Gestern, heute & für immer - Love Aaj Kal

The three films that Imtiaz Ali has directed so far have a common theme running through them - the protagonists do not realize that they are in love till the very end. In all three the real drama is not in how the lovers meet or fall in love or the peripheral characters (like family or friends). It is about realization. That he does it successfully third time in a row probably tells that Imtiaz Ali either feels very strongly about the concept or that he has had some real life experience of his own.

Love Aajkal starts with Jai (Saif) and Meera (Deepika) breaking up. They are apparently very practical about their relationship and plan it such that it goes along with their other plans for life. Only that life, as always, has plans of its own. The more time they spend away from each other, the more they realize they are meant to be together. To catalyze the Jai's end of the realization process we have an amiable old café owner, Veer (Rishi Kapoor). Veer's love story in flashback is a parallel track to Jai-Meera's. Both the stories run juxtaposed with each other to a predictable but nevertheless heart warming climax.

Saif plays both Jai and the young Veer. He is top notch in both roles. Flambouyance comes naturally to him when he plays Jai and he is very convincing as the rugged and (at times) clumsy Veer. Deepika is at ease in the role of Meera. It seems as if she is playing herself. At the dramatic scenes, however, like the one immediately after her marriage where she is impatient to talk to Jai, and the scene following that when she is talking to Jai over the phone, she betrays that she still needs to learn the ropes. She looks stunning in every frame. Perfect foil to the glamorous Meera is the docile and beautiful Harleen. She is pretty as a picture, though she hardly speaks in the entire film.

Imtiaz Ali is an inspired director. He knows his characters and his story. He is more focused on technique this time, compared to Jab We Met or Socha Na Tha. I guess that is because he was aware that he has a weaker story in hand. He handles the two tracks brilliantly, managing to keep both engaging. His editor delivers the goods for him to achieve that. A noteworthy good work by the editor is the sequence at the beginning where we see the cast and crew credits. It is a collage of scenes from the complete film.

The songs go well with the film (though with Pritam, I don't know how much of it is original). The background score could have been more imaginative.

Love Aajkal is easily the best romantic comedy of the year so far. Worth watching.

Its always challenging to write about movie which is complete all aspects. There is a predicament if one would do justice - and needless to say "Love Aaj Kal" falls into the same category. If I were to list the top 3 movies of 2009, it would be - Kaminey, Dev D & Love Aaj Kal.

There is no earth-shattering love-story in "Love Aaj Kal". The USP of "Love Aaj Kal" is juxtaposing the past with the present using "Love" as the baseline. In DDLJ Anupam Kher says a memorable line "Mohabbat ka naam, aaj bhi mohabbat hain" and Imitiaz effectively translates this on silver screen to convey that the core emotion/ feeling "Love" is still the same - unadulterated & pristine, the dynamics however may have changed with times.

¤ Saif: Reprising the character of modern/ contemporary "Jai" comes quite naturally to Saif and undoubtedly his its his forte. I particularly liked the way "Jai" goes on verbal diarrhoea when he gets confused. It takes a while for the audience to get around rustic sepia "Veer Singh" but once that mental block is jumped over, you would appreciate two distinct characters played by Saif and yet again conjoined to Rishi Kapoor. And yes, donning the hats of the producer is indeed praiseworthy.

¤ Deepika: There are varied shades to her character and it lives within the defined boundaries. Her conviction to follow the philosophy "Set your love free...." is well portrayed. Author backed role and she delivers with utmost perfection (to the extent that you can't imagine anybody else in her shoes). And yes, her best performance till date, and maybe long way to go until she manages to surpass it.

¤ Giselle Monteiro: She was fantabulous as Harleen, and keeping the secret under the wraps? Only Imtiaz could have managed to pull such a spectacular feat.

¤ Rishi Kapoor: Spot on. You will fall in love with this large- hearted Sardar.

¤ Rahul Khanna: Nearly forgot! He was adequate but his character was more of a stocking filler.

Songs by Pritam are neatly-blended into the storyline. The foot- tapping numbers are bound to stay on top charts for a while. Nicely complimenting them is the choreography. The costumes designers deserve a special mention. Technical department namely story, screenplay and script are the strongest point of "Love Aaj Kal". The passion of Imtiaz Ali gets reflected in each frame.

"Jab We Met" had set a new bar and I was sceptical if Imtiaz would manage to get even close. But after "Love Aaj Kal", yet again he has set a new precedent.

Raj Kapoor was extremely passionate about his movies - he narrated the story from the bottom of his heart, the female characters were fleshed out strongly and the music was rich. The Bollywood can now rest for a true successor to the "Showman" has arrived.

PS: The last frame in "Love Aaj Kal" was a pure master stroke.

I was quite disappointed by Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal. So much hype before and after release, and for what? For an ordinary story with nothing new to offer. The film is light and simple, but while in some cases these are the good qualities of a film, in this case, these are actually the film's pitfalls. There is actually no real story to speak of, and the film is slow-paced and at times simply boring. Love Aaj Kal is about a young guy named Jai who just ended his relationship with his girlfriend Meera. He then meets a mature Sardar named Veer Singh who tells him of his own story. From then on, the past and the present run concurrently. Saif Ali Khan plays Jai, and in the flashbacks, he plays the young Veer, whose older version is played by Rishi Kapoor. This kind of narrative style is not one to my liking, but it could have been more interesting had it been used and treated differently. For one, I could not understand why Ali had to cast Khan to play the young Rishi Kapoor. If there was some family connection between the characters of Veer and Jai, it would be more tolerable. Also, one has to note that there is absolutely zero resemblance between Khan and Kapoor, which makes it quite odd that the former played the younger version of the latter.

The film is not unwatchable by any means, but it is just not a film I personally would want to watch again. There are good things about it, no doubt, but they cannot save the story from being stale and uninspiring. The songs are quite nice to listen to, particularly "Yeh Dooriyan", which is wonderfully sung by Mohit Chauhan, and "Aaj Din Chadheya". The entire soundtrack really fits the film's mood. Saif Ali Khan repeats his young, carefree Don Juan role as Jai. His character has shades of Karan from Hum Tum (according to me his career-best), where he played a modern, cool and kind-hearted womaniser. Khan in an actor of unmatched comic talent, and though he is a bit old to play a character of this sort, here too he performs well and successfully portrays his character's gradual growth. The problem is, as said, casting him in the role of the young Veer. A younger actor would be a more interesting choice for the part. Deepika Padukone is an extremely pretty and attractive lass, and her smile lights up the screen, but something is missing there. Though she does well in some sequences, she fails to register the growth in her character. Rishi Kapoor is wonderful as Veer Singh, Rahul Khanna is okay as Vikay, and Giselle Monteiro is decent as Harleen.

Love Aaj Kal has some nice sequences. It was quite funny to see Jai and Meera celebrating their separation, and then regretting it after realising their true feelings for each other. The dialogues are good for the most part. Loved the scene in which Jo, Jai's new girlfriend who is played by a foreign beauty called Florence Brudenell-Bruce, decides to leave him as she notices his indifference towards their relationship. The film can be an entertaining watch with family and friends, though towards the end it has its share of clichés and becomes very predictable. After watching a charming and entertaining piece like Jab We Met, I had high expectations from this Imtiaz Ali film. Unfortunately, in this one the chemistry between the leads is missing, and though the film grows on you as it nears the end, it ends up being worthy of just a one-time watch. I am sure Ali is capable of making much more than just an ordinary love story like this one. Hope he does so in the future.

We are now living into a materialistic world where even the relationships are now built on calculation...but does that mean that the essence of true feelings have gone obsolete? Finding answer of such trivial question would take you a long time unless you want to see a 2+ hours movie called "Love Aaj kal". I am sure now the bells would not ring but definitely in time to come people would realize that the message delivered by the movie is much deeper than what it feels from the first look.

This movie is a journey of love from past to present, to convey the message that something doesn't change with the time and at the end one has to follow his/her heart because that's what is the real pursuit of happiness.

The story of movie revolves around two protagonists, one from the present and one from past. Only with the glitch of time -frame change, both the stories follows the same path and ultimately ends at the very point where essentially a true love story should end, A happy ending. The only difference in both the stories is the way realization happen, in the one of past the realization is much of obvious where as in the present it's quite melodramatic yet very close to a real life incident which you could see around.

Yet after being such serene,pure and refreshing what this movie lacks is the attachment with the characters, you would not be able to connect to the characters as you should, may be the soul of it is missing due to lack of chemistry between the lead actors Saif and Deepika.

I wouldn't say they didn't perform well but still I was kind of disconnect to them though I felt more connected to story of past..may be because I still have my faith on age old love sagas :-). I guess the chemistry between Saif-Deepika didn't work as well as it was expected.

Performance wise, I guess Deepika was standout of the entire cast, she played her role of straight headed career oriented woman with much of ease and really was completely involved in her role (May be because her traits belongs to the same). Saif was looking much of a confused person not only because his role demanded it but also because may be he was not hitting the right cord along with Deepika. Role played by Rishi Kapoor is fantastic, he was the best fit for the role and the urge, excitement and emotions he portrayed were so true to be real that it always made you feel it was coming right from heart and you would want to follow them.

Music is really peppy and catchy, few tunes are foot tapping and there is a very nice soft song "Dooriyan" which would slowly intoxicate you. Cinematography is also very nice and so as direction, the best thing of direction is that Imtiaz never does copy of anyone's style but his improvisation is so nice that he somewhat creates a cult, be it "Socha Na Tha" or "Jab We Met".... you would find people relating themselves to the characters, I am sure this would continue after Love Aaj kal as well. He always come to characters not larger than life but true to life, absolute treat to watch his movies.

All in all this is a good bet to spend your money.

Unlike the complex games people play nowadays, as Jai Vardhan Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera Pandit (Deepika Padukone) engages in. The first few minutes of the film might be a little strange and frustrating even, where it plays out like an advertisement for modern love moving at a breakneck pace of a whirlwind romance. Jai and Meera meet, fall madly in love, spend incredible moments together, only to allow reasons of practicality spoil everything. Since their careers are going to put them thousands of miles apart – Meera heading towards Delhi and Jai dreaming of eventually relocating to San Francisco, having no trust in long distance relationship means the logical decision to break up and remain friends.

In the other story, Veer Singh (Saif Ali Khan again) meets and falls in love with Harleen Kaur (newcomer Gisele), but being the old-fashioned Romeo and with a process in place to woo the woman of your dreams, he finds it extremely difficult to break the ice, and only to learn that his task has been made doubly complex with the dimension of distance getting in the way as Harleen's family uproots to Kolkata. Swearing a pledge that he will marry her, and for all lifetimes, he journeys to the other side of India, happy to just catch a glimpse of his lady love. And so begins a very tough courtship of stolen glances and secret rendezvous against stacked up odds of opposition.

As a romance, this film has plenty put on its plate. A good looking and charismatic cast, beautiful landscapes and visuals thanks to the jetsetting nature of the story from London to Delhi to Kolkata to San Francisco, and a number of fantastic lines of dialogue sprinkled with a reasonable dose of comedy, and touching moments too. What's there not to like and make you fall in love with the characters, and wring your hand at their predicament, most of which were self-inflicted? Its two stories tell the stark difference between the modern rules of courtship based on practicality, versus that of the more traditional way, though the common thread will always, and has been to follow your heart. The thrill of the chase for instant gratification looks flimsy when set against the old fashioned notion of earning and justifying one's sincerity through action, rather than cheap talk which Saif Ali Khan's Jai is expert at.

The song and dance numbers are OK, though personally nothing was memorable enough to have stuck in my head way after the end credits start rolling. There were fun numbers of course where both leads in their modern roles seem to relish in, highlighting their personal, playful nature as they paint the town red in their secret rendezvous without the knowledge of their newfound partners. I thought there would be enough moments for each to showcase the pain of their ill-informed decisions of breaking up, but all we got was from the guy's point of view, and that was very much after the fact, which I felt time would probably start to heal all wounds, unless of course you let little personal details of milestones in your ex's life to come in and disrupt your current lifestyle.

Though of course in this story's love found, love lost and love gained, there were set pieces which tests the characters resolve, especially the one where their crazy game of double dating on the sly with their new partners, Jai's Jo (Florence Brudenell-Bruce) and Meera's Vikram (Rahul Khanna), rang through some intense pain and uncomfortable jealousy, providing a cliffhanger for the perennial interval.

If there's one thing I dislike and one of the themes as expounded in the film, it's the lack of honesty in the games people play. The romances of old are seemingly simple enough, without facades put up and masks worn to hide true intentions. Contrasted with today's of course, where both Jai and Meera find it too cool to be acknowledging their feelings properly for each other, and go on a round-about journey before they start to realize their true emotions, and face up to them sincerely. Needless to say, between the two stories, I had preferred the older one which is more engaging, honest and wistful even.

I felt that this was a classic showpiece for Saif Ali Khan. His more modern role of Jai has plenty of what makes a suave man tick, though with the tendency of lapsing into moments of Attention Deficit Disorder, rambling off in motor mouth fashion in expressing his innermost thoughts, which in a way helped him rationalize the deeply kept emotions in his heart. But the fun factor was of course having him personify the stoic nature of Veer Singh in the 60s, lovelorn and desperate even to battle against all odds to win over his lady love.

I'm happy for Deepika to have finally moved away from having to play two roles in every film (save for Bachna Ae Haseeno). Contrary to many synopsis out there, she doesn't play the romantic interest opposite Saif Ali Khan's other role, although of course it would probably make it a tad more interesting, though negating Veer Singh's pledge in a certain way. That would also mean a more conventional reincarnation type story that Imtiaz Ali steered clear of with his treatment here. However, I thought in some ways Gisele as the younger Harleen Kaur had upstaged Deepika's screen presence with her quiet and demure stature, though of course Deepika's asset of having that wonderful "stop-all-traffic" smile got exploited by the director through and through to maximum effect in melting even the most stone cold of all hearts.

All in all, Love Aaj Kal didn't manage to hit the heights that its star billing had the potential to, but still came across as a better than average romantic movie that's suitable for a date.