Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I Hate Love Stories - Anyone Would If They Are Made This Way!



Ok! so everyone who ostracized Raavan please raise your hands. I now recommend 'I Hate Love Stories', for you to get the real taste of bad cinema.Anyone who has read The Fountainhead, would know why i am not able to refrain my self from comparing Mani Ratnam 's Raavan to Karan Johar 's I Hate Love Stories. It is a classic case of Howard Roark vs Peter Keating, Mani Ratnam s individualistic genius vs Karan Johar 's unadventurous pseudo creativity. While Raavan displays a story tellers eccentricity I Hate Love Stories reeks of unoriginality.

The movie has nothing to vaunt about, weak screenplay, cliche direction,( at times you feel the movie has been ghost directed by Karan Johar himself as it has all his diabetes inducing sweet ingredients) and below average performances. Its the age old story of a' cynic meets a romantic and they fall in love', and there is nothing 'Hatke' about the film. The cynic played by Imran khan(Jay) does not believe in the concept of love (reminds me of the upteen nausiating shah rukh khan movies),  propagates one night stands and philandary and the romantic played by Sonam Kapoor(Simran), believes in valentines days, soul mates and  living happily ever after. They meet, Simran despite having an extremly loving and perfectly elligible fiancee falls in love with the brash and bizarre Jay in the first half and it takes Jay the entire second half to fall in love with her, and then they live happily ever after. Thats it!! thats what this self proclaimed young, zingy and peppy movie is all about. Disappointed? Ah well imagine my plight i endured it for three hours only to warn more cinegoers like me who get lured by 'state of the art' marketing of films by the new age film makers.

If there is anything worth appreciating in the film it is New Zealand. Quite ironical i agree, but I think Dharma Productions should charge royalty from the govt of New Zealand for marketing their tourism in India. The locales are breathtaking so much so that in some scenes one tends to completely ignore the actors because the backdrop is more alluring. Apart from New Zealand another sight to behold is Sonam Kapoor, to say she has looked ravishing would be an understatement. Her skills as an actor are yet to be tested, but she surely is a treat to watch. Imran Khan must have had a lot of young hearts fluttering, but his theatrical skills are way below average, he pouts and frowns and makes acting seem like such a task,.Bruna Abdullah is nasal and wodden  Sameer Soni looks  ill at ease and rest of the cast does not even merit a mention . Debutante writer and director Puneet Malhotra has demonstrated an absolute lack of creativity and ingenuity. The box office debacle of this popcorn flick clearly indicates that the Indian audiences now demand quality cinema as opposed to candy flossed mirage.

Love stories have been made in the past and they have been beautiful, but Karan Johar s latest true to its title makes you hate them.