Love Aaj Kal (लव आज कल)

Rating: 3/4 (Interesting premise, messily handled)

Love Aaj Kal (लव आज कल) is the newest effort by director Imtiaz Ali to give a fresh perspective to love. I had quite liked his Jab We Met (though the latter half was insane), so was brave enough to check this one out. The movie projects itself as a modern romantic comedy juxtaposed with an old romance. The modern couple is Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (Deepika Padukone) who have a breezy romance, which ends when Meera moves to India and they throw a breakup party to celebrate the separation. Jai runs into an aging Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) who berates him for letting go of his love so easily. He narrates his quest for love from his youth when the young bearded Veer Singh (Saif Ali Khan, again) is madly infatuated with Harleen Kaur (a very Indian-looking Giselle Monteiro). With distance separating them, Jai and Meera start dating others, but confusions start to creep into their relationships.

Love Aaj Kal seems to be quite confused about itself. There is nothing in comparison between the aaj (Jai-Meera) and the kal (Veer-Harleen). Veer Singh’s walk down his memory lane, set in 1940s Delhi is quite interesting to watch due to its sepia settings. Giselle Monteiro looks delicate and radiant in her debut, but her role requires her to not even utter a single word! Deepika Padukone looks good and is her usual icy self, her acting forced and artificial. Saif Ali Khan and Rishi Kapoor are good and they make the movie watchable. Much like Jab We Met, Imtiaz Ali makes the latter half a bit of a mess. Love Aaj Kal is a decent watch with an interesting premise, but messily handled.