Love Aaj Kal directed by one of Bollywood’s most promising directors, who in the past, has directed gems like Socha Na Tha (2005) and Jab We Met (2007). Ali is arugably one big reason, why Love Aaj Kal is on every moviegoer’s must-watch list.
While Socha Na Tha (a box office disaster) is one of his best works to date, Jab We Met aided by Kareena Kapoor’s fabulous performance, fantastic dialogues and great music was thoroughly entertaining. Love Aaj Kal has great music and a decent storyline but the performances and overall entertainment value fall well short of expectations.
What works for Love Aaj Kal
- Music by Pritam Chakraborty adds great value to the film. Yeh Dooriyan stands out.
- The dialogues to a certain extent are very realistic, something which the current generation can easily identify with.
- The “Aaj” and “Kal” stories are easy to relate to; survival of long distance relationships, commitment phobia, of love getting more physical and mental are some of the common issues, most in their 20s are struggling with. The older generation would love Rishi’s love story, a story which shows how the concept of dating and falling in love has changed drastically in the last couple of decades or so.
- Saif Ali Khan is brilliant as Jai, a role similar to his characters in Kal Ho Na Ho and Dil Chahta Hai.
- Rishi Kapoor has limited scope, but does well. Wife Neetu Singh has a special appearance. Rahul Khanna is good in a small role.
- The young Harleen is cute, has just about 2 dialogues but her screen presence and expressions more than makes up for her silence!
Reasons why Love Aaj Kal disappoints
- Its a D-R-A-G, the second half seems to go on forever! Should have ideally been about 30 minutes shorter.
- Without revealing the rather disappointing climax, the last 30 odd minutes is full of unnecessary Bollywood clichés.
- The narrative, which keeps switching between “Aaj” and “Kal”, does get confusing at times. To add to it, we have Saif as the young Rishi Kapoor; the only way to differentiate between the two is the turban and the sets.
- Saif’s mannerisms and accent doesn’t quite go with the punjabi character of Veer Singh in the 60s.
- Love Aaj Kal lacks the wholesome entertainment value of Imtiaz Ali’s earlier films, the light hearted scenes just don’t work.
- Deepika Padukone is poor in emotional sequences, crying is something she should avoid in her future films.
Overall, make no mistake, Love Aaj Kal is a decent family flick. But from a Imtiaz Ali film, we expect more, a lot more than what this slow, at times over dramatic tale on love relationships has to offer.
The wait and hype, most definitely and quite sadly, hasn’t been worth it. At the box office the film would rely on its pre-release hype and music to draw audience to theatres.
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