Our Souls at Night - Movie Review

 Our Souls at Night: Movie Review – Ritesh Batra’s Soulful Treat

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

"I just want to live simply and pay attention to what’s happening every day.” – Louis in ‘Our Souls at Night

‘Our Souls at Night is based on the last novel written by Kent Haruf and directed by Ritesh Batra. The film has all the balms that can heal us from all our regrets, guilt, loss, breakups, pain and loneliness. In fact, the film is a trip to one’s own self to identify what are those barriers within us that stop us from receiving and finding our love. It’s also about loving yourself unconditionally. It is so therapeutic that it makes you realize the beauty of living in the Here and Now.

The film ‘Our Souls at night’ hovers on two septuagenarian neighbours – a widow and a widower. They are in the autumn of their life and they try to bring back the spring in their life. And one day, a knock on the door of Louis by Addie Moore makes this miracle happen. Addie and Louis lived next door to each other for years. But she never visited him and when she did this time Addie had an interesting proposal for him. She said to him - Would you be interested in coming to my house sometime to sleep with me? Louis is baffled and says “what? She explains that she does not mean to have sex but to be together in bed and talk till they fall asleep. She adds – “The nights are worst,” and he nods and agrees.

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Taking decisions that are not aligned to social norms are quite challenging but here Louis decides to give this proposition a try. Many times we don’t require a complete fool-proof plan to take challenges. Here, we see that in this film Louis and Addie tell us that it’s about listening to your heart and believing that the universe knows what is best for you. Having said this, every decision that goes against the so-called social norms shall also invite and attract consequences. Now, how you sail through the stormy and windy path of life together, holding each other firmly evolving and growing together is what we experience as love.  And Addie does it so beautifully that when she finds Louis prefer to come to her home from the backdoor she says firmly and nicely to him that - You Know, I think that you should come through the front door next time.

Addie’s positive outlook towards life and relationship is so impactful that once a cautious Louis tells her – “So I have been thinking. I got this idea. Why don’t we go into town, have lunch just take our time and enjoy ourselves? “She is pleasantly surprised and asks him -In public? He smiles and says –‘Yes’

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Addie has her own share of past, losing her daughter, her husband’s death, dealing with her son Gene who feels hurt for his sister’s accidental death and holds resentment towards Addie for shutting him out after his sister’s death, helping him understand to mend his broken and tiresome marital relationship, and to be compassionate and caring to her grandson Jamie – a seven-year-old boy who finds solace playing video games to beat his loneliness.

And on the other side, we have Louis who has become monotonous in his daily routine living alone. He has a live volcano in his heart – the loss of his wife who battled against cancer till her last breath, a daughter who lives apart from him, and the guilt of leaving his wife and daughter for another woman and failing to do justice to both the women in his life. But he tries to accept his share of pain and loss quietly by reading newspapers, eating silently alone watching the TV and going to the nearby coffee shop to catch up with his boring old buddies.

In one of the scenes in the film, Addie says to her old friend that we all have our own past. This is such a naked truth but we are not ready to accept it in our relationships. We knowingly or unintentionally end up judging and try reaching conclusions. Addie tells us that your past mistakes have nothing to do with what you are now, look at your love afresh, change your lenses; loves is beautiful and always give a chance to fall in love again. In one of the scenes where a guilt-ridden sad Louis shares his past Addie consoles him by saying that he is a good man, a good father, a husband and a good teacher. He says yes but not a great one.

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I think most of us end up becoming sad or make our dear ones sad because we don’t realize that we/they are good and even if some of us know that we/they are good, we still feel we/they are not perfectly great. Our Souls at Night tells us that it is ok to be perfectly imperfect.

In love, in the relationship we may not be perfect, actually, most of the time love is the union of two imperfect individuals. By being ready to learn from each other, forgiving and being compassionate we evolve and grow stronger together. Do we do that? Please, let’s take some time in silence to look into us, we may be surprised to know that we abandon so quickly and replace our so-called love with another one to move on to something that helps us tide over the storm easily without any guilt. True love is a beautiful experience that comes with its own imperfection that needs to be handled with compassion and empathy. True love is not abandoning and replacing, it is staying together.

 There are many soulful moments in this film like the bonding of  Louis and Addie with Jamie, the healing that happens between Addie and Gene, the heart to heart sharing of  Addie and Louis and how they both heal each other and blossom as two beautiful flowers in the garden of love and friendship, the talk between Louis daughter holy and how she understands and regards her father’s latest adventure in his life by forgiving his past, how Louis wish Holy a beautiful trip to find her soul mate. and finally how the Electric Train Kit arrives at Addie’s doorstep with a hidden gift in it to Addie that transforms and elevates their love to heavenly bliss. There are so many moments to mention that makes this movie a must-watch.

Finally, what are the key takeaways in this film - that impermanence is the rule of the universe and true love survives all seasons by understanding, forgiving, accommodating, adopting, adapting and evolving continually. Though things may not be the same, you may not be able to be together for a while, things will change again but then what we need to remember is we need to continue communicating with each other lovingly forever and this is what Louis does when he sends her a gift. And then when they talk he asks her –“What do you want to talk about? Addie excited like a teenager responds lovingly on phone - Oh God, anything and everything.

And after watching this film, I am also waiting to hear from my true love telling me – “Oh God, anything and everything”! And also telling me I am a good man and it’s ok to be not great and imperfect.

Watch this gem on Netflix right now.

Pen Movie Rating: 4.5/5

Cast: Robert Redford as Louis Waters, Jane Fonda as Addie Moore, Matthias Schoenaerts  as Gene, Iain Armitage as Jamie, Judy Greer as Holy, Phyllis Somerville as Ruth, Bruce Dern as Dorlan 

Genre: Love

Director: Ritesh Batra

Screenplay: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Producers: Robert Redford, Finola Dwyer, Ted Sarandos, Erin Simms

Executive Producers: Pauline Fischer, Sarah Bremner, Ben Ormand

Director of Photography: Stephen Goldblatt

Production Designer: Jene Ann Stewart

Based upon the novel by Kent Haruf

Edited by: John F. Lyons

Music by: Elliot Goldenthal

Language: English

OTT Platform: Netflix

 

Joji: Movie Review

Joji: Dileesh Pothan’s Macbeth Portrays Frailties in Family Relations!

 

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” - - William Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 1, Scene 4

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The above-mentioned lines are spoken by King Duncan admitting that he failed to see the duplicity of the Thane of Cawdor who was executed for treason. He says that it is so difficult to know what a man is actually thinking and feeling simply by looking at his face.

Dileesh Pothan’s third directorial outing ‘Joji’ takes us through similar instances of treachery and deceit in the Panachel family where the septuagenarian father PK Kuttappan (PN Sunny) is at the helm of affairs.   Kuttappan’s family comprises three sons, a daughter in law and a grandson. His eldest son Jomon (Baburaj) is a divorcee, alcoholic and temperamental and holds a command on his siblings and lives with his son Popy (Alex Alister) along with others. In many ways, Jomon is close to his father and is like him. Popy is in his teens who is tech-savvy like any other new-generation kid and he has his secrets to keep. Interestingly Popy’s one such secret holds an important role in the happenings of the Panachel mansion.

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Jaison (Joji Mundakayum) the second son is seemingly obedient and dutiful. He very well knows his limits and doesn’t want to upset the applecart by questioning the authority. When I called him, Joji said he is overwhelmed by the positive response he received for his character Jaison. He said it was a blessing to get to share screen space with such a powerhouse of talent like Fahadh Faasil. Moreover, he feels blessed to be directed by Dileesh Pothan one of the best directors of our country in recent times.

Bincy (Unnimaya Prasad) his wife, the only woman busy with the household chores on this men’s turf. Like many women, she is voiceless, a silent spectator and can see through faces and read them. Is she like lady Macbeth? At a very crucial juncture, Bincy reminds me of the original Macbeth and the lines Lady Macbeth tells him: “Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters. To beguile the time, look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it” because for her it is too easy to see what Macbeth is planning from looking at his face. Similarly, the dialogue of Bincy is so metaphorical here when she reminds the Macbeth of Panachel family to wear a mask because here she makes the opposite point to the one that occurs to King Duncan. 

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The youngest and the last one among the siblings is Joji. He is slothful and unproductive; at the same time nurses within him, ambitions mired with contempt for control and power his father exercise on everyone, particularly on him.  Slowly as the film progress to its climax, we come to know that there is only one among the Panachels who can upset the applecart. Fahadh Faasil as Joji the anti-hero fits into the character so well that Dileesh Pothan in one of his interviews with media recently says that there was nobody else but Fahadh in his mind. 

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Fahadh’s Joji is like a serpent – venomous, sometimes coiled doing nothing and the next moment observant and making quick moves to dart towards its goals and vanish without living a trail of its existence, and at the moment of danger with its hood up. 

The characters in the film are so well etched that each one of them and the situations that emerge become relatable for the audience. For instance, characters like Dr Felix (Shammi Tilakan) and the Church Priest Father Kevin (Basil Joseph) are those people whom you see every day. And therefore, the viewer stays back in the courtyard of the Panachel Mansion even when the movie is over. The impact is so much that one starts thinking whether all the characters were flawed, or was it the silence before the storm that they saw in the beginning in the mansion, was Pothan’s Macbeth a victim of circumstances or he was driven by the desire of power and greed and did everyone in the Panachel Mansion wanted this to happen or were stuck in their incapability of challenging the status co. For this, you need to watch the film whether the Macbeth in Joji heeds Lady Macbeth convincing him saying – “But screw your courage to the sticking place. And we’ll not fail.” 

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In short, Joji is a must-watch for its treatment and unique way of telling the story. Fahadh mesmerises us by his performance and there is Joji Mundakayam, the discovery of Dileesh Pothan as Jaison who has drawn much attention for his superb portrayal as an elder brother to Fahadh. Hope Joji Mundakayam gets meatier and relevant roles further so that he continues to entertain and surprise us more with his talents. Justin Varghese’s music gives the required mood and tone to this slow and steady thriller and makes it more gripping and engaging. The work of Shyju Khalid as Director of Photography is commendable. Kiran Das the editor is not in a hurry rather he lets the viewer stay in the moment for long to feel and observe the human mind at play driven by vices. Last but not the least; we need more from the stable of these three creative geniuses Fahadh, Dileesh and Syam Pushkaran.

Joji is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

PEN Movie Rating: 4/5

(Thomas is a film reviewer by passion, founder and director of Life Connoisseur (A Behavioural Corporate Training and Organisation Development Consultancy), behavioural counsellor and life coach you can connect with on Twitter @thomasp_mathews, thomaspmathews70@gmail.com)

Cast: Fahadh Faasil (Joji), Baburaj (Jomon), Joji Mundakayam (Jaison), Sunny PN (Kuttappan), Unnimaya Prasad (Bincy), Shammi Thilakan (Dr Felix), Alister Alex (popy), Basil Joseph (Fr. Kevin) 

Genre:  Black Comedy Crime Drama (inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth) 

Director: Dileesh Pothan 

Executive Producer: Unnimaya Prasad 

Director of Photography: Shyju Khalid 

Editor: Kiran Das 

Production Design: Gokuldas 

Sound Design: Ganesh Marar 

Writer: Syam Pushkaran 

Music: Justin Varghese 

Produced by: Bhavana Studios 

Presented by: Working Class Hero, Fahadh Faasil & Friends 

OTT Platform: Amazon Prime Video 

Release Date: 07 April 2021 

Duration: 113 Minutes

Language: Malayalam 

 

Bhor : Movie Review

Bhor (Dawn) Movie Review: Realistic To Its Core!

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 Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

“Hope begins in the dark; the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing. The dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” – Anne Lamot

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Kay Granger says, “Human rights are not a privilege granted by a few, they are a liberty entitled to all, and human rights, by definition, include the rights of all humans, those in the dawn of life, the dusk of life, or the shadows of life”. I think Bhudhini in Kamakhya Narayan Singh's Bhor’ might have taken this quote seriously without even actually having read or heard about this. 

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It is interesting to note that Bhor’s journey itself is so inspiring that every single independent filmmaker can draw hope and strength from it. This film which was heaped with praise and great reviews internationally for its fantastic and realistic portrayal of societal issues like open defecation, child marriage, women empowerment and social and economic disparity existing in Indian villages found it hard to find a cheering audience and packed theatres in its country then. The film has received critical acclaim at more than thirty film festivals. The film went on to win the best director award at the Ottawa Indian Film Festival and two awards in the Caleidoscope Indian Film Festival of Boston. After a long journey, the film has released on the OTT Platform MX Player and all of a sudden it finds itself in the limelight again for all good reasons. 

Image Courtesy:  MX player

Bhor reminds me of the film Gutrun Gutargun by Pratik Sharma and Asmita Sharma was equally a good movie highlighting women empowerment and open defecation. Gutrun Gutargun also had its challenges in getting a fair release in theatres and had to file a case for alleged copyright issues against Toilet Ek Prem Katha makers in the Jaipur High Court. Finally, Gutrun Gutargun got released on the OTT platforms like Hungama and MX Player in 2020.

Image Courtesy: MX Player

The film Bhor portrays the harsh realities of the Musahar community in Bihar and thereby opens a window to the world to experience a world of the underprivileged and their struggle for human rights. In Bihar, the word Musahar means mus + ahar  (Rat Eater) based on their traditional occupation of catching rats. The musahar community's literacy rate is minimal and in the case of women, it’s abysmal.

Image Courtesy: MX Player

Savaree Gaur as Bhudhini a school going untouchable girl is married off to a young villager Sugan (Devesh Ranjan). Devesh Ranjan and Savaree are fabulous actors. They have slipped into the skin of their characters so well that the viewer feels their innocence, hope, love, bonding, challenges and agony all through the film. Nalneesh Neel is an exceptional actor and has delivered a commendable performance as Chamku the father-in-law of Bhudhini. Chamku’s drunken stupor, language, mannerisms, acceptance of his fate as a Musahar and his docility towards his master moves us to tears and at the same time make us love this man for his honesty and bonding for his family.

Image Courtesy: MX Player

Another actor worth mentioning here is Amarendra Sharma who plays the role of Bhukan. Amarendra Sharma was also seen in the film Batla House as one of the police officers in John Abraham’s team. Amarendra Sharma is one among many talented actors who have landed in Bollywood and is all set to leave his mark here. Punya Prasun Bajpai enacts well what he is good at as a journalist. His presence as a journalist in the film adds value and credibility to his role played because of his progressive and secular track record in the media circle. Pavleen Gujral as Madamji in Bhor (The Angry Indian Goddesses actress) looks different here because of her deglamorized looks in Bhor as a village teacher.

 

Image Courtesy: MX Player

In short, Bhor is a must-watch because of its compelling social message and for Kamakhya Narayan Singh’s courage and vision to make this film his debut film. The last scene of the film hits hard for at the end of the day the underprivileged, workers, peasants and the poor are displaced, they remain a migrant or a refugee in their own country. The city gives them money but they have no worth and the village gives them open space but chain them in the casteists, patriarchal and feudal systems. Bhor is a bugle for all of us to stand for the basic human rights of the common people of our country. True nationalism is beyond religion and I believe it’s high time we realize this truth. Finally, watch Bhor on MX Player.

PEN Movie Rating: 3.5/5

Cast: Nalneesh Neel, Savree Sri Gaur, Devesh Ranjan, Amarendra Sharma, Pavleen Gujral, Punya Prasun Bajpai, Rajeev Panday,

Genre:  Social Drama

Director: Kamakhya Narayan Singh

Creative Producer: Abhinandan Sekhri

Producer: Anjani Kumar Singh

Executive Producer: Ranjan Chauhan, Aditya Aman

Director of Photography: Jogendranath Panda

Editor: Navnita Sen

Background Music: Bapi-Tutul, Sagar Desai, Jessica Weiss

Story, Screenplay and Dialogues: Ranjan Chauhan, Kamakhya Narayan                                                               Singh, Bhasker Vishwanathan

Music Director: Gulraj Singh

Cinematography: 

Art Director: Mrinal Das, Alok Haldar

Production Companies: Gyanesh Films Production 

OTT Platform: MX Player 

Release Date: 05 February 2021

Duration: 91 Minutes

Language: Hindi

 

 

 

Drishyam 2 Movie Review

Drishyam 2 Movie Review: A Film Worth Watching!

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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Dhrishaym 2 continues where its prequel left us thinking – “Can anyone defeat a person who is pledged to protect his family? And in the sequel too we come to know that this person can go to any extent to resist his past from haunting him and posing any threat to his family.

Jeethu Joseph is once again successful in portraying a common man’s dilemma, guilt and helplessness when he is compelled to commit a crime that he would not have even imagined in his wildest dreams to do. Jeethu Joseph deserves exceptional appreciation for his deft handling of his story not to make Georgekutty a hero of his act and also not to justify his crime. At the same time, he leaves his viewers to feel the vulnerability, pain, loss, guilt and determination of both the party. 

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Drishyam 2 begins with a man running for cover from the police. Six years have passed and the jail gates are opened for this murder convict to go back to his home not knowing what other things happened in his village on that fateful night when he had murdered his brother-in-law in a drunken brawl. The village has changed and now, a fully functional police station is there quite ignorant about the mystery that lies underneath its structure. The erstwhile cable operator Georgekutty (Mohanlal) is now in a new avatar. He now owns a cinema theatre named after his wife Rani (Meena). He is busy managing the shows, collections and pursuing his newfound love to produce movies. He has a very private life with his two grown-up daughters and his God-fearing wife.

Life is not the same for Georgekutty and his family anymore, they live in constant fear of being caught, they know that they are still the talk of the town, they are cautious to strangers and the villagers enquiring about what happened on that fateful night when Varun the son of ex Inspector general of Police Anjali Prabhakar (Asha Sharath) went missing. The family silently deals with the much-traumatised elder daughter (Ansiba Hassan) and her epilepsy after the sad incident that changed their life completely. The younger one seems to have overcome the sad past and is all set to vroom into the future with her gen x friends.  Georgekutty is often found playing the role of a bridge between his traditional and over-cautious wife and his younger daughter Anu (Esther Anil). 

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The first half takes its time for momentum and is actually more of Georgekutty and the supporting characters like the abusive neighbour and his wife who is close to Rani, the murder convict who is just released and his family, Georgekutty’s an ever-loyal hotel owner and his customers, the local auto-rickshaw drivers and the local policemen who try hard to avoid the embarrassment of their failure to nab the alleged culprit Georgekutty.

The seemingly all good and peaceful atmosphere of Georgekutty’s family life changes drastically when they find the policemen knocking at his door. Did Georgekutty underestimate the newly appointed Police officer (Murali Gopi) and his team? Will Georgekutty be able to escape once again being put behind the bars? 

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There are some heartrending moments and dialogues that happens between the two fathers – Georgekutty and Prabhakar (Siddique), the father of Varun, the last scene tugs at your heart for both the families for their loss and pain.

In short, Jeethu Joseph's Dhrishyam 2- The Resumption’ is aptly titled and lives up to the expectations of its viewers. Though the first half is a bit slow it is well compensated by the twists and dramatic turns in the second half of the film. And to sum up, I would like to quote Stephen Arroyo - “Each individual is solely responsible for his or her own actions, and every action will produce a reaction equal in every way to the suit of the action”.

PEN Movie Rating: 3.5/5

Cast: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Asha Sharath, Siddique, Murali Gopi, Ajith Koothattukulam,

 Genre:  Crime Thriller

 Director: Jeethu Joseph

 Producer: Antony Perumbavoor

 Written by: Jeethu Joseph

 Music: Anil Johnson

 Cinematography: Satheesh Kurup

 Edited by: VS Vinayak

 Production Companies: Aashirvad Cinemas

 Distributor: Prime Video

 Release Date: 19 February 2021

 Duration: 153 Minutes

 Language: Malayalam

 

 

 

Movie Review: Thappad

Thappad Movie Review: A Silent Rebellion!

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

“The word love has by no means the same sense for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious misunderstandings that divide them” – Simone de Beauvoir

Anubhav Sinha’s film ‘Thappad’ creates such an impact on you that its sound reverberates from one end of your heart to the other end of your conscience. It tugs and pulls you in all directions of your life to such an extent that your heart bleeds for all that you have done knowingly or unknowingly which might have slit the fabric of love, respect and happiness of your partner, friend, mother, sister and all those women who play a decisive role in your life.

The canvas of the film is so wide that the filmmaker takes you from the very first scene through the lives of many couples representing the different rungs of the society. They are so easily relatable that their lives’ twist and turns make you look within and at the same time make you observe your life and draw comparisons with the lives on screen. The social message slowly and steadily seeps into your heart that ‘Thappad’ is not just about the physical hurt but also about the grievous wound that you have caused to her soul.  

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Thappad tells the story of Ammu aka Amrita Sabherwal, a homemaker in an affluent family in Delhi. Her husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati) is career-oriented and is caught up in the rat race of the corporate world. He is workaholic and leaves no stone unturned to ensure that he chases his dream so that he can become the top head of his company’s London office. And on the other side, Ammu is a happy soul taking care of her diabetic mother-in-law (Tanvi Azmi), supporting and giving her husband the required moral support in pursuing his dream, and also taking out some time to tutor a sweet little girl next door on dancing. Ammu’s routine depicts the life of any homemaker like waking up almost before the first faint sign of dawn before everyone, picking up the milk bottles and the newspaper from the doorsteps, switching off the alarm clock, waking up her husband, taking care of the medicines and regular check-up of his mother and of course not forgetting to take a photograph of the beautiful dawn with her mobile camera while she sips her warm cup of tea in the balcony. And one fine day Ammu’s life cease because of a slap; the slap becomes the beginning of her consciousness. She finds it difficult to understand the logic given to her by her dear ones that “Ek Thappad hi thoh hai’. Ammu’s awakening becomes a silent rebellion not just in her family but in every women’s life she touched.  

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Tapsee Pannu as Ammu has given a stellar performance. She reminds you of everything that you overlooked or pushed under the proverbial rug saying that it's ok, it happens in a relationship, that’s what life is and so on and so forth. A special mention for Pavail Gulati for his thoroughly convincing performance as the loving husband as well as for playing the typical self-obsessed patriarchal male. Kumud Mishra and Ratna Pathak Shah, the two veterans win your heart as Ammu’s parents. Geetika Vidhya as the maid of Ammu who is a victim of an abusive marital relationship keeps you entertained and has given an exemplary performance. The song ‘Ek Thukda Dhoop Ke’ sums up the soul of the film beautifully through its lyrics and music.

In short, Anubhav Sinha’s Thappad after Mulk, Article 15 is a good example of how cinema can awaken the social conscience. Thappad is commendable and deserves a standing ovation for its compelling message and for its take on gender politics. It’s a movie to be watched with all the members of your family. It raises pertinent questions on the kind of relationships we have and patriarchy. Finally, Thappad is enabling beyond empowering and therefore let’s remember what Melinda Gates said – “A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman”.

PEN Movie Rating: 4/5

Cast: Tapsee Pannu (Amrita Sabherwal), Pavail Gulati (Vikram), Ratna Pathak Shah, Kumud Mishra, Tanvi Azmi, Dia Mirza, Ram Kapoor, Sushil Dahiya, Nidhi Uttam, Manav Kaul, Gracy Goswami, Sandeep Yadav, Naila Grewal, Ankur Rathee, Geetika Vidhya

Genre:  Social Drama

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anubhav Sinha

Written by: Anubhav Sinha, Mrunmayee Lagoo

Music: Anurag Saikia (Songs), Mangesh Dhakde (Score)

Cinematography: Soumik Mukherjee

Edited by: Yasha Ramchandani

Production Companies: Benaras Media Works, T-Series

Distributor: AA Films

Release Date: 28 February 2020

Duration: 142 Minutes

Language: Hindi

Movie Review: Love Aaj Kal 2.0

Love Aaj Kal 2.0 Movie Review: Jaane Kyun Log Pyar Karte Hain?

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

“I think the perfection of love is that it’s not perfect” – Taylor Swift

Imtiaz Ali’s film ‘Love Aaj Kal’ (LAK) 2.0 wades through the troubled waters of whether to fall in love or not to. It is also a story of continual pursuit for ideal love. To tell this Imtiaz Ali shares with us two love stories parallelly – one, that has it’s origin in 1990 and the other, in the present. Raghu’s (Randeep Hooda) and Leena’s (Aarushi Sharma) love story is the embodiment of ideal and true love for Zoe (Sara Ali Khan), a career-oriented free bird. Zoe considers her career as her love because she feels her love is available for her always; when she is alone her love makes her feel complete; her love is her world. She feels falling in a committed love may kill her freedom to scale the heights in her career and therefore frets on the very thought of love but she doesn’t mind to fulfil her physical biological needs by hopping around in non-committal relationships. Whereas, Veer (Kartik Aaryan) is in search of true love – a love that is much more than physical. It’s like Veer seems to believe what William Shakespeare once said – “When I saw you, I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew it”.  

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The beautiful theme of true love and the wavering mind has been fantastically portrayed umpteen times in many of Imtiaz Ali’s films before, but this time he falters, fumbles and stammers making it too complicated and messy for the audience to understand what he wants to convey. Amidst these confusion, Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan, unfortunately, fail to recreate the magic of Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (Deepika Padukone) of Love Aaj Kal 2009. The only joy to watch LAK 2.0 is Randeep Hooda and Aarushi Sharma. Randeep Hooda’s narration about his love for Aarushi Sharma is commendable and beautiful. You fall in love with the shy and timid Leena of the ’90s.

Imtiaz Ali plays safe by keeping the same storyline LAK 2009 but had no other choice but to fiddle with the locations and situations. Instead of London, it’s Udaipur now and instead of Rishi Kapoor it’s Randeep Hooda who strikes a chord with Sara Ali Khan to go and pursue her true love. The camaraderie of Rishi Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan is missing here between Raghu and Zoe.

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Imtiaz Ali’s attempt to put the old wine in the new bottle did what Jesus Christ cautioned people from not to do – as the new wine will split the leather skin of the flask and spill the new wine. Here too, LAK 2.0 spills into too many forced of emotions, outbursts, confusions, and unnecessary talks on ideal and not so ideal love.

Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan tried hard to keep the audience engaged and entertained but unfortunately the harder they tried the more the audience yawned. The music of Lak 2.0 is in no match to 2009 LAK’s foot-tapping music which was highly appreciated and loved.

In short, if you are a fan of Imtiaz Ali’s films then go and revisit Tamasha, Love Aaj Kal 2009, Laila Majnu, Jab We Met, Highway, Rockstar but avoid Lak 2.0. I feel Imtiaz Ali should take a break now from telling stories of true love versus confused love, career versus love etc. We love you Imtiaz Ali, so please give us something new in the near future. Finally, ‘Love Aaj Ka Ho Ya Kal Ka’ I would like to quote Maya Angelou – “Love recognises no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it’s destination full of hope”.

PEN Movie Rating: 1.5/5

Cast: Romance/Drama

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Producer: Dinesh Vijan, Imtiaz Ali

Written by: Imtiaz Ali

Music: Pritam (Songs), Ishaan Chhabra (Score)

Cinematography: Amit Roy

Edited by: Aarti Bajaj

Production Companies: Maddock Films, Window Seat Films, Reliance Entertainment

Distributor: Pen Marudhar Entertainment

Release Date: 14 February 2020

Duration: 141 Minutes

Language: Hindi