‘Love Aaj Kal’ looks like a step up for Kartik and a step down for Imtiaz Ali

The trailer of the Kartik Aryan-Sara Ali Khan helmed Love Aaj Kal left me confused. Is it a remake of the earlier film of the same title starring Sara’s pop Saif? Or is it a variation on the theme of love transcending distances?

The new Love Aaj Kal instantly recalls Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal in 2009 when Saif Ali Khan wooed and won the firangi model Giselli Monteiro who masqueraded rather ineffectually as a Punjabi kudi in one (bygone) era while Deepika Padukone was the contemporary chick battling career and heart issues in present times. In both Saif was the lover-boy, a Sardar in the past and a clean-shaven dude in the present.

In the new Love Aaj Kal, it is Kartik Aryan clean-shaven past, 6’o clock-shadow in the present. In both the eras, Kartin is seen single-mindedly wooing the two ladies Arushi Sharma and Sara Ali Khan. Both the ladies, I’m sorry to say come across as pretty unimpressive, though Sara tries hard to play the aggressive woman of today with a tonal ferocity that plunges her into the thrill of the shrill.

Kartik seems far more in control of his dual character. Here he is a clean-shaven school student in one and a stubble-adorned dude in the other. In both the avatars, he keeps pursuing the ladies until they are shown pissed off by his attention. “Tum mujhe tang lage ho,” pleads Sara.

I hope the film doesn’t make us feel the same way.

Is that what the film tries to say? That no matter what the era, a man should keep his love and libido in check? I am not very sure of what Love Aaj Kal is trying to say or do. The trailer seems to be a beguiling at times fascinating mélange of nostalgia and contemporary mores, of landline phones and hashtags, of salwar-kameez and denim-decked budtameez.

As far as trailers go, this one could have found better moments to highlight between Kartik and the two leading ladies. The dialogues are more aspirational than inspired.

She: “Are you attracted to girls?”

He: “I am. Aren’t you attracted to boys?”

She: “I am”

He: “I also feel like drinking petrol.”

She: Silent.

We: Zapped.