[Rating: 3.5/5]

Imtiaz Ali‘s new venture tries to play along the same lines of conceptual love as his previous two movies. Love Aaj Kal tries to explore similarities and dissimilarities of love over generations all the while trying to tell a captivating story. It succeeds much better in the former than the latter.

The movie starts with the lead couple(Jai and Meera) breaking up with the fear of their relationship turning into a failing long distance relationship. As they say their goodbyes, an lively old man, Veer Singh(Rishi Kapoor) starts a conversation with Jai trying to explain to him that he is making a huge mistake in letting Meera walk out of his life… Veer then goes on tell the tale of his love with Harleen Kaur to Jai. The movie flows along parallely telling the stories of Veer and Jai, all the while comparing their choices and resonating similar emotions.

What works for the movie is that it is smart and funny. The dialogs and scenes are snappy and entertaining. The story points to strong characters and them experiencing a tornado of emotions… But the biggest failure for the movie are the stars. While Saif Ali Khan is comfortable playing Jai its his performance as Veer that is outstanding and equally excelled by the Giselle Monteiro playing Harleen Kaur. The brilliance of Giselle’s performance can be gauged by the fact that she speaks very little in the movie but leaves no scene unfulfilled. Comparatively Deepika Padukone is wooden for most of the movie, some of her best scenes is when she does not speak at all. Rishi Kapoor is brilliant as the older Veer and leaves behind a strong impression.

Compared to Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met,Imtiaz Ali seems to have been a bit hasty with Love Aaj Kal. The movie is fun and entertaining but could have easily been in the class of the previous two movies. Despite the shortcomings Love Aaj Kal is a good and entertaining movie. If you have watched and loved Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met, there is a good chance you will enjoy this movie too.