Madhurima
The wait is finally over! The fans finally have got what they wanted. All the supporters of the couple, who have been nicknamed ‘Sartik’ (i.e Saara Ali Khan + Kartik Aaryan) can now see Love Aaj Kal on the big screen. Unfortunately, the fans will only get to visually see the duo in the nearest theatres but not experience their chemistry together. This is because the film is a disaster of epic proportions.
The film ‘Love Aaj Kal’ is a remake of the 2009 hit, which was also named ‘Love Aaj Kal’. Both these films not only share the same names but also the same director i.e. Imtiaz Ali. Along with this, the plot of the film also remains similar, with two different timelines occurring 30 years apart, reciting two different tales of love. In one hand, we have Veer (Kartik Aaryan) and Zoe (Sara Ali Khan) from the 2020 era. On the other hand, there is Raghu (played by Aaryan again) and Leena (Aarushi Sharma) belonging to the year 1990. Both these tales have lots of drama, emotions of the confused kind displayed as 'youthfulness of love'. Filmmaker Imtiaz has tried his best to add passion, chaos and heavy emotions in these tales but hasn’t been too successful in doing so.
In the movie, we see a career-driven Zoe being steered by Randeep Hooda in the matters of love. He is the bridge between Veer and Zoe. He helps Veer up his game in terms of wooing Zoe and teaches Zoe how to be serious about love. Meanwhile, Hooda also recites his love story belonging to the era of 1990. Leena is the girl of his dreams, from his school days, for whom he neglected his life in Jaipur. In the present day, he is busy running a branch of cafés and restaurants trying to fill the void love created for him.
Objectively speaking, the film doesn’t have a worthy enough conflict situation which is sufficient to keep the audience glued to their seats. Why is it that men never experience an inner turmoil when it comes to balancing career and love? Why are women still being portrayed as someone not confident or capable enough to find the perfect equilibrium in their priorities? We sincerely hope the forthcoming films of this century will do justice to the role of women in accordance with the era we are living in.
Coming to the performances in the film, Sara Ali Khan’s character keeps you somewhat engaged with the plot. By that, we don’t mean she was absolutely exceptional, instead the fluctuating nature of her being loving and bewildering is what makes you slightly curious as to where things are headed. Kartik Aaryan comes off as socially bungling as he is unable to handle being an awkward goofball in both the role he plays. The only person who could pull off his acting bit well was Randeep Hooda, he never comes off as someone too overpowering while expressing he has ‘been there and done that’ when love is being discussed.
The only thing that binds the film and makes it somewhat tolerable is the way it has been shot. Aesthetically pleasing colours in the film and refreshing cinematography is visually appealing. The soundtrack is soothing too. In terms of plot, it seems like Ali has forgotten how to develop one. The second half gets so flat and monotonous that you often find yourself questioning the decision to watch this film.
In conclusion, we would only like to say one thing to Mr Imtiaz Ali, “Stop trying to make films about the generation you cannot understand.”
Ratings: 2/5 stars
