Jab we love and hate two Love stories!!! (Movie Review: Love Aaj Kal)

Movie: Love Aaj Kal

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna

Preview: A lot is riding on this movie as the expectations are high. The star cast is attractive. Saif Ali Khan (looking an inch closer to a fully wrinkled face) with a big female fan following (this time he is the producer too) and Deepika Padukone as usual looking gorgeous. Huge expectations riding on the shoulders of the director too after he was applauded for his last super hit "Jab We Met" (His first film "Socha Na tha" was also decent). So, "Jab We Met" had one love story to tell, "Love Aaj Kal" has two love stories in the foreground. So the million dollar question is "Is the movie good or is it plain hype?"

About the movie:

1st Love story - Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (Deepika Padukone) are modern day London resident couple who date each other, hang on for two years and decide to break up happily by throwing a break up party for pursuing their own careers. But they realize that they are in love once they break up until its a little late since Meera gets married to her boss and Jai gets his dream US job.

2nd Love story - Veer (Saif Ali Khan), a Sardar, falls in love with Harleen Kaur at the very first sight and keeps following her everyday. After the initial resistance, Harleen also falls in love with him. But they face resistance from her family until one day. But Veer and Harleen decide to marry each other against her parents wishes.

Strengths -

• Music is the biggest strength of this movie. I simply loved the numbers. My favourite of the lot is "Chor Bazaari" and "Yeh Dooriyan".
• The movie is definitely shot well at different locales. Excellent camera work.
• There are some brilliantly executed realistic scenes like the one where Jai gets his dream job. Initially, he looks very excited about the opportunity but later on loneliness creeps reminding him of the good times he had spent with Meera turning him into almost a psychic patient. Loneliness is one thing which has entered a lot many lives today and this was one well shot close to reality scene. The other good scene is Veer's clash with Harleen's family.

Weaknesses -

• Performances are weak. Especially, the one from Deepika. She looks gorgeous undoubtedly but acting is poor. Saif Ali Khan and Rishi Kapoor deliver decent performances but nothing remarkable. The new lady in the film looks beautiful but again far away from acting.
• Screenplay is weak certainly. The two stories don't run parellel. They are on two different tracks and keep crossing each other when not required. The modern day love story symbolises stupidity whereas the period love story potrays innocence. So not good enough to compare.
• Climax - The funny part is the modern day love story ends dramatically and the period love story ends abruptly leaving the audience clueless.

Overall Verdict: I would give a sort of mixed opinion because the movie is good in parts but fails in others. Its a kind of film which has two love stories which we will love at times as well as hate it simultaneously.

Rating - 2/5