BW: Love Aaj Kal

First: can I tell you how much fun it was to see this movie? Just out in India on July 31st, my Nepalese friend from Omaha let me know that it was going to be shown in an Omaha theatre this weekend! He works for an Indian grocery and his boss apparently buys the rights to have two showings of an Indian movie once a month. So of course I was so excited to go b/c I'd read a review of this film already, and my mom's Indian doctor friend told me (when she had him call me from the hospital to talk movies...) that this is the big blockbuster in India right now! Another man at the theatre said his sister just got back from India two days ago and there it is sold out. At this dollar theatre in Omaha there was a 7 and 9 o'clock showing. Well, of course the 7 ran late so there were scads of Indians and Nepalese and who knows whom else lined up inside this theatre waiting for the film. Both showings were sold out! and my friend and I stood for the first half, after which my friend's super nice boss found me a seat and I watched the rest in a chair. What fun!

So, Saif Ali Khan plays Jai, a modern day Indian living in London who dreams of working for Golden Gate Inc. in San Fran. Deepika Padukone (of Om Shanti Om fame) plays Meera, a fresco restorer, also living in London who dreams of restoring Indian monuments. The beginning of the film is shot after shot of these two getting together and their subsequent relationship. The movie really gets going when they decide to break up after Meera gets her big break and heads back to India. They part with a party and all is well until Rishi Kapoor, playing lovable Sardar Veer Singh (is it just me, or is that a super popular Northern name?), enters in ballin' turbans to recount his own love story with Harleen to Jai. These stories, one in 1965 Delhi, and the other in present day London/Delhi/San Fran, are told side by side for the rest of the movie. Basically we see how love was done in the olden days, and how it's handled now.

I must say I didn't really know what to think of this one at first b/c the main romantic leads are broken up from the get go, but the more I think about it the more I like it. It's a real story a/b people who think they're doing their best, but really have no idea what they're doing. And I've noticed something! I like a lot of Bollywood heroines, whereas Kathleen Kelly from You've Got Mail is about the only Western heroine I can stand. Don't get me wrong, Elizabeth Bennet is great, but most heroines are completely flawed and annoying (I could go into the real reason for this, but I'll spare you for now). Anyway, I loved Meera. She was real, and thoughtful and goal oriented and handled her mistakes v. well. I also loved Shanti and Sandy and Anjali (both) and this is really a break through in cinema. How did I not realize that Bollywood has had the "unlikable heroine" code cracked for so long? Don't get me wrong, I can't stand most of Aishwarya Rai's characters, and don't get me started on Rani, but there are multiple heroines I'm absolutely in love with.

Anydoctorwho, great movie. The songs were so-so. Some really had no motivation, but meh, it's Hindi cinema right? Saif did a good job as both characters (he played young Veer as well) and Deepika was a easy to relate to kind of crazy beautiful. Harleen, played by a Brazilian model, was a gem. Not your average epic romance, or your "normal" romance this film presented a nice angle to a classic genre.

Lesson Learned: They always said Delhi, or Dilli (cute pun, and actual local name of Delhi) and never New Delhi, so of course I wikied the terms. Turns out New Delhi is India's capital, which is a part of the larger Delhi metro. It's technically in its own territory (like D.C. I'd imagine) but is basically in the state next to Punjab (which is quickly becoming my favorite).

P.S. The front of that train says "Raj" but I couldn't ever get a good enough look at the second word during the film to read it.

Happy 4 month Bollywood Anniversary to me! I saw Krrish on April 7th, and since then have seen 34 Hindi films, have taught myself the Hindi alphabet and can say basic introductory things, not to mention the short phrases I recognize from the films.