Socha Na Tha

I may have despised Imtiaz Ali's overrated 'Love Aaj Kal' but 'Socha Na Tha' is a treat to watch. An offbeat but sincere romantic comedy that stars Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia, 'Socha Na Tha' feels fresh because of its appropriate lack of saccharine and straight forward storytelling. Ali is a talented writer as not only does he have a fresh way of telling stories but the dialogues are also first rate. Abhay Deol already proves what a promising actor he is in his very first role. He is confident as Viren and shares a great chemistry with his cute co-star Ayesha Takia. Takia too is very likable as Aditi. After 'Dor' this is perhaps her best performance. The supporting cast, that includes Ayesha Jhulka as a hot bhabhi, Rati Agnihotri as a hot-headed aunt, Suresh Oberoi as the patriarchal dad, Sandhya Mridul as the supportive sister, Vijay Maurya as the friend in need and Rajendranath Zutshi as the angry but hilarious brother, is very good. The songs are cool and calm and they agree with the pace of the film. I also liked the camera-work. My favourite parts of the movies are the dialogue scenes between Viren and Aditi and between Viren and his sister-in-law (especially when she's confused by Viren's constantly changing decisions). 'Socha Na Tha' is a fun romantic movie that works as a great date movie and an enjoyable rainy day flick.

A very light hearted and straight forward movie, Socha Naa Tha might have crashed at the box-office. But it touches hearts in a way that not many movies do. Director Imtiaz Ali has directed a wonderful plot which is very usual in any Indian household. The chemistry between the couple is very naturally presented. I had fallen in love with this movie instantly. The lyrics of the songs may seem vague at first. But they relate and amalgamate to situations so appropriately. The dialogues are very 'day to day'... which contribute that the movie is not out of this world. I would say it is a better movie than Jab We Met, the second movie by Imtiaz Ali.

Going by my experiences with the movies which I have seen in a theatre, this movie was not at all what I expected it to be.

I would say, this movie brought a breath of fresh air, to Bollywood, just like QSQT brought in 90s and DCH in 20th century.

This movie is a tale about a boy and girl, who first meet each other in typical arranged marriage meet, but decide not to go ahead. This leads to enemity between the two families, and later fall in love with each other.

Sounds like typical Salman Khan, Govinda, Karishma, Ravinda Tandon kind of masala movie?? Wrong. Even though the plot looks the same, the characters are much more realistic, decent and believable. On top of that, rather than looking like a vulgar drama, looks much closer to you.

In short a must watch! Interestingly, at first I thought I was the only one who found this movie entertaining. Going by the reviews, I feel pleasantly relieved that I am not alone.

This movie is a real refreshing dose of entertainment. I should start off by saying that Ayesha Thakia did an excellent job. The vivacious actress seems very down-to-earth and straightforward. There's nothing very clichéd, or "filmi," about her looks and acting. Abhay Deol also had a nice debut. He did full justice to his role of a misguided, happy-go-lucky boy, who can never get his full dose of fun. Both actors were excellent choices for playing India's youth icons. Their characters do a good job of reflecting the (shouldn't be stereotyping...) overall youth culture. They want to live life to the fullest while they are still in college. They have values and respect for their elders while at the same time knowing that it's them who needs to live their own life. They are not rebellious, yet the idea of an arranged marriage seems quite preposterous. Abhay and Ayesha share and sympathize with each other's confusion resulting from the generation gap by hanging out, having lots of fun, and, of course, falling in love. In this fun-filled movie, for the first time in Bollywood, we get to see a down-to-earth film on arranged vs. love marriage from a new viewpoint, the Indian youth. Songs are nice.

"Socha Na Tha", it came, it saw and it went away. Like me many of you would have missed it. Post-Jab We Met however rewrites the rules and I was persuaded to retrace my steps and take notice to Imtiaz Ali. Believe me - true to its title "Socha Na Tha" Imtiaz is a fine story teller indeed. Probably it was the timing of the release or perhaps it lacked the star-value owing to which it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

Abhay Deol:: A launch pad and its very much like for a first-timer. Quite confident and who anticipated that this guy would carve a genre for himself. In retrospection the failure of "Socha Na Tha" (read that as "non performance") saved the Indian Cinema of type-casting Abhay as yet another hero in the number game. So its "good riddance...." for him which made him a character actor.

I particularly liked his character which does a proper "Create a problem, solve it and then claim 'Yes I have done it!!!'".

Ayesha Takia:: For her stint in Bollywood perhaps the closest she would be proud of next to "Dor". Quite promising and a matured performance delivering at ease the director backed role.

Apoorva Jha:: Leaves a lasting impression actually - pity she wasn't seen much around after this movie. Managed to pull-off Karen quite realistically.

Ayesha Jhulka:: Wouldn't be wrong to state this Bhabhi as lovable as Renuka Shahane from HAHK. A natural transformation for Ayesha too.

The rest of supporting cast which includes Suresh Oberoi, Rati Agnihotri, Raj Zutshi, Sandhya Mridul were adequate. Nearly forgot - Vijay Maurya as well.

Not many noticed but "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa" heavily borrowed the concept of "So when do you know it's love?" from "Socha Na Tha". On the same note it does bears resemblance to the "Saif-Sonali" track from "Dil Chahta Hain".

Epilogue:: Go for it - to watch the genius trotting his initial steps!