Love Aaj Kal Review – The Burden of Expectations
Love Aaj Kal is the 10th film I’ve watched in the last 76 hours, coming on the heels of All The President’s Men, Monster, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, Definitely Maybe, Patton, Amores Perros, Shaun of the Dead (2nd viewing), How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, and Heavenly Creatures. Yes, I’m currently unemployed and I’m showing off my viewing list.
I’ve never seen such long queues at a multiplex – that too for an 8 AM show! It was the expected crowd – teenagers and college-goers. These people are the most troublesome demographic. They’re the most important audience – if they like your film, then you’re through. At the same time, a large chunk of them also consists of oversmart retards who think their remarks are especially funny and will impress the girls in their group.
There’s little doubt in my mind that Love Aaj Kal will be a huge hit among the school and college brigade. It’s got everything going for it – a likeable hero, a gorgeous heroine, great music, beautiful locations, lots of good one-liners, etc.
Conclusion: there must be something wrong with me if I feel that the film’s quite good, but a notch or two away from great. Is it the burden of expectation? Have I watched too many films in the last 3 days? Does it have something to do with my state of mind?
I’m sure film makers hate to have their works compared, but it’s an unfortunate inevitability. I had no intention of watching Jab We Met. I went only on the very strong recommendation of a friend, and the film ended up being one of my all-time favourites.
Two things come to mind when comparing the films. One, Jab We Met had several of what I call ‘magic moments’ – images, lines, situations that stay with you and you remember the movie by. Hotel Decent, Kareena’s first entry into the train, passion in the hotel room in Shimla, Tarun Arora saying ‘Main ganne ke khet kyun dekhne jaun’ etc etc. Love Aaj Kal’s best moment for me was a glass of black tea under a chunni. Secondly, I was genuinely moved by Jab We Met. We know all romantic comedies have the same story – boy meets girl, loses girl, then gets or doesn’t get girl. That’s okay. What’s fun to watch are the variations to this theme. Love Aaj Kal left me feeling satisfied at the mental level, but not at the emotional level like Jab We Met did. (I hope Imtiaz isn’t polishing his guns.)
If we go a bit deeper beneath the surface and try to analyse, I think Love Aaj Kal was too heavy on discussion and less on action – not that that’s a bad thing at all, but if it were up to me (which it definitely isn’t), I would make things a little edgier. Put the heroes and heroines in a bit more of a sticky secondary situation rather than just talk comfortably. (I hope Imtiaz isn’t sharpening his sword.)
One thing I found a little weird in the movie was Saif playing the younger version of Rishi Kapoor. I understand that it was meant to show what Saif’s character would have been like in those days, but in that case, why not have Deepika play Harleen Kaur as well? I felt this device worked better for Paresh Rawal’s triple role in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, where he was the father figure to Lucky in all three roles, all of whom let Lucky down.
On the plus side, I loved the Veer-Harleen kal-ka-love much more than the Jai-Meera aaj-ka-love. Bicycle romance has its own charm, and I’ve had my fair share in school, which is why I suppose the nostalgia factor appealled to me.
Mr Rishi Kapoor has been wonderful in Hum Tum, Luck By Chance and Delhi 6, and he doesn’t disappoint here either. The way he says a simple line like ‘Tu theek toh hai?’ and loads it with heaps of meaning shows how well he knows his craft. He’s become my favourite among the senior heroes’ lot.
Coming back to romantic comedies as a genre, of the films I’ve watched recently, How To Lose Friends & Alienate People and Definitely Maybe make for an interesting comparison. The former was funny enough thanks to Simon Pegg, my favourite actor-writer, but a tad by-the-numbers and predictable. On the other hand, Definitely Maybe has been one of the best rom-coms I’ve seen for three reasons. One, at the script level, it has a very unconventional structure. Two, it was genuinely unpredictable. And three, the people in it were intelligent and likeable, and still made for great watching. A lot of times, it’s apparent in a rom-com who the wrong girl/guy is. Definitely Maybe puts forward three girls, all good girls with their own pluses and minuses, so that we have a legitimate guessing game as to who eventually gets the guy.
I watch trailers and promos only once and never fully read reviews of a film before watching it, so that I can go in with a clean slate and zero expectations. But then, how can one not have expectations from the director of Jab We Met? Not to forget Socha Na Tha, which I’ve never had a chance to watch fully but is loved by many.
Maybe I’m nitpicking too much and I’m going to be in a very small minority here, but I expected a great film from Imtiaz. I’m in no way saying it’s bad. It’s quite good. It’s much better than some recent overhyped releases that I’d have only undiplomatic things to say about. But…here I go again, I expected much better from Imtiaz. I’ll definitely watch whatever he makes. For now, I gotta finish Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy with Lady Vengeance.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Absolutely agree with you Kenny.I am just coming back from a first-day-first-show of this movie and am bowled over (for the second time after Jab we met) by the way Imtiaz Ali narrates his story (through subtleties), no melodrama.Believable and enjoyable.
Btw thanks for the Simon Pegg mention.He’s awesome :D
Feel little puzzled after reading the piece. You are thinking too much on too many things for sure
I have seen Socha na Tha and Jab We met and don’t find anything to crib about much.
Just a Q -’I had no intention of watching Jab We Met’ Why ?
I wasn’t cribbing about Jab We Met. On the contrary, it’s one of my all-time favourites.
I had no intentions of watching Jab We Met because I didn’t like Kareena. Of course, she delivered one of my favourite performances of the year, along with Tabu in Cheeni Kum and Shilpa Shukla in Chak De
Lol…I thought atleast on PFC people decide to watch movies by the Director, not the actor.
Anyway, what I meant was your article generally cribs about LAK but focuses more on international rom-com genre and showing-off your movie agenda, so I missed what is the key take away here. Anyway watching it tomorrow, I will have my own views on it.
Wish you get employed soon ( and i don’t mean that you should stop writing, in case it construes like that
Well, back then, I hadn’t seen Socha Na Tha either. Jab We Met was the first Imtiaz movie I’d seen.
Thanks for the wishes. Hopefully, being employed will lead to more in-depth writing
Not to offend you, but there is not much of a review here..It’s more about your viewed movies list..
Basically you are saying Socha Na Tha and Jab We Meet were much better movies.
@Harsha,
I agree with you
Not really, because he has not seen Socha Na Tha fully too.
Well. He has watched 10 films in 76 hours. so give him a break
No review! Only gibber! But thanks for the reco. I will Definitely Maybe! BTW if you are unemployed, shouldnt you save up rather than blow your savings on movies( What a horrible thing to say on PFC
)
“Only gibber!”????????????
Dabba!!!!!!!!
Most of the movies my bro already has, and others I’ve been borrowing, so the hole in the pocket’s not all that big. BUT I’ve learnt to invest in education, so I don’t mind that.
And do get back with your thoughts on Definitely Maybe
@~uh~™,
So LAK if put in better words, does not live up to it’s hype.
Hay guys.. seen first day first show man….
Kenny is right. I feel the same way around that…old love story was terrific but given such a less space in comparison to the new (how could he be so rude to the main exciting storyline)….Imtiaz gets a brilliant screenplay sense but he went wrong this time….but that doesn’t mean that movies in nit good but yes its an average one…
Actually it happens generally if your first movie such a huge hit then you has to go through comparisons .From this movie, I can simply get a sense of lot of interference on scripts level because it got everything except the soul.
But that’s doesn’t meant that I will forget JWM, and surely we will see more brilliant work from him. all the best and my rating will be 6/10
u kno..i saw it today..and i loved ur review..its bang-on!!
the part about the comparison with JWM is true and extremely accurate!
Love Aaj Kal left me feeling satisfied at the mental level, but not at the emotional level like Jab We Met did.absolutely!
“Maybe I’m nitpicking too much and I’m going to be in a very small minority here, but I expected a great film from Imtiaz. I’m in no way saying it’s bad. It’s quite good. It’s much better than some recent overhyped releases that I’d have only undiplomatic things to say about. But…here I go again, I expected much better from Imtiaz. I’ll definitely watch whatever he makes”
ur NOT nitpicking too much!
one more thing..see socha na tha!..:)
I WILL watch Socha Na Tha
its a lovely movie:) tell me wen u watching it… maybe we can watch 2gether!
i guess u should watch ahista ahista as well… im confused which one is which… if u knw wat i mean.. it was a long time ago… and as fas as Love Aaj Kal is concerned after watching the movie i felt i had watched it before, several times before… i will forget this movie as passe`.:) i need something unpredictible…
I agree with Kenny. I did go to theater with a lot of expectations. And I have to say that Imtiaz Ali missed the bulls eye this time.
The story is quite simple. But Imtiaz always makes movie out of simple story. But the dialogues does not have the necessary elements to make the movie above ordinary.
I liked his Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met. Also liked Ahista Ahista (he is the writer).
Hope we will see more of his good works.
I would beg to differ with the review. It was very well etched movie. It has its share of glitches but good overweighs the bad. Only weak link was Deepika, I could not connect with her character or her emotions at all. For me Jab we met was more dramatized and happens in imaginary world. Here, more connect with the real world. May be am wrong, but this was what I felt. And I liked it much better than Jab We Met.
!!!!!!!!!
Imtiaz has fuckin lost it!!
aisa luv aaj kal kya kabhi nahin ho!!!
gaaaaawd!!!
3 lines
2 scene
and one ahun ahun does not maketh an entertainer!!! gaaaaawd!!!
Lol! just a representation of the bad taste age.
i think jab we met is a over rated movie,its ur average bollywood flick….i dont understand why so many people are crazy about it,…
if u want love stories…watch Once…..*ing Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová… and 500 days of summer …..* ing Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Zooey Deschanel
and i remember anurag saying luv aaj kal made him cry…. wanted to know whether he cried coz he was moved by it or coz it was such a fuckin sad movie…
as DPac says 3 lines,2 scenes doesn’t make a good movie
I love Once. Falling Slowly is one of the greatest simple songs ever made. Truly Oscar-worthy.
And I’m looking forward to watching 500 Days of Summer too.
But I would most certainly not say that Jab We Met is average or overrated. It’s one of my favourites
I am having a positive feeling now, feeling cured. Earlier I thought either everyone is wrong or I am insane.
@Vineeth, ONCE is the shit, can’t wait to see Days of summer, it’s the most acclaimed romance-drama of the year as of now.
Seriously even I agree with Dpac here, I mean no ways did this movie move me @ all.a romantic film falls flat- if u dont connect with the on screen romance!!!
Why is a new age earnest and sensitive boy ( Imtiaz Ali) from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand who is making films in Mumbai, Maharasthra continously compelled to butter his so called Hindi films in liberal layers of Desi Punjabi ghee? (Then if he wins an award-the acceptance speech will be in English.)
Is Bollywood set in the bylanes of Ludhiana or Jalandhar? When will we ever see a Love Story set in Bhopal or Patna? Why can’t someone dare to highlight the culture/language of the garhwali people instead?
And if films based on punjabi culture do have to be made-why can they not show things for what they actually are?( as in- Oye Lucky Lucky Oye) Isn’t everyone sick of this endless fake punjabi-fication ?
And for someone who’s seen 10 foreign films in the last 76 hours-why doesn’t the reviewer mention the Tiawanese film that LAK was supposedly jhado-fied from? He could take a stance either way and not let his readers suspect that he’s playing it Saif.
Manoj, I’m not aware of the Taiwanese film. What’s the name?
Kenny, Manoj means ‘Three Times’. But he definitely haven’t seen Three Times coz then he would have understood that Love Aaj Kal has nothing to do it.
I wish it was coz then Love Aaj Kal would have been so much better than currently it is
Here’s the story summary of Three Times on IMDB:
“Three stories of women and men: in 1966, “A Time for Love,” a soldier searches for a young woman he met one afternoon playing pool; “A Time for Freedom,” set in a bordello in 1911, revolves around a singer’s longing to escape her surroundings; in 2005 in Taipei, “A Time for Youth” dramatizes a triangle in which a singer has an affair with a photographer while her partner suffers. In the first two stories, letters are crucial to the outcome; in the third, it’s cell-phone calls, text messages, and a computer file. Over the years between the tales, as sexual intimacy becomes more likely and words more free, communication recedes”
Doesn’t sound ANYTHING like Love Aaj Kal to me.
The same leads perform in all the 3 stories (in Three Times) and they are not interconnected to each other as they are in Love Aaj Kal. Three stories in Three Times show love in different time period and how the perception has changed.
I mean that idea is similar in Love Aaj Kal as we basically compare Rishi Kapoor’s love story wih Saif’s.
Aniruddha, I was actually directing my reply to Manoj.
I understand what you mean.
Kenny- it is supposed to be Three Times
( Zui Hao De Shi Guang ), haven’t seen it though.
The most hilarious allegation of plagiarism was levelled by some nut job on the rediff message boards, who wrote in big capital letters on the review of Frozen…”COPY OF VERTICAL LIMIT!!!”
Kenny,
In the same vein, me thinks it’d be good if FilmFare institutionalized the ‘art’ of ‘copying’ by including it as a separate category in its Annual Award Show.
Isn’t the ‘Best original screenplay’ category passe’ anyway? I remember a hot-shot filmmaker declaring that ‘Originality was overrated’ right here on P4C.
Khalid Mohammad could get the Great Anu Malik to give recyclable styrofoam versions of the coveted Black-Lady for Best Desi copy (Tamil/telegu to Hindi), Best Foreign copy (English/Euro cinema to hindi), Best Copy ka Copy ( Memento to Ghajini types) and even Best Single Copy from Multiple sources ( Raaz 2 types).
Manoj, I thoroughly agree with you on the awards, but they’re rather out of context with regard to Imtiaz’s work. He’s one of the most original people we have, and honestly speaking, apart from the basic premise of comparing love in different eras, nothing sounds similar between LAK and Three Times.
The skirt is too long!…. (Deepika’s)
That HAS to be the best observation on this non-deserving film!
what’s wrong with you all man?
How can you come out of that theater thinking Love Aaj Kal is even remotely a good film? It’s painstakingly irritating. Confused characterization, lackluster dialogs, ghissy phitty plot lines, wasted songs. Please for God’s sake what’s wrong with this country’s audience? And to make the matters worse, the reviewers are biased too along with the members of PFC. It’s like everyone is trying hard to like this film.
I fully support with everyone comes in favor of another mediocre film like Sankat City, because despite everything, it’s still attempting to be different. Love Aaj Kal enjoys no such benefit. It’s a mainstream film made like any other mainstream film in this city and it has to be dealt with accordingly.
I can actually see Imtiaz Ali deteriorating since his first Socha Na Tha, which I still think is his best film.
Imtiaz bro, you better not get corrupted.
kevin the basic premise being similar should be acknowledged . thats all. if thats done then , no one has any business calling this movie a copy . but its the fact that the makers deny any comparisons or inspiration that doesnt go down too well . the movie stands on that basic thought of comparing love in two different times . after that you can meander with teh story and screenplay anywhere .
Never thought i would use this word when it came to Imitiyaz Ali’s films but its FAKE and the prime reason is that the camaraderie which should have been between saif-deepika is completely lacking..it seems as if both are weighing pros and cons of being in and out of relationship in every damn scene …and Deepika sucksss with big S..she should take some voice-coaching or something..this is one “A-list”( still cant figure out how she reached there) actress who seriously needs some acting lessons…even Katrina acts better than her despite of accent…loved the feel of old delhi but it does nothing to revive the film..once again i repeat DEEPIKA kills the whole film..i hope sanity prevails in Imitiyaz Ali and he never ever signs Deepika-equivalents (actresses with null acting quotient) in his future films..Starting off with Socha Na Tha and continuing the dream run with JWM, LAK seems like complete bullshit
Hi,
I agree, this is Imitiaz’s worst to date. Very disappointing. More disappointing is Anurag Kashyap being 0/2 with his recent recos.
Regards,
Santino
Looks like everyone is having a whale of a time LAK / IA bashing.
My take – the Veer-Harleen track was gooey gooey good – I do not remember one recent Bolly movie where the romance was so feel good. In fact the problem was the Saif-Deepika track where one kept longing for more of V-H – the innocence and era were recreated beautifully. Kudos for that.
S-D could have been slavaged to some extent by a more fun climax like JWM – I’m sure Imtiaz would have racked his brains on this one.
I think the reason the older romance appeared to be so much more appealing is because it plays to expectations – it’s love of the kind we’re used to, it fits a definition of aspirational romance that’s been drilled into us – very non-Mango type. But the new age romance is a lot more like watching the complicated mating ritual of your dumb friends. It has its own charm and personally it worked for me, but it’s not the kind of love story that inspires you to run out and fall in love TODAY! It’s very much a Mango love affair.
Yes!!!! Quite true!!!! The same is my reaction…………Its quite good but its not anything even comparable to Socha Na Tha & Jab We Met…….and why should it be????
I am glad that Imtiaz has thankfully not become Kunal Kohli & even Aaditya Chopra for instance…..who have made one great film each & that too seem to be a flukes!!!!
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Here’s Imtiaz…..He still has witty, sharp humour…..good performances….enjoyable music….& most importantly he has his film’s soul in place & that’s what really matters!!!! Two steps up…one step down…..its perfectly all right!!!
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BTW…most of the people told me that the film doesn’t stay with them after watching!!!! I don’t know!!! I kept thinking abt Jai for more then 2 days….and I was fascinated to see glimpses of Sharatchandra’s Devdas in him (In the latter part…where he gets his dream job….enjoys in the beginning….but then starts sliding down gradually….getting bored & frustrated & all that)…well I would call him an ignorant Devdas…one, who knows that something is amiss…but doesn’t really know what it is???? And then…dhen ta dhan…its Meera!!!!! And he can’t really believe that it all can happen in today’s era…and that too to a person like him!!!!!!!!
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I think…..thts how Dev D should have had been (No Offence AK)…..this is a far more +ve & creative, realistic & contemporary take on Devdas!!!!
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I just looooooooved the picturization of “Main woh hoon….jo chaahoon wo paaoon…”!!! Fantastic!!!!
People, i think something is wrong with our audiences or is it they are getting used to anything. Films is a complete boomer for me and most of the people i know. Very pathetic and disappointing film. Except song, one good thing is Deepika, who is like a good looking,nicely carved piece of LOG. Plastic. Barbie doll. Saif, should try for father role, by wearing t.shirt doesnot make you BOY, you still an uncle of most of the girls in school and college. Imtiaz good to see you following the footsteps of Yash Raj and Kunal Kohli , very soon you ambition will come true, making films for Yash Raj, anyways in the past films,thou good, but definitely inspired by Yash Uncle. I am sure he is noticing you closely. So here comes another Director on the Run with lots of colour and locations and no substance …