Bliss...

...is not having to stop yourself from nodding off, even though the meeting is still in progress…

Love aaj kal: the story of mango people (aam junta)

Love Aaj Kal is many things, but mostly confusing, sometimes charming.

The basic premise of the movie is simple enough: love is the same, irrespective of kal, aaj or kal.
It is director Imtiaz Ali’s treatment that is different. Meera & Jai (Deepika Padukone & Saif Ali Khan) are two modern young things in the UK, who meet in a pub and then become boyfriend-girlfreind. They then openly live together (an, a breath of fresh air) and neither of them act coy about it. But when their careers pull them away (her to India and him to the US), they decided to dispense with sentiment and have a very congenial breakup party and then go their separate ways.

It takes them both a while (and a whole movie, plus another BF/GF) to realise that what they feel for each other is love. Their love story is interspersed with that of a young Rishi Kapoor, set in India in the 1960s. Further confusion arises till you understand that the young Rishi Kapoor is also portrayed by Saif Ali Khan.

But of course, all’s well that ends well.

The Brazilian model as Saif/Rishi’s love interest is perfectly cast. Deepika and SAK look good together but don’t set the screen on fire. SAK looks far too old for this role, in any case. But he’s a fab actor.

It is a different love story and a technically snazzy movie. Pity you’ve got to see it twice to understand it, but can’t bear to sit through it more than once!!

Bhavathi biksham dehi!

In India:

They wear torn clothes, re dirty, stick-thin and pathetic, trudging wearily along the streets.

Amma, thaye, pichchai podu ma, they say.

In NZ:

They ride on flash bikes, are almost always well-dressed, sometime in school uniforms. And they ask like they’re doing you a favour.

Hello there, you wouldn’t have a couple of dollars on you, would you?

And yet they’re both beggars!