|
 Studying in London, Jai (Saif) and Meera (Deepika) are in a
relationship for two years but when career beckons, they mutually break
off their relationship. Meera prepares to go to India to pursue her
career in old historical places restorations whereas Jai waits in
London with a hope of getting his dream job in San Fransico’s Golden
Gate Co. The couple though broken off decides to keep in touch via net
and phone calls and continue to remain friends.
Restaurant owner Veer
Singh (Rishi Kapoor) is a silent observer to their break up process
since it happens in his restaurant. Unable to bear the far too casual
approach related to affairs of heart of the couple, he tries to
convince a reluctant Jai that he is making a mistake. Sensing that Jai
is not taking him seriously, Veer then starts narrating him his own
love story with Harleen Kaur (Giselle Monteiro) which took place far
back in 1965 in Delhi. From then on begins the unfolding of these two
love stories running parallel together which incidentally end up with a
similar culmination after many twists and turns which also are similar
despite the different period zones.
After making the much loved Jab We Met, Imtiaz Ali succeeds in
giving us an extremely different love story that we have never
witnessed before on Indian screen. He scores high on his writing and
his treatment of the film. In the initial 10 minutes he successfully
establishes Saif and Deepika’s relationship and their character quirks.
He surprises you then by putting a melancholic song (Ye Dooriyan) as
opening credits role showing montages of various important twists of
the plot that lie ahead. In fact his screenplay is indeed full of
surprises ahead, especially in the second half. As you begin to
anticipate a particular thing happening ahead in the plot, almost 9
times out of 10 he proves you wrong. Making the film extremely
relatable to everyone who has ever been in love and broken off with
his/her partner, Imtiaz takes it notches higher by his dialogues that
sound simple but convey a lot. Plenty of scenes stay with you as you
come out. Imtiaz has repeated his technical team trio of JWM – Aarti
Bajaj (Editing), Teddy Maurya (Art Direction) and Cinematographer (N.
Nataraj Subramaniam) and each of them have excelled in their respective
departments. Music of the film by Pritam is already ruling the charts
and thankfully none of the songs act as speed breakers. The
picturisation of Main Kya Hoon in San Francisco showing various changes
in Saif is simply fantastic.
Without any doubt, these are career best performances of both Saif
and Deepika and it should not be a surprise if they both end up winning
most of awards for this year. Saif has always been at ease playing the
cool no strings attached dude but in here he also succeeds in playing
the brooding romantic Sardar Veer Singh very well and is extremely
impressive in the post interval emotional sequences. Deepika wins
hearts not just by looking extremely attractive throughout but also
with the effortless ease she portrays her complex character. Rishi
Kapoor is extremely loveable as the mature Veer Singh and lends
tremendous dignity to his character. Debutante Giselle Monteiro manages
to speak volumes just through her expressions. Rahul Khanna in a
special appearance is good and suits the character perfectly well. Raj
Zutshi playing Harleen’s father reminds of Pawan Malhotra’s character
of Kareena’s uncle in Jab We Met. Florence Brudenell Bruce playing
Saif’s Swiss girlfriend doesn’t have much to do but manages to do a
good job.
Love Aaj Kal is a film definitely not to be missed. It offers us
something fresh and and is a unique experiment in story telling and
direction that works big time. It is one film that Saif, Deepika and
Imtiaz shall always be proud of whenever they look back at their career.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, debutantes Giselle
Monteiro and Florence Brudenell Bruce, Rishi Kapoor and Rahul Khanna
(Sp.App)
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Sampurn Media
|
