Love aaj kal

Having loved Jab We Met, I had been wanting to see its director Imtiaz Ali's next film Love Aaj Kal. My wish was granted only recently. Very simply the movie compares love in today's times (aaj kal) with the way it was in yesteryears through two story lines running in parallel.

Rishi Kapoor's dialogue illustrates this difference very well. He remarks that when he fell in love he started working so that he could unite with his girl while now work has become the reason for couples breaking up, a course which Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone take in the film. Neither believes their relationship would survive the distance brought about by a change in jobs and so in a very normal conversation they decide to part ways amicably minus any tears. They continue to remain "friends". They meet secretly and pay more attention to each other than the new special persons of their respective lives. It has to take Deepika to get married to Rahul Khanna to realize that she is still in love with Saif Ali Khan! However, she shies away from telling him the truth because she finds out that this time he has landed a dream job which will take him elsewhere. So once again the two lovers find themselves separately pining. Many months pass before they finally unite to give the film the traditional happy ending.

One of the reasons Love Aaj Kal doesn't work for me is because the initial love story between the two protagonists is never built up. The magic or chemistry which is responsible for bringing them together is never explored. The dating period is shown in such a fast forward manner that there seems to be no depth in the couple's relationship and it is difficult for me as an audience to understand what is so great about the two that they are still hung up on each other even after splitting up. Moments before getting married to Rahul Khanna, Deepika meets Saif Ali Khan. Yet the two of them refuse to recognize the importance of the moment and do not even then acknowledge that things were never over between them.

The film depicts a rather sorry picture of the present youth which I do not agree with. Indeed today all women are not satisfied with only taking care of home. Men too are becoming increasingly supportive of their girl friends' or wives' career goals. Both are willing to go that extra mile for each other. Unlike the lead pair, they do not simply give up without even trying. I know of couples who have handled such situations well. Not that its easy. It requires a great deal of patience, faith, and love. But they'd rather be together even if from afar than not all. Sadly the film instead depicts its hero-heroine representing our generation, first as so practical in life that they are devoid of any emotion even when breaking up and later on as two confused people who are incapable of deciphering their own feelings.