Movie Review: Love Aaj Kal 2020

Producer- Dinesh Vijan and Imtiaz Ali

Director- Imtiaz Ali

Star Cast- Kartik Aryan, Sara Ali Khan, Randeep Hooda, Arushi Sharma, Simone Singh, Siddharth Kak and Mohit Sharma

Genre- Romance

Rating- *1/2

Banal and Boringly Contentless!

Jyothi Venkatesh

11 years ago, Imtiaz Ali, fresh out of the super-success of Jab We Met <2007>, had come up with his eagerly awaited next, Love Aaj Kal <2009>. It was a unique film for that time as it focused on not one, but two love stories, set in different eras. Also, lead actor Saif Ali Khan, who had also produced the film, played the lover boy in both the tracks and that also ensured the film stood out. Sadly, director Imtiaz Ali now uses this idea once again in a film, which is also titled Love Aaj Kal, but it is tad boring and his attempt goes for a naught this time around and what you are let with is a banal, boring and bland film which forgets to tell a cohesive story and tries to piggyback only on names like those of Kartik Aryan and Sara Ali Khan.

22 year-old Zoe Chauhan (Sara Ali Khan) is averse to a serious long term relationship ad keeps in flitting in and out of love with gay abandon. She wants to have fun with no strings attached and is keen on pursuing her career. But another love story from the past involving Arushi Sharma and Kartik Aryan is enough to make her question her own choices. To add to confusion, Imtiaz Ali juxtaposes the past with the present and flummoxes you with his non linear screenplay which to say the least only ends up putting you off with its slow and pathetic pace.

What on earth does Imtiaz Ali want to do with this illogical and convoluting theme is very difficult to make out. If all that Ali wanted to make it relevant by showing us the contrast between traditional small town-love that was simple yet difficult versus the contemporary urban love that is complex and messed-up, there is nothing novel in it by way of storytelling since he has already extensively covered it earlier in 2009.

As far as performances go, while Kartik Aryan stands out with his sincere performance as Veer in the city with its unkempt hair and disheveled hair, the same just cannot be said of Sara Ali Khan who, as Zoe Chauhan cuts a really sorry figure in this tale with a character that keeps wavering between career oriented and passion oriented and after a point of time, you wonder when will this film come to a screeching halt, considering that it is a waste of your precious time sitting through a mayhem like this.

Randeep Hooda is refreshingly good through he has been sidelined to play the supporting role to two Kartik Aryan. Ironically one of whom is an extension of himself in the lash back. It is Arushi Sharma, who tugs away your heart strings as a helpless poor lovelorn girl, who makes a wrong choice.

To sum up, all that I can say is that Love Aaj Kal does not succeed in celebrating complex characters and dysfunctional relationships, with the universal emotion of love at its core and even though it does have some emotional moments along the way, that too in parts, unfortunately the film fails to leave you spellbound, when you come out of the cinema house. It is difficult to believe that the film is helmed by the same Ali who had given us gems like Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met. This is his worst after Jab Harry Met Sejal, though it has rakes in Kartik Aryan’s best opening figure at the box office-12.4 cr. 

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