Love Aaj Kal review: Imtiaz Ali’s trademark bittersweet love story is worth a watch!

Rating: 3 stars

The good thing about Love Aaj Kal is that it has the ‘Imtiaz Ali love story’ elements which were missing in his last outing When Harry Met Sejal. His fans called his last film a heartbreak. Ali is a filmmaker who has given a voice to a generation to express their love or whatever they call it in today’s times. He has a massive fan following, both women and men included among the youngsters who often have struggled with the ‘matters of the heart’.

In Love Aaj Kal, Ali presents another take on love and romance in two different times 2020 (Aaj) and 1990 (Kal) in similar fashion as his 2009 hit film of the same title. In this one Kartik Aaryan playing two roles of Veer and Raghu struggles with love and relationships. This is Kartik’s most sincere performance, albeit a different one from his usual rants. He’s convincing in both parts, more as Raghu from 1990. But there’s still a long way to go to show those finer strokes.

His love interests are Sara Ali Khan in 2020 and debutante Arushi Sharma in 1990. There’s not much for Arushi to portray. But she does whatever she gets well. The first dancing (also break dancing) sequence of Kartik and Arushi is a gem of a scene. Sara Ali Khan’s character Zoe goes through the chaos of ambition, desires, confusion, frustration and fighting what her heart truly wants. The chaos appears to be written well but Sara’s performance goes a notch higher than required.

There are a lot of youngsters both girls and boys going through this on regular basis. All suffering from the romance they find their problems. The palette of the so called options doesn’t quite provides satiety in the end. You realize that it happens only once or twice that you truly connect with someone. For those middle aged or older people not familiar with this chaos of the ‘young generation’ might not relate to this. Something which Ali dabbled with in the previous Love Aaj Kal through a spectacular ‘jugalbandi’ (debate) between Rishi Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan.

To give the credit where it’s due is to Imtiaz’s writing. It’s fresh. If you have followed his filmography, you’ll realize that he has improved his storytelling skills immensely when it comes to editing. Where Rockstar (2011) looked like put together on edit table, Tamasha’s (2015) editing was a work of genius and it looked more like coming from Imtiaz from the script itself. Love Aaj Kal has a few loose patches but it has its soul intact. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it might just find its audience, especially the youngsters (even some of the early thirties people) who put themselves through so much of emotional drama while wanting to appear cool and carefree.

Amit Roy’s cinematography gives the film a stunning look. He has kept it intimate and real. Film’s music by Pritam and lyrics written by Irshad Kamil don’t quite have the impact of their work on previous Love Aaj Kal but the soundtrack has some soulful lines. The song Mehrama summarizes the heartache and chaos beautifully. If Imtiaz Ali, Irshad Kamil with Pritam or AR Rahman come together to create an album of songs it might create an equal impact as a film.

One important thing which is also a recurring thing in Ali’s films is the masculinity which is not the typical hero type. The men in his films just like a large population of guys (who don’t get covered in films or otherwise) have their own set of problems, insecurities, emotional strength or weakness, guilty of their deeds, and struggle with their identity. Ali is among the few filmmakers (although only Zoya Akhtar comes to mind as a striking example) who have created characters as humans; not merely men or women.

To sum it up, Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal hits a spot but doesn’t quite hit it out of the park. It will find its audience however large or small but the good thing is that the film has its soul intact. Sometimes it feels like the filmmaker is trying to tell a young love story but he throws in the trademark Imtiaz Ali style lines that hit the sweet spot. It’s bitter but humorous, superficial as well deep, just like young relationships have become today. In all its complexity it still manages to charm you in its own way. Ali’s Tamasha received the love and appreciation it deserved much later after its release. The film continues to grow on the audience. Should you show Love Aaj Kal the love it should get? Definitely.