Love Aaj Kal - TWO stars

Before you growl and jeer at me for giving this popular movie a 2 star rating, let me provoke you further by confessing that I didn't like Jab We Met either! [this reminds me of another popular movie I didn't like long ago - Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, my husband and I were the only 2 people snoring in a festive atmosphered jam packed cinema hall].
It is not that I don't like brainless TP movies, I do watch some of them and there are some I have even liked eg. SRK starrer Om Shanti Om...so the point is, even if they are brainless I like them if they have a heart hidden somewhere...

If you are objective and hence are still continuing to read this blog then here is a longish bullet pointed review of Love Aaj Kal [LAK] :)

• You might wonder why I went to see another Imitiaz Ali movie, not having liked his Jab We Met [JWM]. After JWM, I had seen Imitiaz's interviews and was convinced the guy would get better with every movie given that he comes across as being sensitive and very open to learning.
• For all of you who didn't know, Imtiaz said in a recent interview that he himself is not a great fan of Jab We Met. So he and I do agree ;)
• To be fair to Imtiaz, LAK is better than JWM [I can hear the boo sounds rising]...let me humbly admit that Imtiaz has improved since his last film
• By now you must have heard of the highly talked about and loved break up party scene in the movie, it was very uninteresting, unfunny & unimaginative to say the least. Imtiaz admitted in the same interview that this was something that he would have liked to do differently had he the chance, I agree with him again! [he too (like me) found it amusing that people were going gaga over this scene]
  
• Saif Ali Khan who acted brilliantly in almost all his movies since Dil Chahta Hai, was actually uncomfortable in some parts [of his non Sardar role] eg. when Rishi Kapoor starts narrating his love story to him in the airport, Saif looks ill at ease doesn't know what pose he should sport...almost like he can't believe he agreed to mouth such dialogues and carry such scenes. Or maybe he just can't be objective when he is also producing a movie in which he is acting...and it shows. He acts well otherwise through most of the movie, especially as the Sardar. He also has 2 meaty roles, so I won't blame him for making the [al]most of it.
  
• Don't believe what anyone says about Deepika Padukone, she has acted very well, she looks lovely and has set some cool dressing trends with her simple yet sheek style. Unfortunately, she does not have a well thought through role to play, Saif and she share no chemistry whatsoever, and she cant really be blamed if the film itself is mediocre. I feel sad [for her] that she is part of a film which has turned out to be a smash hit, but she is herself getting lots of flak for her acting skills. Her real life beau [Ranbir] on the other hand had an exact opposite experience with Saawariya, if you recall :)
  
• Rishi Kapoor floored me in Luck By Chance [LBC] and I was looking forward to seeing him again in LAK, but here he looks like he is not too serious about the role he is playing and is just filling in for someone else temporarily. I think Imtiaz has lifted 2 things from LBC viz., Rishi Kapoor and the template of the fabulous and apt LBC circus song -- mindlessly misplaced in LAK ofcourse
  
• This review is incomplete if I don't mention the mystery girl who turns out to be a Brazilian model in real life...Giselle who plays Harleen in the film is fresh, charming and fits the role like a glove...it was smart of Imtiaz to keep her identity a secret till the movie had been seen by some of us at least [to see if we could figure out that she was not Indian, I guess]
  
• The music of the movie is good, supplemented with some interesting, innovative dance steps. So Imtiaz does get some bits of his movies consistently right - music, cinematography, screenplay and some of the humor
• So what is it that goes wrong?: His films leave me empty. I don't feel anything for any of the characters and a lot of his so called humor is err...how do I say it...not funny at all. I do find a handful of his scenes good and even funny sometimes, but not enough to make me like the whole movie. Also his effort to copy paste everyday lingo into Bollywood style movie making is somehow not getting integrated properly and looks unconvincing. Others have done this with panache in the past.
  
• Ahem, need I say more?...do avoid this movie if you can, see his interviews instead, at least they will give you some hope for the future...and in any case LAK will appear on Moser Baer and on TV sooner and cheaper than you think...so just wait, don't spend pots in a multiplex -- that too on a precious weekend, please!