While growing up I thought love is all vanilla. More so one dimensional. But the more I got wiser and the more I explored, I realized how complicated and difficult love is. It is easy to fall in love yet difficult to endure. The more you swim, the deeper it is! In 2009, it was Imtiaz Ali that brought to us a complicated love story, Love Aaj Kal. To be honest, I did not like that movie probably because I had a different picture of love painted in my head. And I never went back to visit it again! Year 2020 and times have changed. After suffering from several heartbreaks, I understand the nuances of love better which is why I was looking forward to watching Love Aaj Kal 2, despite its insipid trailer. Is the movie better than its trailer…lets find out. 

Love Aaj Kal 2 has two stories of ‘Kal’ and ‘Aaj’ playing out parallely together which pretty much follows the same template as its predecessor. But the issues are different here, which makes the story interesting. Usually the screenplay in an Imtiaz Ali is character driven and here it is no different. The first 30 mins of the first half is quite silly which is what the director may have wanted it to be. But then the director begins to sprinkle his magic slowly. But then there are a few glitches along the way too(along with average performances which I will get to later). Here I would like to say is that there will be a certain section of the audience who will not like the story or the screenplay. But herein lies the genius of story telling. Imtiaz Ali’s screenplay requires you to latch on to those finer moments which may even require a second viewing. If you do(like in Tamasha or Rockstar), the movie is a winner else you will never like the movie! The dialogues are average. The music is pulsating but does not match the blockbuster songs of his predecessor. Cinematography is outstanding correctly depicting the mood of the characters. Director Imtiaz Ali is a genius and a compelling story teller. Lets just forget that he ever made Jab Harry Met Sejal shall we? His direction is unconventional(always has been) but he doesn’t quite nail it yet it does save the film to an extent!

Which brings me to the performances which are a let down! Debutant Arushi Sharma has very little to do! Sara Ali Khan in more scenes than one over compensates which makes her character loud instead of being subtle. No doubt she shines in quite a few scenes but she still is rough around the edges. Kartik Aaryan had a great opportunity to move out of his Punchnama mode but he fails miserably. In fact his acting is exposed to such an extent that he is unbearable as Veer and only marginally better as Raghu. He has big time limitations as an actor posing the same two expressions throughout, in fact someone like Ranbir Kapoor would have eaten up the role! The pick of the actors for me is Randeep Hooda. Such subtlety in his acting, almost made me tear up towards the end. But the performances overall are poor and almost flatten the drama for which I will have to deduct one whole star!

Not sure if it is better than the first part, yet Love Aaj Kal 2 is complicated and nuanced yet the performances make the drama sink. Yet, do watch it for some magic created by the director! Oh and watch it for its relevance too! Watch it with your bae this Valentine’s weekend in a theatre near you!

PS : Love has always been complex no matter the era(dont listen to your parents/elders saying pyaar toh humaare zamaane mein hota tha, aaj kal toh bas….)! As the lines in the song from the predecessor go : Akh lad jaana,Mar mukhr jaana, Ekko ek kahaani, Bas badale zamaana! #AahunAahunAahun.