''Love Aaj Kal'' () is a 2009 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
-
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Imtiaz Ali starring
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Khan ma ...
and
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most pop ...
with
Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry base ...
and
Giselli Monteiro
Giselli Monteiro is a Brazilian former model and Bollywood actress. She made her film-debut playing Harleen Kaur in the 2009 Bollywood film ''Love Aaj Kal (2009 film), Love Aaj Kal'', directed by Imtiaz Ali (director), Imtiaz Ali.
Early life an ...
in supporting roles.
Neetu Singh
Neetu Kapoor (born Harneet Kaur), is an Indian actress who is known for appearing in Hindi films throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. In 2012, Singh was inducted into the Walk of the Stars, an entertainment hall of fame at Bandra ...
appears in a cameo appearance (making a special comeback to films after a 25-year long hiatus). The film is directed by
Imtiaz Ali and produced by
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Khan ma ...
and
Dinesh Vijan
Dinesh Vijan is an Indian film producer and director who works in Hindi films. He is the founder of Maddock Films. He gave up his banking job in 2004 to pursue films. He has produced critically and commercially acclaimed films such as '' Stree' ...
. The film portrays the feeling of pure love which never changes, although the perspective of realizing one's soulmate has changed over time. The film's soundtrack was composed by
Pritam
Pritam Chakraborty (born 14 June 1971), also known mononymously as Pritam, is an Indian composer, instrumentalist, guitarist, and singer. After working as an ad jingles composer, he debuted as a co-composer in the 2001 Hindi film Tere Liye. A ...
and
Salim–Sulaiman
Salim–Sulaiman is an Indian score composer duo consisting of siblings Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant. The duo compose music predominantly for Hindi films.
Life and early career
Salim–Sulaiman's ancestral town is Mundra, Kutch, Gujar ...
with lyrics penned by
Irshad Kamil
Irshad Kamil (born 5 September 1971) is an Indian poet and lyricist. His songs appear in Bollywood films including ''Jab We Met'', '' Chameli'', '' Love Aaj Kal'', ''Rockstar'', ''Aashiqui 2, Raanjhanaa, Highway, Tamasha,'' and ''Jab Harry Met ...
.
Released on 31 July 2009, ''Love Aaj Kal'' grossed ₹1.19 billion worldwide, thus proving to be a commercial success at the box office, and was the
second-highest grossing Hindi film of the year. Upon release, it received widespread critical acclaim for its novel story, screenplay, direction, dialogues, soundtrack, costumes, cinematography and performances of the cast.
At the
55th Filmfare Awards, ''Love Aaj Kal'' received a leading 12 nominations, including
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
(Ali),
Best Actor (Khan) and
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
(Padukone), and won 2 awards –
Best Lyricist (Kamil for "Aaj Din Chadheya") and
Best Choreography (
Bosco–Caesar
Bosco–Caesar is an Indian choreographer duo who work in Indian films. They are Bosco Martis and Caesar Gonsalves, who have together worked on 200 songs and about 75 films. They run the Bosco Caesar Dance Company in Brampton, Scarborough, Mumba ...
for "Chor Bazaari").
It was remade into
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
as ''
Teen Maar'' (2011). Its
spiritual successor
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...
of the same name, also directed by Ali and starring
Kartik Aaryan
Kartik Aaryan Tiwari (born 22 November 1990), is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. After pursuing a degree in engineering, he made his acting debut with Luv Ranjan's buddy film ''Pyaar Ka Punchnama'' (2011). He went on to star in the ...
and
Sara Ali Khan, was released in 2020.
Plot
Jai Vardhan Singh and Meera Pandit are a modern-day couple living in London. They are happy with each other, but do not believe in tying each other down, so when career beckons they have a mutual break-up but remain friends. Meera goes to India, while Jai stays in London, hoping to be called to San Francisco, where working at the Golden Gate Inc. is his dream job. Jai begins to date a Swiss girl named Jo, while Meera returns the feelings of her boss, Vikram Joshi. The couple believes they have moved on.
Running simultaneously, but set in the past, is the tale of Veer Singh Panesar. A great believer of love, the Sikh narrates his love story to Jai to try to convince him not to let Meera go from his life. He explains how he fell for a girl named Harleen Kaur. Jai ridicules Veer, who vowed to marry Harleen before he had even gotten to talk to her. But, on Veer's insistence, he agrees to pay Meera a surprise visit in India. Meera is stunned, and the two lie to both Jo and Vikram to spend time with each other. They realize how much they still like each other's company. Jai and Jo break up as Jai is unable to reciprocate the deeper feelings that Jo longs for. On the day Jai is to leave, Vikram proposes to Meera. She meets Jai secretly, who tells her she should make a decision. Angry, Meera tells him to leave her life or else she will never be able to really move on. Parallel to this, we find that Harleen has told Veer she was engaged without being told, and he must leave her.
Jai is called to his dream job in San Francisco the same day that Meera realizes her marriage is a mistake. She tells Vikram the truth and calls Jai, but he tells her about Golden Gate. Realizing he is going to San Francisco, she tells him nothing. Meanwhile, Veer declares his intentions of marrying Harleen but is badly beaten by her family.
Jai begins to lose interest in his "dream job", finding that he is not as happy as he thought he would be. He is beaten by some thugs when, while being mugged, he refuses to give them a picture of Meera. He then realizes he still loves her, and goes back to India. He finds Vikram, who informs him that Meera left him. In the past, Veer travels to Harleen's house on the day of her wedding, and convinces her mother that Harleen can only be happy with him. Harleen's mother lets Veer secretly sneak out with her daughter, and the two marry happily. In the present, Jai and Meera have a heart-touching reunion.
Cast
*
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Khan ma ...
in a dual role as
**Jai Vardhan Singh, Meera's boyfriend
**Veer Singh Panesar, Harleen's boyfriend
***
Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry base ...
as Older Veer Panesar
*
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most pop ...
as Meera Pandit, Jai's girlfriend and Vikram's wife
*
Giselli Monteiro
Giselli Monteiro is a Brazilian former model and Bollywood actress. She made her film-debut playing Harleen Kaur in the 2009 Bollywood film ''Love Aaj Kal (2009 film), Love Aaj Kal'', directed by Imtiaz Ali (director), Imtiaz Ali.
Early life an ...
as Harleen Kaur, Veer's girlfriend (voice dubbed by
Mona Ghosh Shetty
Mona Ghosh Shetty is an Indian voice-dubbing actor and dubbing director. She has dubbed in Hindi, Bengali, English, Marathi, and Urdu languages.
Personal life
Mona Ghosh Shetty is the daughter of former voice-dubbing artist Leela Roy Ghosh. ...
)
**
Neetu Singh
Neetu Kapoor (born Harneet Kaur), is an Indian actress who is known for appearing in Hindi films throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. In 2012, Singh was inducted into the Walk of the Stars, an entertainment hall of fame at Bandra ...
as Older Harleen (special appearance)
*
Vir Das
Vir Das (born 31 May 1979) is an Indian comedian, actor and musician. After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved to Hindi cinema starring in films like ''Badmaash Company'' (2010), '' Delhi Belly'' (2011), and ''Go Goa Gone'' (2013) ...
as Shonty
*
Raj Zutshi
Rajendranath Zutshi, more commonly known as Raj Zutshi (born 4 February 1961), is an Indian film and television actor.
Personal life
Zutshi was born on 4 February 1961 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India into a Kashmiri Pandit family. Raj Zu ...
as Vinod Singh, Harleen's father
*
Rahul Khanna
Rahul Khanna (born 20 June 1972) is an Indian actor, VJ and writer who works in Bollywood. He is the older son of actor turned politician Vinod Khanna and the older brother of Akshaye Khanna.
Early life and background
Khanna was born and rai ...
as Vikram Joshi, Meera's husband
*
Florence Brudenell-Bruce
Florence "Flea" Anne-Marie St George (''née'' Brudenell-Bruce; born 21 November 1985) is an English model and former actress.
The daughter of Andrew Brudenell-Bruce, a wine merchant and descendant of Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ail ...
as Jo
*
Kavi Shastri
Kavi Shastri (born 19 February 1986 in London) is a British film and television actor.
Early life and education
Kavi Shastri was born into a Gujarati family in London, England.[Dolly Ahluwalia
Dolly Ahluwalia is an Indian actress and costume designer who was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2001 for costume design.][Bangladeshi
Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...]
taxi driver
*
Amanda Rosario
Amanda Rosario (born Amanda Pegrum) is a British actress who has appeared in Hindi films as well as Tamil and Marathi films. After appearing in small roles in Hindi films, Rosario made her debut as a lead actress with the Tamil film, ''Saagasa ...
as Amanda
* Himanshu Solanki
* Ajay Kalyan Singh as Guy at church
Production
The shooting of the film started in May 2008
and took place at the railway station of
Patiala
Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...
,
Red Fort
The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift hi ...
,
Purana Qila
Purana Qila () is one of the oldest forts in Delhi, India. Built by the second Mughal Emperor Humayun and Surid Sultan Sher Shah Suri, it is thought by many to be located on the site of the ancient city of Indraprastha. The fort formed the inn ...
and on the streets of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. Parts were shot in London, San Francisco, and
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. The building used as Golden Gate, Inc., in the film is actually the rotunda of
San Jose City Hall
San José City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of San Jose, California. Located in Downtown San Jose, it was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier in a Postmodern style. It consists of an 18-story tower, an ic ...
. The film wasn't given a title until January 2009, after shooting was complete.
Release
Marketing
The producers of the film agreed to market tie-ups with
2009 ICC World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...
,
Shoppers Stop
Shoppers Stop is an Indian department store chain, owned by the K Raheja Corp. There are 86 stores across 40 cities in India, with clothing, accessories, handbags, shoes, jewellery, fragrances, cosmetics, health and beauty products, home furn ...
and
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
Bajaj Finserv Limited is an Indian non-banking financial services company headquartered in Pune. It is focused on lending, asset management, wealth management and insurance.
History
The financial services and wind energy businesses were trans ...
. The apparel worn by the lead cast is exclusively available at Shoppers Stop. With Bajaj Allianz, they have a tie-up to share the special moments where they could win a chance to meet
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Khan ma ...
, the protagonist and the producer of the movie. The tie-up with the
2009 ICC World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...
was that both Khan and Padukone would be in England before the tournament begins, with Saif expected to commentate on matches for Indian television. The world television premiere of ''Love Aaj Kal'' occurred on
Sony TV Sony Television, Sony TV, or Sony HD may refer to any of the following television-related products from Japanese conglomerate Sony:
* Television sets designed and manufactured by Sony Corporation in Japan
** Trinitron, television hardware brand (196 ...
in 2010.
Reception
Critical reception
''Love Aaj Kal'' received mostly positive reviews upon release, with praise for its novel screenplay, direction, dialogues, soundtrack, humor, costumes, cinematography and performances of the cast..
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media.
Career
Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...
of ''Bollywood Hungama'' gave the film 4 stars out of 5 saying, "On the whole, ''Love Aaj Kal'' is for the young and romantic at heart. Sure, it's not perfect, but the terrific performances, melodious music and stirring emotional moments more than compensate for the hiccups." Nikhat Kazmi of ''Times of India'' gave the movie 4 stars in a scale of 5, concluding that "Go watch it for its GenNow feel and its ''ekdum'' ''
ic' modern appeal." Sonia Chopra of ''Sify'' gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5, commenting that "With lilting music and characters you'll love, Imtiaz Ali, brings out one of the most romantic films in recent times. It's a love story of the aam junta, with a delicious contemporary edge. Go get your fill." Shubhra Gupta of ''Indian Express'' gave the movie 3 stars in a scale of 5, noting that "It's hard not to warm up to a film which is, at its core, likable. I just wish I could have liked it more." Aniruddha Guha of ''DNA India'' gave the film 3 stars out of 5, writing that "Though ''Love Aaj Kal'' may not quite be the film you expect it to be, it does not leave you feeling disappointed either. Watch it without too many expectations and you will come back smiling. And if you have wanted to ask someone out for a while, this film is the perfect ice-breaker." Raja Sen of ''Rediff'' gave the movie 2.5 stars in a scale of 5, stating that "''Love Aaj Kal'' is a harmless, watchable film – sad because it could have been truly special. It has its moments in the first half, while the second half is an over-melodramatic drag." Rajeev Masand of ''CNN-IBN'' gave the movie 2 stars out of 5, pointing that "The film, in the end, is ordinary stuff, watchable but never memorable like the director's previous efforts, the far-superior ''
Socha Na Tha
Socha is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Valderrama Province, which is a subregion of Boyacá. It borders Socotá in the east, Sativasur in the north, Tasco in the south and in the west Paz de Río.
...
'' (2005) and ''
Jab We Met
''Jab We Met'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Dhilin Mehta under his banner Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in their fou ...
'' (2007). I'm going with two out of five and an average rating for ''Love Aaj Kal''. It's like that plump mango you bite into only to discover it's not ripe yet. Watch it nevertheless for the sharp dialogue and some clever humor."
Box office
''Love Aaj Kal'' netted in its first week. and in its second week. ''Love Aaj Kal'' netted in India. It was declared a hit by ''Box Office India'', grossing . The film grossed ₹1.19 billion worldwide and was one of the highest grossing films of the year.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of ''Love Aaj Kal'' was composed by
Pritam
Pritam Chakraborty (born 14 June 1971), also known mononymously as Pritam, is an Indian composer, instrumentalist, guitarist, and singer. After working as an ad jingles composer, he debuted as a co-composer in the 2001 Hindi film Tere Liye. A ...
and
Salim–Sulaiman
Salim–Sulaiman is an Indian score composer duo consisting of siblings Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant. The duo compose music predominantly for Hindi films.
Life and early career
Salim–Sulaiman's ancestral town is Mundra, Kutch, Gujar ...
, with the former composing songs and latter the score. The lyrics for songs were penned by
Irshad Kamil
Irshad Kamil (born 5 September 1971) is an Indian poet and lyricist. His songs appear in Bollywood films including ''Jab We Met'', '' Chameli'', '' Love Aaj Kal'', ''Rockstar'', ''Aashiqui 2, Raanjhanaa, Highway, Tamasha,'' and ''Jab Harry Met ...
, and the remixes created by DJ Sanj. The album earned Pritam his first
IIFA Award for Best Music Director
The IIFA Best Music Director Award is chosen by the viewers and the winner is announced at the actual ceremony.
Superlatives
List of winners
A.R. Rahman (8 wins) is the most awarded artist, followed by Amaal Mallik (4), Shankar–Ehsaan–L ...
, in addition to a nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director
The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fir ...
.
Pritam revealed in a 2014 interview that
Imtiaz Ali wanted
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
to compose the music of the film, but the latter was available only for his next, ''
Rockstar
Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to:
Films
* ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg
* ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali
* ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...
'' (2011).
Awards and nominations
Remakes
The movie was remade in
Tollywood in 2011 by the name ''
Teen Maar'' starring Pawan Kalyan,
Trisha Krishnan
Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983), known mononymously as Trisha, is an Indian actress and model, who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu films. She was noticed after winning Miss Chennai contest (1999), which marked her entry into the film ...
, and
Kriti Kharbanda.
A
spiritual successor
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...
of the same name, also directed by Ali, was released in 2020, starring
Kartik Aaryan
Kartik Aaryan Tiwari (born 22 November 1990), is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. After pursuing a degree in engineering, he made his acting debut with Luv Ranjan's buddy film ''Pyaar Ka Punchnama'' (2011). He went on to star in the ...
and
Sara Ali Khan.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
Aaj Kal''on
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
{{Filmography of Imtiaz Ali
2009 films
2000s Hindi-language films
2009 romantic drama films
Hindi-language drama films
Films directed by Imtiaz Ali
Indian romantic drama films
Films shot in England
Films shot in San Francisco
Films shot in Delhi
Films shot in Kolkata
Films featuring songs by Pritam
Films shot in Mandawa
Hindi films remade in other languages