Review: Love Aaj Kal [Now and then there's a film such as this]

In my posts, there has never been a big focus on music, and though this one won't be any different, you can drag from the post title the information, who one of my favorite artists is: Elvis Presley. Well, mostly until the end of the 60s, after that he was never the same. But that's kind of Off-Topic.
As filmygirl shared one of her older reviews with us (read), I decided to follow her example by digging up my review of 2009-hit Love Aaj Kal... wait a minute... no, that's too new, I'll post that next week or so... hey, I didn't even know I... oh, yes, here it is - finally.

LOVE AAJ KAL (2009) लव आज कल

Title-Translation: "Love These Days"
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Author: Imtiaz Ali
Music: Salim-Sulaiman (score) and Pritam
Cinematography: N. Natraja Subramaniam
Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor

Plot: Love Aaj Kal is about the love in modern times. Meera and Jai are in love and have a nice relationship, but when both get job offers in different countries, they agree about putting career over their love. From London, Meera moves to India and Jai to San Francisco. Both find new partners and seem to be happy, but the longing for their lost love is still hidden under the surface. Jai slowly realizes this, when he meets Veer, an old-generation romantic, who had to fight for his big love Harleen.



Written the 14th of August 2010
2009 really was a year of change for Bollywood. New ideas came up, there was more experimenting - also caused by the financial crisis. It was "in", to dare something, to try out new things. "Love Aaj Kal" seems to mark a counter trend at this point. After opening a window of fresh air for the indian film territory with "Jab We Met", it seems as if Imtiaz Ali became greedy. Greedy for success and money (which "Love Aaj Kal" actually did bring in), and therefore, he wanted to play it safe. What was earned with "Jab We Met", is spent on stars, costumes and sets for this film.
Imtiaz Ali does the opposite of, what Karan Johar does: Karans films were very pompous and extensive to begin with (but still good), now he keeps up with the times by reducing the glam-factor a little. If "Love Aaj Kal" would only be half as good as "K3G" or "KKHH", but it isn't. However, the film wants to impress. Saif Ali Khan is, to be sure, witty and sympathetic as ever, but his naturalness has vanished after his latest beauty surgery. And Deepika Padukone, whom I did like in "Om Shanti Om", has been on the list of rather bad newcomers since "Bachna Ae Haseeno", at least speaking of more critical audiences. She's a beauty, no doubt, but I would recommend staying away from the acting business (if not, stick to smaller roles). Then they added a story that's only fancy concerning the on/off phenomena, which hasn't been discussed in too many movies lately. Pritam has also composed better stuff before... one or two songs less wouldn't have given the film any damage.
Off course, there are positive aspects as well; the parallel story of Veer and Harleen is quite cute and makes the film a little more interesting. Likewise, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor-Singh are always nice to watch [new comment: I'm not so sure about Rishi anymore, after seeing "Deewana"], especially Neetu hasn't been seen for a long time (longer than I've been on this earth). And last but not least, the film is enjoyable - you don't need to use your brains very much, and you can look at either Saif or Deepika. Laugh a little, or even cry a little (depending on your mind)... cineatic fast-food, that is. But for all that, there are better fast-food-fillums.

Rating: 4.4

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.