today. A good move overall, though.

Saif does well but his character is wishy-washy, offensive in both the brash way he speaks to Rishi Kapoor as well as the callousness with which he takes his British girlfriend to India and packs her on a tourbus. Still, he does make the lines work. Rishi, on the other hand, is impossible not to like and even if he seems like he’s repeating the same old good-natured romantic spiel film after film, at least he’s doing it very well indeed. And it is Harleen Sr who truly takes the breath away. (See what I mean about the importance of a real actress?)

Love Aaj Kal is a harmless, watchable film — sad, because it could have been truly special. It has its moments in the first half, while the second half is an over-melodramatic drag. Or have I missed the point, and is Imtiaz making an incisive comment on the nature of Bollywood masala, saying be it today or yesterday, our romances stay as cheesy as they are breezy?

You might also like

Shilpa to celebrate New Year on ship
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty who is back from her honeymoon from the Bahamas with London-based businessman...
‘London Dreams’ in theatres now.
Directed by Vipul Shah, 'London Dreams is about a band with Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan playing rock...
Lara and Deepika share a common Love
Deepika Padukone and Lara Dutta bonded well on the sets of "Housefull", thanks to their common love for...
London Dreams faces Bajrang Dal ire
Dozens of Bajrang Dal activists staged a violent protest here Monday insisting that the screening of...

3 Responses for “Love Aaj Kal (2009)”

  1. Ankur says:

    Nice movie……

  2. gomillions says:

    superb music , nice movie

  3. ashishsingla says:

    Ya its a really very cool movie. Saif and Deepika rocks….

Leave a Reply

Advertisement
Free Blog Hit Counter
Free Blog Hit Counter


Disclaimer All photos are believed to be in the public domain. If you are the copyright holder of any image posted here, please notify me at and it will be removed immediately.