Forever Love
By Zainab Iqbal | Arts & Culture | Movies | Published 15 years ago
The highly talked about Imtiaz Ali film Love Aaj Kal has surpassed the expectations of fans the world over. The movie has turned out to be a resounding success for Saif Ali Khan, who also produced the movie. Love Aaj Kal is not a mundane Hindi romantic flick. The two love stories set in aaj (present) and kal (past) run concurrently and take us to London, San Francisco and Delhi.
Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (Deepika Padukone) are a couple living in London who loved each other before mutually breaking off the relationship to follow their respective careers. They both find new love interests and move on with their lives. But unlike other couples they actually remain friends and keep in touch via the internet and telephone. Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) is a silent observer to their relationship as the couple held a ‘break-up party’ in his restaurant. He doesn’t like the practical approach and tries to convince Jai that he is making a mistake by letting Meera go. He narrates his own love story to Jai who finds it difficult to comprehend Veer’s emotional approach.
The movie takes us back to 1965, Delhi where a young Veer (also played by Saif Ali Khan) madly falls in love with Harleen Kaur (Giselle Monteiro). This experiment of depicting Saif as the young Rishi Kapoor further enhances the beauty of the story. From then on begins the unfolding of these two tales as they run parallel and, after many twists and turns, have a similar culmination.
Both Saif and Deepika emerge as clear winners. Although Saif has played the role of the young, urban dude in some of his previous films, it is the character of the love-stricken sardar that poses the real challenge and he portrays it with aplomb. Rishi Kapoor is, as usual, superb but Rahul Khanna is completely wasted in a small role. Brazilian model Gisselle Monteiro looks stunning and very desi. Apart from the story, what charms the audience is the captivating music by Pritam which appeals to the youth.
Overall, Love Aaj Kal is a complete paisa vasool, like Imtiaz Ali’s earlier hit Jab We Met, and Ali deserves kudos for keeping his audiences entertained.