Love Aaj Kal

The movie is old hat. I stayed away from watching it in the theater. My cousin had it on her iPod and since we had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon, we decided to watch it. We love movies after all :)

Someone please tell me how 'Love Aaj Kal' could’ve been the biggest hit of Saif Ali Khan’s career?? More importantly, what went wrong with Imtiaz Ali?? The man who gave us the refreshing ‘Socha Na Tha’ & the lovable ‘Jab We Met’ (the only movie where I liked Kareena Kapoor) …how could he give such a dud as ‘Love Aaj Kal’? Did the law of averages catch up with him?

I understand the man when he says he’s over JWM but that doesn’t mean he’ll give us such a bad movie. The story of JWM wasn’t exactly path-breaking - just another romantic story - but the execution was brilliant. The contrast between the loud, vivacious, full of herself Geet & the silent brooding Aditya breathed life into the movie.

The things that let 'Love Aaj Kal' down, according to me, were the following:

The execution – JWM’s strength is Love Aaj Kal’s weakness. That Imtiaz Ali belongs to the neo school of cinema that propagates understated scenes & contemporary dialogues shot in surround sound is common knowledge. He had a decent story on hand but he went horribly wrong in executing it. Weaving the story of the young Rishi Kapoor seamlessly into Saif Ali Khan’s story was something new but the movie had little else to offer.

Casting Deepika Padukone – Probably the biggest mistake. Whoever convinced him that she could act!! Deepika Padukone is a terrible actress - she can’t emote, nor modulate her voice. There’s this one scene in the airplane where she’s speaking to Saif Ali Khan on the phone. She’s so terrible in that scene, you want to gag her pretty much! Kareena Kapoor made a lot of noise about why Deepika, and not she, was in the movie....I hear her totally! At least the chick can act.

The decision to make Saif play the young Rishi Kapoor – C’mon, some variety would’ve been nice! There was way too much of Saif in the movie, and for God's sake, he can't speak Punjabi to save his life! His Hindi itself is so anglicized.

If you haven't watched the movie already, stay away from it.