Gestern, heute & für immer - Love Aaj Kal

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.

Hi, This is the third movie from Imtiaz Ali's Direction. I didn't like this movie as his earlier movies. Still i am giving this movie 7 out of 10 because of very good performances of Saif, Deepika, Harleen & other characters but for direction i will give him 10 out of 10.

As earlier Imtiaz's movies have lot of comic & funny moments this has very little comic scenes & a lot is focused on Romance. So if you like romantic movies, don't wait & go for it.

There is nothing much about the story as it is simple love story a boy & girl in love but didn't realize it. But the most important thing is the combination of two similar stories of different times at very best.

At the end it is a good movie will beautiful performances....

It is for mango people! the dialogue rocks!

Simply great movie a truly sensible and for modern lovers. This is a strong film reflects on how the old style of true love is still alive in this generation. It is also strongly appealing that god exists, belief exists and true love exist

finally Saif, and Deepika rocks they both share a good chemistry on screen.And of course how can we forget Rishi Kapoor I think he is well tailored for this role

A very predictable end but the way it ends is simply superb i think all 'HUM TUM' lovers will like this.

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.

One of my personal favorite love story with imtiaz ali's amazing direction and both the actor's brilliant performance.The story doesn't feel.over the top or unreal.Imtiaz ali surely has a brilliant mind and different way to see romance.kudous to the dialouge writer.Melodious songs and great clothes man!