Director Imtiaz Ali is known for his love of poetic cinema. He has explored different forms of love through his films, like when one lost man finds himself with the help of a beautiful woman, and the one where a lost man finds himself with the help of a beautiful woman in a beautiful European country.

In this one, he takes his viewers on a different journey all together: Witchcraft and voodoo.

 

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A post shared by KARTIK AARYAN (@kartikaaryan) on Feb 7, 2020 at 10:50pm PST

Unlike what many people believed, Love Aaj Kal is not a sequel to the 2009 oil of the same name by the same director. Through two couples, one in 2020 and the other in 1990, Imtiaz Ali tells the story of how pervasive witchcraft can be in our daily lives, without us knowing, and how that might not be a bad thing.

Just as it was in the last one, this movie showcases two love stories across two different time periods. In the present, there’s Zoe (Sara Ali Khan) and Veer (Kartik Aaryan) and in the past, there’s Leena (Arushi Sharma) and Raghu (Kartik Aaryan, again).

Through their love stories, Imtiaz subverts the genré and has a man practicing witchcraft, instead of the usual woman, to make himself seemingly immortal and concoct a potion strong enough to have two beautiful women fall in love with him.

 

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The story expertly tells us everything we want to know about the characters within few minutes. Zoe is a millennial girl sadly cursed with the ability to only speak in shrieks. Raghu, who becomes Veer in the new decade to fool anyone who might be following his journey through time, is a Dark arts enthusiast and has a face that looks thoroughly punchable.

The script, written by Imtiaz Ali, is not a new one. We’ve seen love stories before where one person uses a combination of witchcraft and voodoo to ensnare the affections of the other. But the movie works because of the uplifting performances by the main lead actors.

Sara Ali Khan is intensely believable as Zoe, a girl who was told at birth that if she didn’t scream and over act for even a second, she would die a painful death. Kartik Aaryan gives a restrained performance as the self-aware immortal necromancer who knows that he has to use a spell or potion to make women fall in love with him.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a movie to enjoy with your special one this Valentine’s Day, you should stay at home and watch Interstellar.

RATING: 3/5

Watch the trailer here: