LOVE! The four-letter word as well as the feeling that everyone must experience! A strange phenomenon where even the most realistically thinking person throws away his practical thought out of the window and starts living in a dreamy world. Expectations reach skyhigh. And in some unfortunate cases, when all the dreams get shattered, the person in love feels like a fool. Normally, in Bollywood, heroes are shown falling for that cute girl and suffering a terrible heartbreak and its repercussions when the girl dumps them for some reason or the other. In case of I Hate Luv Storys, the girl falls for the guy inspite of knowing that he makes fun of love and hates ’love stories’ and she also experiences that elusive one-sided love feeling (normally reserved for heroes in our cinema) for a part of the film. And this is one of a rare factor of this otherwise predictable film! I Hate Luv Storys may not be that perfect and classic romantic flick but it has its moments and is definitely the perfect treat for the weekend!
The story of the movie: Jay (Imran Khan) is an assistant director and is working under Veer Kapoor (Samir Soni), a very popular Bollywood director, knowing for making hopelessly romantic films. Strangely, Jay hates love and lovey-dovey films. He believes that those who are in love are in need of help as love is sickness! On the other hand, Simran (Sonam Kapoor) is a sucker for love stories and a die-hard romantic. She has a wonderful fiance Raj (Samir Dattani) and her life is going on perfectly. However, everything changes when she comes across Jay while working on Veer Kapoor’s forthcoming project. Both are completely opposite in every sense but yet they become thick friends. Soon, Sonam falls completely for Jay. But will Jay, who prefers to stay miles away from pyaar-vyar, reciprocate her love?
The film rests on a waferthin plot and plotwise, it doesn’t offer anything new. However, the film is helmed well by first-timer Punit Malhotra who keeps you engaged from the start to finish, especially in the first hour, where the story doesn’t move ahead at all! The characters of the film are damn interesting, be it Jay, Simran, Jay’s pal (Kavin Dave), the somewhat eccentric film director (Samir Soni), the ’completely perfect’ boyfriend (Samir Dattani), the superstar (Aamir Ali) or the hottie-without-brains partner-in-crime (Bruna Abdullah).
One instantly gets absorbed into Jay and Simran’s life. The interval point was significant and the plot actually starts proceeding in the 2nd half. But here too, there were several sequences which hampered the pace of the film. However, the film picks up towards the climax. As for the climax, well..it was obviously predictable and the film ends on a justified note. However, where the film fails is the lack of novelty in the plotline. That’s why, even the good direction doesn’t improve things much.
The film has some fine performance from each and everyone. Both Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor were equally awesome! Imran steals the show with his wonderful act. He plays a Casanova but his whole act was devoid of cheap and dirty mannerisms. Watch out for him in the emotional scenes when he realizes that he’s in love! He’s truly evolved as an actor!
Sonam Kapoor has never looked so beautiful before. She did impress in Saawariya and Delhi 6 but I Hate Luv Storys is surely her best work! Besides pitching in a flawless performance, special mention should go to her designer (Manish Malhotra) who has provided with one of the best costumes! How she carries off each outfit with panache is worth appreciating! She looks equally terrific in her next (Aisha)! Way to go Sonam!
Sammir Dattani gives a sincere performance. Why don’t we see more of him in A-grade flicks?! Samir Soni was brilliant and delivers a performance which one won’t forget for a long time! He plays a role which is a cross between Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar which was very funny and interesting! Watch out! Kavin Dave compliments well. Same goes for the beautiful Bruna Abdullah. Anju Mahendru as Imran’s mom was convincing. Aamir Ali leaves a mark. Pooja Ghai doesn’t get much scope. Others were good.
Vishal-Shekhar’s music as usual was amazing and it was good to listen to their compositions after ages! Jab Mila Tu, Bahara, Bin Tere, Sadka and title track...all songs are worth listening too and are well shot too! Salim-Sulaiman’s background score like everything was just perfect. Ayananka Bose’ cinematography was flawless. Special mention should be the scenes shot in New Zealand. Amrita Mahal Naklai’s production design was beautiful. Sets were indeed a visual treat, esp Sonam Kapoor’s room!
Debutant director Punit Malhotra has also written the story, screenplay and dialogues. Story as mentioned was ordinary. However, screenplay and dialogues are very interesting and some scenes are very well thought and treated. The film’s novelty, besides the factor mentioned in review’s beginning, is that it is symbolic at several places. And the ’idhar udhar ki baatein vagera vagera’ sequences were just brilliant! Very smartly thought and very impressive! Also, there are too many songs in the narrative but are wisely placed and hence the songs don’t seem like a drag. With a better story and little polish to his directorial skills, Punit can definitely do a good job in his next!
Some of the best scenes:
Jay-Simran’s first meeting (unique!)
Jay, Simran meet at Veer’s office
Drunk Jay offers Simran advice
Jay meets Raj for the first time
Jay’s interaction with Simran’s bungalow watchman (funny!)
The song Jab Mila Tu, Bahara, Bin Tere
The intermission point
All scenes of Bruna Abdullah
The climax
On the whole, I Hate Luv Storys is a nice, feel-good film which doesn’t offer anything novel in terms of storyline but still manages to impress. It is funny, sweet, cute and definitely worth watching once! With no other Hindi release this Friday, I Hate Luv Storys i