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A film with gigantic expectations and a highly popular soundtrack opens with the young college going crowd hitting the multiplexes in great numbers. And as the movie starts, they are all set to have a good time, seeing their favorite stars romancing on the screen with a fresh approach. As a welcome change, the freshness is there, the direction is mature and the treatment is novel. But the movie entertains in parts and ends up with a routine kind of drama towards its climax, leaving a mixed kind of impact on the viewer.
The first hour of the movie moves at a jet speed, with the lead pair, Saif & Deepika, falling in love and thinking about their affair in pure practical terms. Imitaz Ali scores the maximum in this brilliantly directed part where he sincerely tries to explain the complexities felt by the young couples from the current generation. The problem of choice between career and love is portrayed beautifully with some well written dialogues and impressive scenes in the first half. And with the entry of Rishi Kapoor, playing the old lovable Sikh character, we are taken back into another love story happening in 1965, with two completely different characters on the screen.
This promising start makes you feel better and you start expecting a lot more coming in the later reels. But gradually as both the lover stories progress, the movie starts moving towards the same old romantic formula where the hero realizes his mistake towards the end and then decides to get back his lady love at any cost. The second half, though has its own cinematic moments, but still fails to make a better impact than the first hour. Like, the transformation of Saif from an ambitious engineer to a desperate lover is brilliantly captured in a single song. But I feel, Imtiaz should have thought of another unique and novel climax rather than moving into the same old arena as in “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na“, “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” or “Woh Saat Din”.
Performance wise both Saif & Deepika excel themselves giving their career best acts. Saif especially looks more convincing in the second half both in the role of a passionate Sikh lover and a desperate modern man tired of his ambitions. In the first half he is the same old Saif like in “Hum-Tum”. Deepika shows more glimpses of her hidden acting talent but still looks like holding herself in the freaking out scenes (like the drunken act). Rishi Kapoor is impressively super cool getting less attention towards the climax. Rahul Khanna has nothing much to do in his few scenes. Neetu Kapoor making a guest appearance in the last minute is a treat for the eyes. The unknown actress playing the young girl from the 1965 era, leaves a calm impact with her simple yet beautiful looks.
The soundtrack is already a huge Hit with foot tapping numbers and well sung songs coming once again from the Hit machine, Pritam. “Twist” is the best of the lot and “Kade Tan Has Bol Ve” is arranged well in an interesting style. This Punjabi song is originally sung by Shaukat Ali from Pakistan. The songs have been both shot & choreographed energetically. Cinematography and Art Direction is impressive as it captures both the eras of 1965 and 2009 with a creative touch. Editing is fast and crisp merging both the love stories innovatively.
The 1960s part of the movie is finely executed with wisely chosen locations, valid props and relevant costumes. But the Sikh characters are a little overdone in certain sequences, which should have been avoided. Saif himself playing the young Rishi Kapoor also might confuse certain viewers. The “Break-up Party” scenes are good but the movie is less appealing to the smaller centers with urban humor incorporated in large dosages. On the whole, “Love Aaj Kal”, is fresh in treatment and high on music. It makes you smile in the first half and manages to entertain in parts. But the second half and climax takes you onto the same old journey based on the Hit Bollywood formula. In short, Imitaz & Saif come up with a somehow polished product, with an exception of a routine ending seen many times before.
Ratings : 2.5 / 5
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Love Aaj Kal Movie Review, Love Aaj Kal Film Review, Love Aaj Kal Movie Review by Bobby Sing, Love Aaj Kal Film Review by Bobby Sing, Saif Ali Khan, Imitaz Ali, Jab We Met, Deepika Padukone. Let Twist, Nagin Tune in Hindi Films, Bobby Sing Bollywood Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Released, New Hindi Films Reviews, New Hindi Movies Reviews, New Hindi Movies Released, New Bollywood Reviews, Bobby Talks Cinema Review, Reviews By Bobby Sing, Bobby Talks Cinema Reviews, Bollywood Love Stories, Sikhs in Bollywood Movies, Punjab in Bollywood.
Kundan Shah’s “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron" is one of the most famous comedies produced by the Indian Cinema. It seems that its classy content and innovative sequences were also an inspiration for a Western flick released later in 1989 called “Weekend At Bernie’s”.
As you may recall, one of the most hilarious sequence of “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron” was the one where Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Vaswani and Om Puri played around with the dead body of Satish Shah. The well written scene, along with its funny dialogues is still remembered among the best Comedy sequences in a Bollywood movie.
The brilliance of the idea may have inspired a similar plot in “Weekend At Bernie’s”, where also there are two losers who are invited to a Weekend Party at a Luxury Island by their boss. Reaching the party spot, they find their Boss as dead. So, now to save themselves from the consequences they have to fool the people around, pretending that their boss is still alive. And that’s the main comic plot of the movie, where they both start using the dead body as a dummy, resulting in more amusing situations later.
If the similarity is just a co-incidence then it’s really quite strange. But in all possibilities the cult status of “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron” all over, may have been the actual source of inspiration for “Weekend At Bernie’s”.
Interestingly Bollywood took a U-turn and again got inspired from “Weekend At Bernie’s”, coming up with a very poor rip off called “Nehlle Pe Dehlla” in 2007.
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Inspired Movies, Inspired Cinema, Bollywood Plagiarism, Plagiarism in Hindi Cinema, Copied Movies, Movies Inspired From, Movie is Inspired By, Borrowed Concepts, Inspired Plots, Bollywood & Hollywood, Reviews by Bobby Sing, Bollywood Gets Inspired, Cinema Gets Inspired, Bollywood & World Cinema, Inspiration from World Cinema, Bollywood Movie Inspirations, Hollywood Gets Inspired, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Weekend At Bernies
Basu Bhattacharya’s sensitive movie about a housewife and her desperate ways to get out of the middle class pattern of life is wrongly remembered for its few intense love scenes of Rekha. The senseless controversy took away all the attention and the real meaning of the theme got lost in those few unimportant scenes. Otherwise, it was Basu Bhattacharya’s last important addition to his artistic movies repertoire based on Marital Dissatisfaction and its various stages.
“Aastha” had its main focus on how a simple and loyal housewife gets attracted towards an easy money earning offer which in turn introduces her to the prostitution trade. However, after only a few steps into it, she realizes her mistake, regrets it and returns back to a normal life with her professor husband and their small kid.
The theme is highly inspired from world famous French director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 released movie called “2 Ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D’elle” in French or “Two or Three Things I Know About Her” in English. Godard’s movie also revolved around the life of a lady living in Paris who falls down to the easy option of prostitution in order to meet the demanding urges of her life.
But undoubtedly Basu Bhattacharya came up with his own unique version of the theme, depicting the problem with more Indianised warmth and affection.
Tags :
Aastha, 2 Ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D'elle, French Classic, Two or Three Things I Know About Her, Godard, Jean-Luc Godard, Inspired Movies, Inspired Cinema, Bollywood Plagiarism, Plagiarism in Hindi Cinema, Copied Movies, Movies Inspired From, Movie is Inspired By, Borrowed Concepts, Inspired Plots, Bollywood & Hollywood, Reviews by Bobby Sing, Bollywood Gets Inspired, Cinema Gets Inspired, Bollywood & World Cinema, Inspiration from World Cinema, Bollywood Movie Inspirations
“Luck” directed by Soham Shah is based on the theme of deadly online bettings organized by a Don, where human life is kept on stake shamelessly. He collects individuals high on Luck from various parts of the world and plots them as the contestants for his betting games.
The interesting plot is borrowed from a French Masterpiece made in Black & White called “13-Tzameti”, which was widely appreciated in the festival circuit all over the world. However, it is not a complete version and Soham did try to make it more commercial and interesting with detailed individual sequences of each character. But still “Luck” could not become a thoroughly entertaining movie as expected looking at its powerful star cast.
Along with its main plot, it has a complete sequence similar to the one in “13-Tzameti” where all the contestants are standing in a round with guns pointed at the person in front of them. They have one real bullet in each gun and as they all fire together, only the lucky ones stand there, alive. The following pictures will give you an idea of the same dangerous game played by the chosen ones in both “13-Tzameti” and “Luck”.
Tags :
Soham Shah, Luck & 13-Tzameti, French Movie, French Cinema, Inspired Movies, Inspired Cinema, Bollywood Plagiarism, Plagiarism in Hindi Cinema, Copied Movies, Movies Inspired From, Movie is Inspired By, Borrowed Concepts, Inspired Plots, Bollywood & Hollywood, Reviews by Bobby Sing, Bollywood Gets Inspired, Cinema Gets Inspired, Bollywood & World Cinema, Inspiration from World Cinema, Luck is inspired by, Bollywood Movie Inspirations
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Performance wise both Saif & Deepika excel themselves giving their career best acts. Saif especially looks more convincing in the second half both in the role of a passionate Sikh lover and a desperate modern man tired of his ambitions. In the first half he is the same old Saif like in “Hum-Tum”. Deepika shows more glimpses of her hidden acting talent but still looks like holding herself in the freaking out scenes (like the drunken act). Rishi Kapoor is impressively super cool getting less attention towards the climax. Rahul Khanna has nothing much to do in his few scenes. Neetu Kapoor making a guest appearance in the last minute is a treat for the eyes. The unknown actress playing the young girl from the 1965 era, leaves a calm impact with her simple yet beautiful looks. 
At Bernie’s”, where also there are two losers who are invited to a Weekend Party at a Luxury Island by their boss. Reaching the party spot, they find their Boss as dead. So, now to save themselves from the consequences they have to fool the people around, pretending that their boss is still alive. And that’s the main comic plot of the movie, where they both start using the dead body as a dummy, resulting in more amusing situations later.
