Love Aaj Kal - A rehash of old modernity

A lot was said & heard of Love Aaj Kal (LAK) since its release … from Imtiaz Ali of Jab We Met fame to Saif Ali’s illuminati productions (a dichotomy – a secret society for a production house), LAK promised to be bold & ambitious. The plot deserved the attention of the Change Agent, for it throws up an interesting set of questions - Is this an attempt to find similarities through the lens of modernity, is it possible to create change by blurring the lines between the old & the new – is this film a change point at all?
This is a story within a story, the plot is loaded with symbols of love, rituals of people in love and Bollywood’s favourite – the locations. Shot across three bridges… London, San Francisco & Calcutta (Delhi seemed like a flyover), the bridge is the device used to time-code the idea of LOVE. The older and modern versions of it (please do not miss the bridge on the poster) seem to exist on the two opposite banks.
Does this film preach any one idea is a question mark because both forms of love prosper amidst all kinds of chaos. While Harleen Kaur & Veer Singh’s ethnic love (from the balcony version), battles social sanctions (parents & the extended family) – Jai Vardhan Singh & Meera Pandit’s meeting of lips story needs to combat their internal belief systems before succeeding. Like everything ordinary, LAK has its moments. From the several attempts at capturing the kal and the aaj frame, few fail miserably.
The, then & now of portrayal of the woman is interesting. Yesterday’s love is able to blossom, thanks to the mother approving the daughter to be whisked away on her wedding night – wonder if the parent was more liberated than the daughter. Meera on the other hand sends a message through her female friend & calls for a meeting on lawn 2 - says nothing, seeing her ex-lover confused – opts to marry her current lover & realizes she cannot be married the morning after (modernity is never easily understood).
Both Saif & Imtiaz Ali seem convinced, that masculinity then, was more certain of his desire & the man today lives in a haze, until he sees the mangal sutra (Indian symbol of hindu marriage, gold ornament worn around her neck). Is modernity too complicated for the generation living it?
The one big idea of modernity is handled almost as too modern – for friends (retail industry included), fail to find the perfect gift for a ‘break-up’ party. It manages to create some tension, when Meera’s friend starts flirting with Veer in Meera’s presence & close friends as ooh-aahing spectators. Whether LAK’s take on the ‘break-up’ is relevant, merits a debate. If modernity, in the LAK construct is about free speak, must the ‘break up’ open a world of honest confessions?
Rather unfortunate is the division between the old & the new. In the LAK portrayal of the modern, parents are not casted. At Meera’s diamond bride wedding, complete with pheras ( hindu marriage ritual of circling the fire god) & a social gathering – Mr. & Mrs. Pandit are absent. Their role seemingly is to fund the daughter’s trousseau, but they are not worthy to be a part of the decision making committee. Here modernity is exclusive to youth & need not happen to the parents.
In the last few years, Bollywood has consistently projected youth & modernity by eliminating parental involvement. As long as freedom is sanctioned by parents it retains an old form. For modernity to be expressed in its raw avatar, youth has to be un-adulterated, parents need to be sidelined.
Capturing the new against the back drop of old, is a challenge that needs to be handled with precision & LAK seems to lack it. The plot almost needs to be told backwards to make the point, for this one ends in the same way any Bollywood film would.
The larger concern with LAK is that both frames (old & new) stay relevant throughout the narrative; tradition ridicules modernity & the new grapples to find a handle into the behavior of the old. Within the construct of love, the divide is created through individual behavior than the view of a generation; LAK is certainly not a conclusion on the modern idea of love.
Bollywood, must stay out of modernity, for modernity needs newer endings. Attempts at it fail terribly due to the Bollywood’s inability to end what it starts. It certainly is not a verdict on Love of the current times – at best these are relevant observations of few couple relations of today, worst, it could be a rehash of the old in a half-new form. Is it really Love Aaj Kal possibly not, maybe they could have titled it differently. Doesn’t matter, what matters is that it is a substantial blockbuster of the Aaj Kal Times thanks to the swine- flu battling Mango (aam admi - a descriptor the common man) viewer!

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