Love Aaj Kal review: Kartik, you cannot act

Meera Pandit (Deepika Padukone) and Jay Vardhan Singh (Saif Ali Khan) made Love Aaj Kal (2009) a memorable affair. I didn’t like the film instantly. It grew on me. Actually, that’s my relationship with every Imtiaz Ali film. 

But what made Love Aaj Kal etch a memory? The music, the chemistry and the true love concept. 

11 years later, Imtiaz Ali brings Love Aaj Kal in a new avatar. The Tinder Love, if we may call it. Our protagonists have changed. The legacy is carry forward by Saif’s daughter Sara Ali Khan as Zoe and Bollywood’s new obsession Kartik Aaryan as Vir. Kartik also plays Randeep Hooda’s 1990 version. (Randeep Hooda - his screen presence just adds to the beauty and so good to see him back in action.)

Love Aaj Kal 2 started off its promotion with the new version of the “Twist” song. The story is much more twisted than the footsteps in the dancing number. Zoe is career-oriented but commitment phobic. She carries the insecurities of her mother. She’s an overthinker and that very aspect of her personality goes against her in many ways. She’s confident but not at the matter of hearts. 

Sara as Zoe has absolutely outdone herself. She’s put her heart and soul and it shows. And yes, while she was trolled for “Tum mujhe tang karne lage ho” scene in the trailer, trust me, that’s the very scene in which Sara shows her maturity as an actor. Like many around us, Zoe is struggling between the right and the wrong, between what she wants and what she’s expected to do. She finds solace in Randeep aka Raghu’s romantic and tragic love story, which makes her give Vir a chance to enter her heart. She breaks down when she falls in love. She pushes him away thinking he’s going to divert her focus from career but even though she becomes successful, she doesn’t feel it fully. Her happiness belongs with Vir. 

Vir, on the other hand, is irritating till half of the film because you don’t understand what’s the deal with him. He’s a mix of Ranbir Kapoor from Rockstar, Ranbir Kapoor from Tamasha. He has seen love walking out of the door from his parents life, who now behave like a couple just in front of the public. Vir doesn’t want his life to turn out the same. But it comes to our notice much later. By this point, as an audience, you are already pissed of him.

He meets Zoe in a club. The two get into a steamy make out session but Vir refuses to have sex because Zoe is different. He stalks. Every day. Every moment. And Zoe, weirdly, likes it. She eventually falls for him, I mean really? I really want to ask - aaj ke zamaane me ye behaviour kaise aap dikha sakte ho on-screen? 

Not just Vir even Raghu is equally irritating. He makes promises that he’s going to stay with Leena (Aarushi Sharma) no matter what but goes on to cheat. And of course, he realises much later that Leena is love of his life but it’s too late. 

While Zoe still made sense to an extent, Vir (who had less dialogues and more expressions that we failed to see and feel) was all over the place. I don’t even want to talk about Raghu. 

Also, Imtiaz Ali is in love with close-up shots. The film has so many face close ups of Kartik and Sara that after a while you’re like- bas yaar, hatao ab. 

The film Love Aaj Kal (2020), in short, is good in parts. But majorly, it’s problematic. Like how we dread Arjun Reddy even now, this one too is never going to receive much love from the ‘thinking’ audience. Imtiaz Ali needs to rethink about what he really wants to show. He needs to get back the one who made Jab We Met, Socha Na Tha and many others. Till then, I wish he takes a back seat.