Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna
Directed by: Imtiaz Ali
Verdict: Watch on DVD
It’s a story of love lost and love found – Now and Then. And as with all movies, this one too had its highs and lows.
The movie opens with Jai (Saif) & Meera’s (Deepika) whirl-wind romance (in London) – some kissing, some touching and some naach-gaana. Soon, for reasons of practicality and with the promise of being BFFs, they logically decide to part ways – their careers are taking them different ways (and to different parts of the world).
Here’s where Veer Paaji (Rishi Kapoor) steps in as the friendly neighbourhood Indian and tells Jai of his courtship in the yesteryears. And so begins the other story – Veer falls in love with Harleen Kaur (Giselle), only to find that her family is moving to Kolkatta. Unable to come to terms with the miles that separate them, he goes to see her. And ultimately steals her away when it is found that she is betrothed to somebody else (against her wishes).
The plot of both stories are the more-or-less the same – Boy meet girl, They fall in love, Villain 1 – Distance, Villain 2 – Possibility of girl’s marriage to another. The difference in the two stories comes when comparing modern romance (that has its basis mostly on practicality) and historical romance (where heart came before mind). I think what I didn’t like about the modern romance was how shallow it seemed, with the round-about, indirect way the realization hits both of them. I mean, who is the world realizes one day after the wedding, that the other guy is the ONE! I suppose the handkerchief quotient also went down quite a bit, because most of the movie was said from the boy’s point of view.
The songs seem like they have mostly jus’ been put in because it HAD to be there. Saif’s inability to dance absolutely kills the song-dance routines. Deepika’s wardrobe is fresh, down-to-earth and wearable fashion- a far cry from the traditional dinchak-ness of bollywood. Although Rahul Khanna is gorgeous as always, I wonder why he had to be cast in the bit-role of Meera’s rebound boyfriend/husband. New comer Giselle does a good job as Harleen Kaur and Saif as (young) Veer Paaji is interesting.
