Amor Antes e Depois

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.

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.

My friend asked me for the movie, i was not ready to go but he forced me, then i thanked him for his offer. The Movie has a cool Love story. I love romantic movies, but to get the feeling one has to deep to get the inner feeling. Some scenes were such that i can't stop tears from rolling down. It has a wonderful plot, the love story of two generations. Acting was OK. Direction Imtiaz Ali U are cool, all the best for your future projects. Music is good. The lyrics were really touching, it got buried deep inside my heart. The movie is a must watch for ROMANTIC Couple. See the movie you will really change your mind if you are new generation lovers.

In My Opinion Love Aaj Kal is one of the best Love Stories I have seen so far.

And Please Watch the movie in theaters or buy original DVDs, do not rent it please. Stop Piracy.

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.