All along while watching Love Aaj Kal, I was constantly reminded of Jab We met. The mannerism of the movie, the overall feel, the characterization of the lead female protagonist and her dialogues, they all had the distinct Imtiaz Ali touch. The movie largely feels fresh. There are sequences which are definitely typical Imtiaz Ali specials. But overall, this movie falls short of being a movie that you’d love to watch again. Sure it’s worth a one time watch, it’s a way better film than the usual Bollywood hits raking the mullah in the box office (Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif starrers), but this movie is no Jab We Met either.
If Imtiaz Ali’s movies are about spontaneity of the female protagonists, exuberance and free spirit, absence of melodrama, and stories largely in the realm of believability, then this film also for the most part delivers on these things. The movie has a typical rom-com feel-good candy floss feel about it but it also suffers from the typical commercial Bollywood ailments like throwing in totally unnecessary songs at unwarranted situations and breaking the build up of the narrative.
LAK has all the components which made JWM such a lovable movie. Right in the beginning of the movie there’s Mohit Chauhan’s song, but sadly unlike JWM, here the song feels forced. Sufficient build up is absent. Audience won’t connect with the feeling of the song.
In the same vein, there are many sequences which break the Bollywood cliche, which deliver the exact opposite of what you see in typical Bollywood movies but then You had seen extremely similar sequences in JWM. So, the audience almost knows what’s going to happen. Due to the predictability this film doesn’t have the surprise element that JWM had.At half time, my feeling was that it was more like a let down. The second half though was decidedly better.
Rishi Kapoor churns out another warm performance and it was always going to be a difficult task for Saif Ali Khan to play the younger Rishi Kapoor and manage being as affable and warm as Rishi. I personally felt this was a real letdown. Saif shouldn’t have played the younger Rishi. I started having huge problems in accepting the movie right there.
As far as the story line is concerned, among the two love stories portrayed, the old love story is great while the new one is largely irritating. Except for the Mohit Chauhan song, the music of this film is a deterrent and the absence of it would have served the movie much better.
Acting wise this could be Deepika Padukone’s best effort so far. She looked very natural and was not woody woody unlike her earlier movies. Saif Ali khan turns out another usual confused-funny-saif-type performance. Rishi kapur is heart warming and how You wish he somehow pulled of playing his younger avatar too.
The movie has all the wonderful locations – London, San Francisco, Delhi and Kolkata, places which offer tremendous potential for beautiful cinematography, and then there are the usual slo mo’s, the flashbacks but some how, they all prove the same thing, you need a good story at the heart of it.
In conclusion I’d say this movie is definitely an watchable one. But unless you are a teen ager or going through the first major infatuation of your life, you may not wish to see it again. Much more was expected of Imtiaz Ali and while this movie through numerous sequences is a testimony to his special touch, it just fails to create those cinematic moments of magic that one associates with him. This film may go down as a major box office hit but wouldn’t satisfy Imtiaz fans.
P.S. Comparing this movie to Jab We Met in the title as well as in the content of this post might seem like an unfair foundation, but the biggest reason why this movie succeeds may be just Jab We Met.
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