Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

Friends,

If you have read any of the movie reviews in my blog previously, there is one thing in common with all of them - all the movie reviews are my movie reco's to you guys. I've never wasted my time and energy in writing a review for a movie which is bad/worse according to me. But this is going to be an exception! I am writing this, because I felt there is no better way to vent my anger out!!

Was forced to watch this movie last evening. As every one knows, Prabhudeva forays into directing Hindi movie this time with a remake of smash hit movie Pokiri(Telugu) originally directed by Puri Jagannath.

• When Murugadoss remade Ghajini in Hindi, though the plot of the movie was very ordinary, hero seeking revenge for his GF's death, but the 'gimmick' of anterograde amnesia + the greatly talented Aamir Khan carrying the weight of the whole movie on his newly built bod turned the movie into a run away success. But what is Wanted offering us..?
• Let me say, I have not watched both Telugu and Tamil Pokiri's, even after many of my friends insisted. So I do not know how good/bad they were (after all, a hit movie need not be a good movie and vice versa) and I can not even comment whether it was a bad 'transliteration' that made Wanted look so bad.
• Wanted's plot would have been apt in the 1970s era. It is so overused, lackluster thing now.
• Salman yet again proves he is a bad actor. The very few expressions on Salman's face have never failed to confuse me. I always think, what does this expression mean..? Is he worried about some thing? Or is he just making faces? Or is he thinking how to emote this one? Or is he trying to smile while dealing with some problem in his stomach?
• There is always so much of Salman Khan the star, his attitude, his so called style in all his characters that whether it is Radhe or Prem or Suraj or Aman or what ever, he looks the same.
• There are so many scenes in the movie that look so 'south', I can not digest them in a Hindi movie.
• I agree Prabhudeva is a good dancer, but he is that bad a choreographer.
• There is a repetitive dream sequence in the first half of the movie - whenever Salman sees Ayesha, he becomes Salim and Ayesha becomes Anarkali and 'Jab pyaar kiya tho darna kya' runs in the background. In all these sequences, Salman gives a priceless expression of not-knowing-what-to-do. I probably had the same expression on my face in all those scenes and many other so called comedy scenes.
• Why are there so many songs in the movie? Why Sajid-Wajid again..??
• I congratulate Prakash Raj on winning the Best Actor award, but I humbly ask him, why did he do this role of Ghani Bhai? I've seen Prakash Rai doing this weird villain role in so many Tamil and Telugu films; I can not stand him doing the same thing again.

The Hindi movie scripts are much more intelligent and complex these days catering to the equally demanding audience, Prabhudeva should get updated before he even thinks of his next Hindi movie.

As evident from the title of the movie, it is an attempt to juxtapose the 'love of yesteryears'(of 60s to be precise) with today's 'modern love'. This is a comparison of the love as an emotion and as an expression and how it has changed during the course of time. There are two story lines of the couples, Veer and Herleen (Saif and debutant Brazilian model Giselli Monteiro) and Jai and Mira (Saif again and Deepika). The love story of Veer and Harleen is simple, cute and innocent and touches the heart. They hardly talk to each other throughout the movie but convey a lot through their silence. Where as in the story of Jai and Mira, they are the perfect representatives of today's Gen-Y (or Z or what ever) world. They love by mind and not by heart (according to Rishi Kapoor who plays the older Veer so adorably), who choose career over love, who throw a party to their friends on their break-up, who are spoilt by choices, who are more 'practical' than their previous generations. Now that's quite a lot of things to tell in the story of just over 2 hours. Though Imtiaz was successful in narrating the story of Veer and Harleen (quite a simple and easy job though), he seems to have lost grip in telling the story of Jai and Mira. The love story of a pair which is torn between the decisions made by head over heart has not come so endearing. The attempt to show the characters of Jai and Mira as confused pair, yet they themselves thinking that they are very firm about their decisions taken in life is not successful.

That does not mean the movie is not good, it is certainly a good movie, but not to the standards set by the same director in his earlier movies like Jab We Met and Socha Na Tha. Love Aaj Kal has it's moments, is funny in parts, is touching in few scenes. As a matter of fact, my favourite scene in the movie is the one in which Harleen brings a cuppa chai hiding behind her dupaTTa to Veer who would have travelled all the way from Delhi to Calcutta just to have a glimpse of her. The other one being Jai just making it to the airport to bid farewell to Mira.

I liked Saif more as Veer than as Jai. Saif seems to have done some homework in bringing across the body language and gesticulations of a Punjabi munda of 60s and it has worked very well. He has done pretty decent job as Jai too. Deepika looks stunning in few scenes. Not sure if I am the only one who is having problems her dialogue delivery. I feel it is some what not perfect, not right. But if we have lived with two left feet of Saif all these years of his acting career, who seems to have no interest in improving his dancing skills, then Deepika is pardonable. Just check Saif struggling to shake his hip in the song 'Twist.. twist'. The credit of managing Giselli Monteiro as Harleen by giving her hardly any dialogues should go to Imtiaz. Rishi Kapoor as older Veer is simply superb. Of all the songs by Pritam, I liked 'Chor Baazaari' sung by Neeraj Sridhar, Sunidhi and 'Aj din..' sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

Overall, the movie is good, but not great. Love Aaj Kal looks like the best work of any debutant director from Yashraj Banner, the movie seriously lacks the spark of Imtiaz Ali.