Love Aaj Kal

Directed by: Imtiaz Ali Produced by: Dinesh Vijan and Imtiaz Ali Written by: Imtiaz Ali Starring: Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan Music by: Pritam Score: Ishaan Chhabra Cinematography: Amit Roy Edited by: Aarti Bajaj Production company: Maddock Films, Window Seat Films, Reliance Entertainment and Jio Studios Distributed by: Pen India Limited Release date: 14 February 2020

Premise: Love Aaj Kal is Imtiaz’s take on love in the modern times with a dash of nostagia. It presents a contemporary and relatable portrayal of two stories set in different times that interact to learn (or perhaps unlearn) from each other the different facets of love, commitment and relationships.

Know more about the captain of the Ship, the director:
Imtiaz began his career directing TV programs including Kurukshetra for Zee TV and Imtihaan for Doordarshan. He moved on to Bollywood films. In 2005, he made his directorial debut with Socha Na Tha starring Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia. He quoted, later in a talk, that it took him three years to make the film. His second film, Jab We Met, starred then real-life couple Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, and became a box office success. His next film, Love Aaj Kal starred Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone, and emerged as his biggest commercial success to date. Ali’s next film Rockstar, starring Ranbir Kapoor, did well at the box office despite mixed reviews. Ali founded his film production company, Window Seat Films; whose first release was Highway. Starring Randeep Hooda and Alia Bhatt, the film was well appreciated by critics. His next production film, Tamasha, starred Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles and was released to mixed reviews on November 27, 2015. The movie was a moderate success and opened to good reviews from cities. His next directorial venture Jab Harry Met Sejal, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma in lead roles, was released in August 2017. The film released to negative reviews in India, even though it did well overseas.

My Gut Feel (MGF) and comments:
“Old wine in new bottles” means that an already existing idea or establishment is offered as if it were a new one. 

2009 Love Aaj Kal staring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone was definitely a fresh wine and refreshing to have however the upcoming movie Love Aaj Kal staring Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan seems the cut copy paste of same format on which the earlier movie was made. In one of the interview Imtiaz gave the justification that it’s been 10 year since last one was made and since then till know love story, relationship dynamics and expectations of young progressive couples have changed drastically and if 10 years from know if same format can be used then also story and screen play would be different aligning to that time zone.
Although Imtiaz’s die-hard fans expressed their disappointment on this aspect as they expect fresh story line from the ace director who has delivered Jab We Met, Rockstar, Highway and my favourite Tamasha.  Yesterday night only I watched 2009 Love Aaj Kal, full movie in one go and question popping up in my head frequently that will the new one will able to match the X factor, I am doubtful.  There is no doubt that millennials generation of today’s time will go to theatre in good numbers to see Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan And film will be a hit however will it leaves the impact, I doubt. Imtiaz’s last directorial venture Jab Harry Met Sejal was below average film and in recent interview Imtiaz did acknowledged that it was half baked and was influenced by overwhelming factors associated with the film. I good director is always capable of bouncing back like I believe Mohit Suri came back with Malang this weekend posts his last below average film Half Girlfriend. I am sure love Aaj Kal as a stand-alone film do have an entertainment value however it seems more like a fast food against the traditional food. If Imtiaz was not associated with this movie then there would have had no complaints however with Imtiaz we do expect the unexpected. Film has been edited by Aarti Bajaj who has done editing of almost all the movie of Imtiaz Ali and has done decent job with it.  Music is good. Cinematography done by Amit Roy who has done extensive work for Ram Gopal Verma’s films and it would be interesting to see his work in Love Aaj Kal.

Going by My Gut Feeling (MGF), I am giving Love Aaj Kal 2.75 stars out of 5 one week before the release and hoping that Imitiaz will prove most of us wrong and we do find his style of cinema even in patches in this predictable story line.