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LOVE - Trunkcall to chota recharge
Imtiaz Ali is the new brand name of modern love in Hindi Cinema . He speaks a language of the youth & has had different interpretation of love stories which seem more closer to reality in sharp contrast to the melodrama of Hindi love stories . While his first film ‘Socha Na Tha focused on the concept of the arranged marriage being alien concept to the present hip society , his second , the Cult movie ‘Jab We Met’ focused on two temperamentally different individuals getting attracted to each other & how love can change the path of your life completely . But it seems Imtiaz is running out of screenplay ideas now & you can’t blame him for that as he is attempted a genre for the third consecutive time that has been the bread & butter of Hindi film makers i.e. love stories . Umpteen number of filmmakers have tried their hand at love stories , some have been extremely successful at it . But such has been the quantity & quality of love stories that anything that is done seems to make you feel like you have seen it before . Its extremely difficult to make it different .
So like his first 2 films Imtiaz has a novel idea that is the comparision of love between 2 generations . Generations which are completely different from each other , thus both believing that things in their generations were better than the others . Imtiaz experiments whether the people of Aaj , The ‘aam Aadmi or Mango people’ can choose love over practicality . Whether they can feel the pangs that the lovers of Kal – ‘The Laila-Majnus , The Heer- Ranjas’ felt in their generations or do they surely believe that all these are ‘Chutya panni stuffs that are made to confuse people’ . Are relationship for them just a means to fulfill the physical needs or do they have a heart that longs for companionship of each other . Has career taken precedence over Love .
In Imtiaz’s Love AAj Kal , Aaj is represented by the Jai & Meera a modern couple who decide to break up because they will be living in 2 different countries to fulfill their dreams , so since ‘long Distance relationship’ never works , they decide its better by calling it off & if they are doing so , let’s do it in style by throwing a break up party . Yes you heard that right , Imtiaz knows exactly what he is doing as he wastes no time in giving undue screen time in building up the fast paced relationship between Jai & Meera that starts on one September & ends in another 2 years later . The fast pace showing exactly the fragility of relationship which ends like a chota recharge card as quickly as it starts . That Imtiaz is a master of relatable punch lines & situations comes through in scenes , when a worried sub character conveys his confusion on what should he say in the break up party to the couple – congratulations or offer condolences to them , or jai’s friends( one of them being the talented Vir Das in a miniscule role ) go to a shopkeeper enquiring whether he has any presents for a break up party or the scene where a guilty & nervous Saif trying his best to express the breakup wish , but unable to do so ,as he keeps babbling about other stuff like the traffic not knowing that Deepika too has similar ideas .
So post the Break up party , Imtiaz introduces The Kal in Veer Singh ( the superbly natural Rishi Kapoor) who forces Jai to go to the airport to meet Meera & present her flowers . When Jai enquires the reason for interference in personal space , Veer Singh says he looked exactly like him when he was young , thus justifying Saif playing Younger Rishi , a real masterstroke from Imtiaz .There are many more such writing gems from Imtiaz whose superb gift of dialogues is seen in like - Deepika saying the lines post getting the flowers in the airport ‘ aaj pehli baar Phool who bhi ab’ , or ‘aakhri baar milna kyu zaroori hota hai’ or the scene when saif & Deepika discuss their flaws post breakup are superbly written . So this is when Veer Singh starts telling him his love story with Harleen – a pure , non physical love which will remain forever eve waiting for a lifetime for the beloved , like a trunk call ,where just a look is enough for Veer Singh to take a ‘Pratighya’ like a Hindi Film Hero that she will be mine for the next 7 births & following her to 3 different cities . Imtiaz gets the look of the set of the 1960’s , Delhi , Kolkata just right as well as Saif , who gets the body language perfect as Veer Singh , Though at times his Punjabi accent tends to get artificial rather than being real , as if The hip Jai ,a part that he plays so perfectly in the movie , wanting to break out of the Punjab da Puttar .
So at first Jai laughs off the Pratighya & the untouched love of Veer singh as he doesn’t understand How can he feel love for just one woman in sharp contrast to him who has fallen in love 15 times or with the fact that ‘Kuch Bhi nahi Hua’ between them so far, yet they are in love . But soon he starts identifying with the love story as it opens up his hidden feelings for Meera . But he ignores it as this is not practical . In the meantime , Meera gets pursued upon by her boss & Jai starts his ‘Khula Saand’ days by getting attached to a foreigner . This is exactly where Imtiaz loses the plot & gets back to his old formula of one of the lovers being attached to somebody else like Kareena’s character in Jab We Met & Abhay’s in ‘Socha Na Tha’ as well as both the lovers ignoring their feelings . The Aaj part tends to drag as Imtiaz tries putting in too many things & you tend to get impatient waiting for Kal’s Story to happen which seem to be much more captivating then the AAj one thanks to its innocent charm .
Soon Deepika & Saif realize love for each other , but that is after the 2 characters commitment to life & career respectively . But the scene where saif realizes his love forv Deepika could have been better written . Imtiaz showcases the mundane lonely life that Saif lives with a song in the background quite wonderfully as there is a transition from a cool Saif to a depressed one showed wonderfully & without overdoing it by the master filmmaker . Infact songs are used wonderfully taking the film forward like ‘Dooriyan’ a sad song is followed by the contradicting breakup scene to avoid a long distance relationship , ‘Twist’ signifying Jai’s ‘Khula Saand’ days & Chor Bazaari depicting the 2 lovers having a great time inspite of them being with different partners or believing that they have broken up , but from within they still very much together
. Although the 2nd half has its share of moments , it is in these portion that the melodrama seeps in as well as the pace of the movie starts to drop .Even there you do have Imtiaz’s brand of superb lines as well in scenes like when Jai’s new girlfriend asks –‘Jai do you love me’ jai Replies – ‘who knows what that is , I still have got to figure that out’ Another problem in this part is Deepika ‘s character who is not really fleshed out (even though expression wise Deepika comes up with her best performance , in some scenes her Dialogue delivery is indifferent) . In Jab We met Shahid’s character & in Socha Na Tha Ayesha Takia’s Character were very well written & that was the reason the 2 respective movies worked because both the protagonists vibed well with each other . In this movie Meera comes off sometimes as a person sure of herself , sometimes confused , sometimes stupid . There are many questions her character leaves unanswered . Imtiaz too seems confused while writing her character whether to make the 2 protagonist similar in nature like in Socha Na Tha or to make her a character opposite to Jai . Her confusion on the marriage & the person she loves inspite of having a good time with Jai contradicts her surety of her career & breaking up move as well as the right decisions that she takes as Jai puts it – ‘Tu hamesha Thik Baat Bol Deti Hai Jaaneman’.
Imtiaz in this movie surprisingly veers too close to Yashraj Brand of Blockbusterites cinema instead of real cinema . Yes he do find a fair amount of realism , but he tries to combine it with the melodrama that he has prevented in his earlier 2 films . I don’t believe that a good filmmaker like Imtiaz will bow down to market diktats , but there are traces of Yash Rajism in his movie , maybe as a means to pay tribute to Yash Chopra . That perhaps is the reason that what should have been ideally a much shorter crisp movie ends up becoming a 30 minutes extra drag . Infact a few scenes remind you of Kunal Kholi ‘s Hum Tum as well as Yash Chopra ‘s epic Veer Zaara . Now there is nothing wrong in paying a tribute to a legendary filmmaker like yash Chopra or the hit brand Yashraj , but somehow Imtiaz’s brand movie doesn’t combine well with Yashraj’s Melodramatic Candyfloss as it leaves a sour taste . Imtiaz also pays tribute in a small way to his first taste of Success ‘Jab We Met’ . The Punjabi song featuring the beautiful , unknown Harleen reminds you of that as well as the line ‘Pagalpan lagta hai naa , to karte hai’ ( Remember this line in scenes where Geet asks Aditya to flush his girlfriend’s photo in the toilet & Aditya later asks Geet to abuse her boyfriend on phone to wipe him & her out of their mind ) are small moments reminiscing his cult last movie . Love Aaj Kal is nor the superb Jab We Met or the identifiable ‘Socha Na Tha’ , it is easily Imtiaz’s weakest effort . Even then it is not a bad film & has its excellent moments combined with boring ones Had it been made by a first timer or a Kunal Kholi , it would have been liked & forgotten , the fact that it has been made by Imtiaz posts his first 2 gems makes it a little disappointing as the expectations were really high . I just hope that Imtiaz doesn’t attempt a romantis movie for a while now , as he seems to have consumed all screenplay ideas in this genre . He is much better filmmaker to just get stuck to one genre of movies & I m expecting something different from him the next time . Till Then Lagey Raho Imtiaz Bhai
Imtiaz Ali is the new brand name of modern love in Hindi Cinema . He speaks a language of the youth & has had different interpretation of love stories which seem more closer to reality in sharp contrast to the melodrama of Hindi love stories . While his first film ‘Socha Na Tha focused on the concept of the arranged marriage being alien concept to the present hip society , his second , the Cult movie ‘Jab We Met’ focused on two temperamentally different individuals getting attracted to each other & how love can change the path of your life completely . But it seems Imtiaz is running out of screenplay ideas now & you can’t blame him for that as he is attempted a genre for the third consecutive time that has been the bread & butter of Hindi film makers i.e. love stories . Umpteen number of filmmakers have tried their hand at love stories , some have been extremely successful at it . But such has been the quantity & quality of love stories that anything that is done seems to make you feel like you have seen it before . Its extremely difficult to make it different .
So like his first 2 films Imtiaz has a novel idea that is the comparision of love between 2 generations . Generations which are completely different from each other , thus both believing that things in their generations were better than the others . Imtiaz experiments whether the people of Aaj , The ‘aam Aadmi or Mango people’ can choose love over practicality . Whether they can feel the pangs that the lovers of Kal – ‘The Laila-Majnus , The Heer- Ranjas’ felt in their generations or do they surely believe that all these are ‘Chutya panni stuffs that are made to confuse people’ . Are relationship for them just a means to fulfill the physical needs or do they have a heart that longs for companionship of each other . Has career taken precedence over Love .
In Imtiaz’s Love AAj Kal , Aaj is represented by the Jai & Meera a modern couple who decide to break up because they will be living in 2 different countries to fulfill their dreams , so since ‘long Distance relationship’ never works , they decide its better by calling it off & if they are doing so , let’s do it in style by throwing a break up party . Yes you heard that right , Imtiaz knows exactly what he is doing as he wastes no time in giving undue screen time in building up the fast paced relationship between Jai & Meera that starts on one September & ends in another 2 years later . The fast pace showing exactly the fragility of relationship which ends like a chota recharge card as quickly as it starts . That Imtiaz is a master of relatable punch lines & situations comes through in scenes , when a worried sub character conveys his confusion on what should he say in the break up party to the couple – congratulations or offer condolences to them , or jai’s friends( one of them being the talented Vir Das in a miniscule role ) go to a shopkeeper enquiring whether he has any presents for a break up party or the scene where a guilty & nervous Saif trying his best to express the breakup wish , but unable to do so ,as he keeps babbling about other stuff like the traffic not knowing that Deepika too has similar ideas .
So post the Break up party , Imtiaz introduces The Kal in Veer Singh ( the superbly natural Rishi Kapoor) who forces Jai to go to the airport to meet Meera & present her flowers . When Jai enquires the reason for interference in personal space , Veer Singh says he looked exactly like him when he was young , thus justifying Saif playing Younger Rishi , a real masterstroke from Imtiaz .There are many more such writing gems from Imtiaz whose superb gift of dialogues is seen in like - Deepika saying the lines post getting the flowers in the airport ‘ aaj pehli baar Phool who bhi ab’ , or ‘aakhri baar milna kyu zaroori hota hai’ or the scene when saif & Deepika discuss their flaws post breakup are superbly written . So this is when Veer Singh starts telling him his love story with Harleen – a pure , non physical love which will remain forever eve waiting for a lifetime for the beloved , like a trunk call ,where just a look is enough for Veer Singh to take a ‘Pratighya’ like a Hindi Film Hero that she will be mine for the next 7 births & following her to 3 different cities . Imtiaz gets the look of the set of the 1960’s , Delhi , Kolkata just right as well as Saif , who gets the body language perfect as Veer Singh , Though at times his Punjabi accent tends to get artificial rather than being real , as if The hip Jai ,a part that he plays so perfectly in the movie , wanting to break out of the Punjab da Puttar .So at first Jai laughs off the Pratighya & the untouched love of Veer singh as he doesn’t understand How can he feel love for just one woman in sharp contrast to him who has fallen in love 15 times or with the fact that ‘Kuch Bhi nahi Hua’ between them so far, yet they are in love . But soon he starts identifying with the love story as it opens up his hidden feelings for Meera . But he ignores it as this is not practical . In the meantime , Meera gets pursued upon by her boss & Jai starts his ‘Khula Saand’ days by getting attached to a foreigner . This is exactly where Imtiaz loses the plot & gets back to his old formula of one of the lovers being attached to somebody else like Kareena’s character in Jab We Met & Abhay’s in ‘Socha Na Tha’ as well as both the lovers ignoring their feelings . The Aaj part tends to drag as Imtiaz tries putting in too many things & you tend to get impatient waiting for Kal’s Story to happen which seem to be much more captivating then the AAj one thanks to its innocent charm .
Soon Deepika & Saif realize love for each other , but that is after the 2 characters commitment to life & career respectively . But the scene where saif realizes his love forv Deepika could have been better written . Imtiaz showcases the mundane lonely life that Saif lives with a song in the background quite wonderfully as there is a transition from a cool Saif to a depressed one showed wonderfully & without overdoing it by the master filmmaker . Infact songs are used wonderfully taking the film forward like ‘Dooriyan’ a sad song is followed by the contradicting breakup scene to avoid a long distance relationship , ‘Twist’ signifying Jai’s ‘Khula Saand’ days & Chor Bazaari depicting the 2 lovers having a great time inspite of them being with different partners or believing that they have broken up , but from within they still very much together. Although the 2nd half has its share of moments , it is in these portion that the melodrama seeps in as well as the pace of the movie starts to drop .Even there you do have Imtiaz’s brand of superb lines as well in scenes like when Jai’s new girlfriend asks –‘Jai do you love me’ jai Replies – ‘who knows what that is , I still have got to figure that out’ Another problem in this part is Deepika ‘s character who is not really fleshed out (even though expression wise Deepika comes up with her best performance , in some scenes her Dialogue delivery is indifferent) . In Jab We met Shahid’s character & in Socha Na Tha Ayesha Takia’s Character were very well written & that was the reason the 2 respective movies worked because both the protagonists vibed well with each other . In this movie Meera comes off sometimes as a person sure of herself , sometimes confused , sometimes stupid . There are many questions her character leaves unanswered . Imtiaz too seems confused while writing her character whether to make the 2 protagonist similar in nature like in Socha Na Tha or to make her a character opposite to Jai . Her confusion on the marriage & the person she loves inspite of having a good time with Jai contradicts her surety of her career & breaking up move as well as the right decisions that she takes as Jai puts it – ‘Tu hamesha Thik Baat Bol Deti Hai Jaaneman’.
Imtiaz in this movie surprisingly veers too close to Yashraj Brand of Blockbusterites cinema instead of real cinema . Yes he do find a fair amount of realism , but he tries to combine it with the melodrama that he has prevented in his earlier 2 films . I don’t believe that a good filmmaker like Imtiaz will bow down to market diktats , but there are traces of Yash Rajism in his movie , maybe as a means to pay tribute to Yash Chopra . That perhaps is the reason that what should have been ideally a much shorter crisp movie ends up becoming a 30 minutes extra drag . Infact a few scenes remind you of Kunal Kholi ‘s Hum Tum as well as Yash Chopra ‘s epic Veer Zaara . Now there is nothing wrong in paying a tribute to a legendary filmmaker like yash Chopra or the hit brand Yashraj , but somehow Imtiaz’s brand movie doesn’t combine well with Yashraj’s Melodramatic Candyfloss as it leaves a sour taste . Imtiaz also pays tribute in a small way to his first taste of Success ‘Jab We Met’ . The Punjabi song featuring the beautiful , unknown Harleen reminds you of that as well as the line ‘Pagalpan lagta hai naa , to karte hai’ ( Remember this line in scenes where Geet asks Aditya to flush his girlfriend’s photo in the toilet & Aditya later asks Geet to abuse her boyfriend on phone to wipe him & her out of their mind ) are small moments reminiscing his cult last movie . Love Aaj Kal is nor the superb Jab We Met or the identifiable ‘Socha Na Tha’ , it is easily Imtiaz’s weakest effort . Even then it is not a bad film & has its excellent moments combined with boring ones Had it been made by a first timer or a Kunal Kholi , it would have been liked & forgotten , the fact that it has been made by Imtiaz posts his first 2 gems makes it a little disappointing as the expectations were really high . I just hope that Imtiaz doesn’t attempt a romantis movie for a while now , as he seems to have consumed all screenplay ideas in this genre . He is much better filmmaker to just get stuck to one genre of movies & I m expecting something different from him the next time . Till Then Lagey Raho Imtiaz Bhai
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