Love Aaj Kal (2009)

Is only love good enough to sustain a relationship, to warrant commitment? Or should one consider the practicality of things over and above love? ‘Love Aaj Kal’ tries to answer these questions by interweaving two love stories, one in the present and one in the past, to see if one approach if better than the other.

The film is about two lovers Jai and Meera who break up due to the fact that Meera is headed to India and Jai to the USA to pursue individual careers. Although they love each other, they seem to think that it is important to be practical about these things, rather than try to make things work long distance. When, Veer Singh, the owner of the coffee shop where the break-up happens, befriends Jai, he tries to impress upon him, the triumph of love over practicality by taking him through practical challenges that he overcame in the pursuit of his love Harleen many moons ago.

With this backdrop Jai and Meera go through their separation trying to come to terms with the reality of things. Will their practical decision rule over what their hearts truly feel is what the film tries to answer.

Imtiaz Ali has a good concept and a very relevant discussion point for today’s times. The interweaving of the two stories has been thoughtfully done. Each contrast between the approaches has a discussion between Veer and Jai before the scenes of the past are shown.

But, the film has too many oscillations between love and practicality that go beyond their logical threshold. As a result, the audience is left looking for a faster decision point, which in the end is predictable when it could have ended differently.

Saif Ali Khan as Jai and the younger Veer Singh delivers a layered performance wonderfully mixing emotional depth with comic timing. He has come a long way as an actor especially in difficult scenes where he is trying to convey things that he does not understand fully. Deepika Padukone as Meera is passable but she does not have as meaty a role as Khan does. Rishi Kapoor as the older Veer Singh is his usual charming self.

‘Love Aaj Kal’ will not live up to the expectation of viewers who have ‘Jab We Met’ fresh in their minds. In all fairness it is a different and larger setting. The film is thoughtfully made but in the second half does not deliver the punch that is expected. It does seem at times that Ali was in two minds about how to end it.

As to the question of love and practicality, this too operates in the grey area between black and white. The jury is out on whether love makes the world go around. Some might say “Stop the world and I’ll get off!”.

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