Love Aaj Kal

Just returned from the theater. Love Aaj Kal. The movie which has been much awaited, not because of the star cast or the extraordinary script or anything else; rather because Bollywood seemed to be devoid of any good movies, from a long time. Especially with the IPL followed by the fight amongst distributors and theater owners, and with Kambakkht Ishq turning out to be a sweet disappointment. Nonetheless, I’d say Love Aaj Kal was a fresh and nice movie which I say after a long time.

Watching the sweet romantic movie, perhaps made me emotional with tears streaming down my cheeks, as always. A good entertainer. Perhaps what I liked about the movie, was not only the vibrancy, the colors, Deepika Padukone’s looks and Saif Ali Khan’s physique, but also the way there were two love stories going on in parallel, one in the current context, between Saif and Deepika but also the one in the past, between Rishi Kapoor and his Harleen. The constant switching from the current context to the past was something that was spellbinding, and perhaps made me remember Rang De Basanti where such a similar approach was adopted.

The movie was quite similar to Saif’s previous movie Hum Tum, inspired from Harry Met Sally, and the innumerable other movies that have tried to capture the core theme that defines the very existence of Bollywood. But while my mind was once again conjured with another perfect love story and I tried to draw parallels to my life and fantasized that perhaps one day I would be in love with a girl like Deepika and a life that would be like And they lived happily ever after. Perhaps that’s the child in me that is tired of the sudden burst of reality shows. The child who hates every attempt to sound logical and act mature by watching hard hitting movies, like those Madhur Bhandarkar films. The child that is hidden somewhere deep inside, who somehow gets lost in translation in the reality of everyday life. The child who feels a loss of privacy when your own life feels like a reality show with the thousand invisible spectators.

Coming back to the movie, I enjoyed every bit of it. I wouldn’t feel bad to admit that like many, I am also one of those stereotyped filmi audience who is spell bound about the beauty of the actress. Right from Titanic, when I felt that Kate was the most prettiest thing ever, to Hum Dill De Chuke Sanam for Aishwarya and Om Shanti Om for Deepika, and once again Love Aaj Kal reignited the passion in me once again. It made me spell bound on Deepika’s beauty, and of course the typical love story which has been portrayed in the film. I wondered how I would be in love with some one as pretty and humble as Deepika. I guess that’s enough about my chanting on Deepika.

But the real reason why I write is upon what I was thinking as I was driving back home after the movie. Perhaps the demarcation about the reality and films is the practicality which Saif talked about in the movie right at the start. I was just thinking and correlating to my own life and I thought that it is only in films that the two lovers realize that they are made for each other and run back to each other, irrespective of how and where they are. It is only in movies when they come upon this point when self realization dawns upon them and of course there is a lightening and a voice in the sky (if it’s a Ramanand Sagar presentation), where the girl and the boy, or either of them realize that they are made for each other and then they just know that they have to be with each other, when they then run back, and the so called ending “And they lived happily ever after”. But does it really happen in real life. Does it happen that the girls decides that if its not this guy, there would be no one else. Does it happen that there is no “And they lived happily ever after”. How often it occurs when practicality sweeps the minds of real people and they compromise with life.

Just a thought as I recollected the movie. What would have happened when Saif would have come back to see Deepika actually being happily married. Perhaps similar to Bachna Ae Hassino when Ranbir comes back to find his Mahi married with Kids. Would it be different if Deepika despite being married would have accepted that she loved Saif and not her husband? What I am trying to drive at is that this happens only in reel life and not real life. Real life is bound with compromises and understandings. How often it has happened, when the guy goes for girl II, because girl I is not available. Or perhaps after Girl I gets married, she doesn’t remember Boy Friend I any more. She justifies the w hole scenario where Husband I is the only one and she justifies that what she did and where she is just perfect and correct. What happens to ex-boyfriend I in that scenario.

I mean, Saif realized it much later that he was actually in love with Deepika and then he rushes back to see her still waiting for him. What if he came back to find out that Deepika was already married and didn’t care or rather even remember Saif at all. Or perhaps, after the intial break off , Saif was still in love for the next X number of years but perhaps, the girl turned into the ice princess (aka bitch) and couldn’t care less. Perhaps we would have termed it that this was perhaps not true love and that is why it didn’t happen. What if Saif waited for years for Deepika in anticipation, but only to sadly find that there was no Deepika. And there was no and they lived happily ever after. I’ve gone through those days when despite breaking up, and not having spoken to that special for years, I’ve still remembered her like crazy. But then, nothing else matters.

But what I am trying to get at is that in real life, no one waits. No one. No one cares. Its not about right or wrong. Its not about true love and doing the right thing. Its all about timing. Correct timing and you might be lucky. Incorrect timing and it might be a compromise. A compromise that may turn out to be either the best thing that happened to you. This perhaps when you would easily say that everything happens for the best. A compromise that may turn out to be a disaster that leaves a foul taste in your mouth. A disaster that may again lead to either you deciding to look out for some one or just accepting the fact and living your life in the memories of the good times you spent with that some one special. I mean it’s a never ending cycle.