There are only a few movies which you are willing to watch anytime and anywhere. No matter how many times you have already watched it, no matter if you have remembered each scene and almost every dialogue, you get completely immersed in it and forget everything. For me, Love aaj kal is one of such 2 movies. (Other one being Jab We Met).
As the name says, the movie is supposed to show love of present (Aaj) and of past times (Kal). How love itself has evolved, how our perception of it has changed, and what is still same in both kinds of love. And it does serve that purpose beautifully, with overlapping scenes of the 2 ‘loves’, occurrence of somewhat similar situations and at some points, same places as well. Showing of Howrah Bridge of India and Golden gate bridge of US one after the other many times, tries to illustrate the influence of western culture and values on Indian love. The protagonist of Kal (Veer) drinks black tea, and of Aaj (Jay) drinks black coffee. Just another subtle way of putting across its point.
Just a few lines about the old love story. You will find lot of sweet moments in Veer and Harleen’s story, such as, following the girl secretly, travelling 1000 miles just to get a glimpse of her, falling in love without talking to each other even once. I think the impracticality and illogicalness of their story are what make it sweet. As Jay says while making fun of Veer, for deciding to marry Harleen,
"Abhi tak hello how are you nahi hua, aur aapne shaadi ka plan bana liya, aur wo bhi har janam me."
But its Jay and Meera’s story that gives pace to the movie and make it worth watching. A story of two practical, logical, mango people who take all decisions about their relationship being rational. Were those decisions absurd? May be, but that’s how we think in today’s world and their reasons seemed justified to me. Do we not give importance to our career, are we not serious about it, more than relationships. This line from Veer to Jay sums it up,
'Tum zindagii me itne serious ho ki Meera se alag ho gaye taki tum apna kaam kar sako."
Will you give up your career, your dreams, just to be with someone whom you are not even married to? I don’t think so. We move on, life changes, and things get normal again, right?
For Jay, the talk of soul-mates is rubbish, he doesn’t bother to know what love is, he is someone who can’t be upset for too long and moves on easily. He says he has fallen in love at least 15 times. Still, he feels insecure every time Meera talks about Vikram. I loved the scene when Jay tries to justify himself for breaking up and someone else touching his ex-gf:
"Mere paas na dil hain, na dard hain aur na mujhe chahiye. Mujhe koi pratigya nahi leni aur 1000 mil dur nhi jaana kisi ladki ki shakal dekhne ke liye. Toh main chod sakta hu, jaane de sakta hu, kyoki jindagi badalti rehti he, chalti rehti hain aur hume uske saath chalna padta hain."
But his expressions do not match the words. It clearly shows that he is making fool of himself. It’s simple, we always think we take right decisions. And we find our own reasons to justify those decisions, right, wrong, doesn’t matter. Somewhere inside, we know we have done wrong, and believe it or not, it shows when we try justifying those decisions.
Another memorable scene is in India, when they break up second time, and Meera decides to not meet Jay again, ever, because she wants him out of her life. Another practical and rational decision.
"Yeh tum wali feeling, aadat. Lets get real, iski jagah nahi he hamari life me. Mujhe wo jagah khali chahiye jisme koi dusra aa sake."
I also liked the scene, when Jay reveals his feelings, though ambiguously. Still afraid of accepting love, still afraid of accepting something like soul mates. He keeps saying he is all right, again making fool of himself. He accepts he could have even married Meera is she would have forced her. And the dialogues totally match the fight he is having within.
"Soulmates, do log jo ek dusre ke liye bane hain, aur wo sari bakwaas jo veer singh apni coffee shop me karta hain, pata chala wo sach hain toh?'
"Isme shatter hone wali koi baat hi nahi he, matlab ye nahi ki main shatter ho raha hoon."
From the 1st breakup scene, expressions of Meera suggests that she loves Jay but wants him to realize and say it to her. When Jay comes to see off her forcibly by Veer, and she says,
"Pata hain main wait kar rahi thi tumhara. Tum nahi aate toh main raaste bhar restless rehti."
And later on, when her husband (Vikram) asks her to tell Jay and she says,
"Jay ko ab tak pata nahi chala hain, wo ab tak nhi jaanta. Jab jaan jayega, agar jaan paya toh aa jayega."
You might have seen many movies where the guy waits for his love to come back (Veer in Veer Zaara, Samar in Jab tak hain jaan, Dev in Dhadkan), this is one where the girl waits, for her love to come back. But not like our male protagonists. She is not like Samar (SRK) in Jab tak hain Jaan who wants to try dying every day unless he gets his love. Not like Veer (SRK again) in Veer Zaara who suffers for years in jail for Zaara’s dignity. That does not happen in real life. Meera isn’t like them. She thinks practically, does everything to move on, breaks up with Jay not once but twice, dates someone else, and even gets married. This made the movie so real. But why she marries Vikram if she still loved Jay? Well, she is modern, rational, Vikram loved her. And she would have thought that with time, everything will be all right. You know, being practical?
But her decision to end the marriage the next day, be alone and simply wait for Jay was contradictory to what her character was shown till then in the movie. I think it was done to make sure that movie’s ending is good and Jay & Meera meet anyhow.
Few other bits and pieces that I liked. In two of the scenes, the movie shows that you feel closer to the one you love, on doing the same thing that he/she does. Though Deepika feels like puking on seeing Jay having black coffee, later on she starts having it. Similar thing happens when Harleen takes a sip of black tea, feels like puking, but continues to drink it.
Imtiaz ali is one of the best writers that Bollywood has, and though people can find many reasons to not like the movie, it is the writing and the way two love stories are compared and told which make the movie worth liking. But once you understand it, you will love it.
In the end, my favourite dialogues:
"Aisa kyo hota hain. Chahe kitni bhi baar bye bol do, jaane ke pehle aakhri baar milna kyo jaruri hota hain."
"Romeo and Juliet, Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu, by the way tumne notice kiya hain desi love stories me hamesha ladki ka naam hamesha pehle aata hain."
"Hum log ordinary log hain, aam janta, the mango people. Hume mar ke amar nahi hona hain. Hume saath rehna he, isi janam me saath rehna hain."
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