Written & Directed by: Punit Malhotra
Starring: Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan, Samir Dattani
I Hate Luv Storys is the latest offering from Karan Johar’s production house. It stars Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor in the lead and is directed by first time director Punit Malhotra. This movie is extremely critical to both the lead actors as both come into the movie with a spate of flops behind them. The movie, although a spoof on all the greatest romantic Hindi movies of the last two decades, does not disappoint.
The film is a story of Jay (Khan) an assistant director, a Casanova who does not believe in the concept of love, and Simran (Kapoor), an art director whose life is hugely influenced by all romantic movies she’s seen. She is a die-hard romantic girl and has complete belief in the concept of Love (as depicted in Hindi movies over the years). Moreover, she has already found the love of her life in her childhood friend Raj (Dattani). However, a series of events result in both Jay and Simran working together on the same movie. What happens when both of them (with their extremely opposite natures, attitudes and belief systems) end up working together and who manages to change whose conception about love is depicted in a very enjoyable way in the movie.
[ad#longpost]Performances: frankly, after couple of pathetic wooden-faced appearances (Kidnap, Luck), Imran Khan is back! He acts well and gets completely under the skin of the character. He plays his role of a Casanova extremely well. Sonam Kapoor looks stunning and acts extremely well–finally, she gets a role which has meat and substance after an imminently forgettable previous outing (Delhi 6). She plays her role of a girl who is greatly influenced by the Hindi movie love stories with amazing ease. Full marks to both the lead actors–without their extremely likable and good performances the movie would have fallen flat on its face.
Punit Malhotra: credit to him for getting the best from his leads. He has also written the script, which is a spoof of almost all the great romantic Hindi movies of the past two decades. However, it is very predictable and the entire story of the movie is pretty much summed up in the first ten minutes of the movie during the narration! But then, that’s what the movie is all about – a take on the love stories in Hindi Films. Scenes, sequences, song picturizations are completely borrowed from cult romantic Hindi movies of the last two decades. But credit is due to the writer, who ensures none of the recreated scenes are shown in a bad taste and the borrowed moments are indeed made enjoyable. The dialogues (occasionally borrowed, again) are another plus of the film, they are witty and create the right impact.
Supporting cast is top class. Everyone in the supporting roles do their job well. Special mention needs to be made for Samir Soni as the director of the movie (within the movie), Kavin Dave as Jay’s best buddy, Aamir Ali as the hero of the movie (in the movie) and Bruna Abdulla as Simran’s friend. All of them play their part well and add a lot of humour to the proceedings on-screen. The music by Vishal Shekar is pleasing with a combination of slow and peppy numbers, and the title track. “Sadka” and “Jab mila tu” stand out as well. Cinematography is good and some of the best locations of New Zealand are captured well.
The minuses–it has to be the story, only because it’s very predictable and clichéd. Also, if one has not seen the romantic Hindi movies over the past couple of decades that are referenced, the happenings on-screen most of the time would appear lame and most of the jokes would fall flat.
Bottom line: it is a youthful entertainer filled with humour. Though the story has its limitations, it’s never dull or boring and has some very likable performances. It surely brings back the memories of good old Bollywood love stories!
