July 5, 2010

I Hate Luv Storys

Title: I Hate Luv Storys
Year: 2010
Cast: Imran, Sonam, Samir Soni, Sammir Dattani, Kavin Dave

The best part of the movie has to be who I saw it with, a really fun group of fellow bloggers and tweeters: Cynthia, Jessica, Valencia, The Bollywood Fan and Joe. The company unfortunately was far better than the movie could ever be. Which sounds ominous, but it really isn't- its not a bad movie, but not memorable; a fact that could have been avoided... but I'm getting ahead of myself, first- the story!

Imran has let his home in Long Island, NY to be part of Bollywood. He is one of Samir Soni's numerous assistants; Samir being a director modeled after Karan Johar, maker of numerous weepfests/lovesfests/Bollywood sagas. In comes Sonam, who is the art director; Imran gets assigned to help her, and like all the love stories ever, they argue first, and then eventually fall in love. She proposes first, he balks. Then he proposes and she balks. And then they both figure it out. And thats it.

But its really well done, which makes the movie. Unfortunately, it could have been the little movie which could, and it ends up being the not so little movie which simply couldn't.

The pros:
  1. Imran Khan- he is all that a young hero should be. He makes his character quirky, funny, lovable, and that sweet face and those well threaded (or waxed) eyebrows do help- a lot. He slips right into his character, and lives it, and makes you believe, which is really all that matters.
  2. Kavin Dave- plays the chubby friend to Imran, and adds that unfathomable something to the movie. His humor fills in and lifts all the little gaps that would have been glaring in his absence. I want to see him in more movies.
  3. Samir Soni- One of those actors who has been around a long time, but hasn't gotten his due I think. This must be his most pleasant and long running role in a movie, and he does really well. His character behaves often how one would expect Karan Johar to behave, and he too, like Kavin, brings in his 100% to the movie.
  4. The script is well done- while the story could easily be classified as run of the mill, the script, the dialogues and their wit keeps things flowing as well as any good romantic comedy should. The premise of a movie inside a movie and of the self-aware humor are executed with a large wink to the audience, and have been done seldom better.
The cons:
  1. Sonam Kapoor- I saw Sawariya, and blamed Sonam's lack of performance on the fact that it was her first movie, and that she was just playing herself- a tentative, lovely girl, who is exploring the world around her. Then I saw Delhi-6, and blamed her lack of 100% being there in the fact that the movie was filled with so many great actors, an that since she was so new, she could just be herself- tentative, lovely, sweet. Unfortunately, with this movie, I cant make any of those excuses. She is lovely, wears adorable clothes, gazes prettily at the world, and - and that's pretty much it. The script granted her enough opportunities and dialogues to dazzle us blind. But like my fellow bloggers and tweeters agreed, she just doesn't deliver- her spoken dialogues lack emotion, her voice lacks modulation, and all the loveliness in the world cant excuse that. Her parents got her the face and the body, but the acting bit has to be her. She could of course, grow into being Aishwariya, and work with directors who give her fewer dialogues and more poses- which she would do very well at. Honestly. I was not being catty there.
  2. At some level, I have a little blame to place at the director, Puneet's door. It seems a bit complacent that having pretty stars and a snappy script would guarantee success. Maybe some thought should have gone to casting (See Con #1), and maybe coaching the actors to ensure that the end product works. All the self-aware cockiness of the script fails when one of the leads fails to execute, and that cant be just the actor's bad.
Conclusion: A movie to be seen only with pleasant company- alone, it would be simply a sad fail.

10 comments:

Bollywood said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cmleigh said...

I agree the company made that movie for me also. There were lots to laugh about in it, Imran was cute and the role fit him. You are right the movie while not bad could have been better and especially with someone more believable in the lead female role.

bollyviewer said...

When you need good company to see a film, then it's already failed it's primary purpose - that of entertaining. O well, I will still try to watch it, but will remember to keep my expectations low. :D

Pessimisissimo said...

Imran at times reminds me of his uncle Aamir, and while I'm not an Aamir fan on the level of theBollywoodFan, that's definitely a positive. Punit Malhotra's script sounds clever, and I'm a sucker for Bollywood in-references. So you've given me at least two reasons to give this a watch.

Thanks, though, for the warning about Sonam Kapoor's performance. I too was unimpressed with her in Saawariya and Delhi 6, but like you thought that the problems with those films largely lay elsewhere. While that might have been true, it sounds like her lack of acting skill really drags this one down.

Can I say, too, that if Jay hates luv storys, I hate deliberate misspellings in film titles?

Shweta Mehrotra Gahlawat said...

TBF: that's entirely possible- she may have thought tweeting=acting! no wonder she is lost :D

CMleigh: thanks for being there! we need to do this again!

Bollyviewer: I think it is entertaining enough- just not all it could be. Def DVD material tho, not worth the trip to the cinema.

Pessimisissimo: Thank you, thank u for mentioning that- I am right there with u re: the intentional misspelling- what's up with that?! Plus, they keep using dated slang like fugly/cool- which is really uncool, if anything. Steel urself for Sonam's bad acting if u watch this- the rest of it is fairly painless!

Bollywood said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shweta Mehrotra Gahlawat said...

TBF: ROFL- thats such a good one :D

Pessimisissimo said...

For MP3 clearly the acronym came before the title (Pehla Pehla?). (And it sounds as though the acronym isn't the only thing that's lame about MP3.)

Personally, I'm waiting for the release of Ishq Pyaar aur Doste...

Shweta Mehrotra Gahlawat said...

Pessimisissimo: Someone needs to start a post re: these insane titles! ipod indeed!

Anonymous said...

LOL on tBF's excuse about Sonam's acting suffering due to twittering. :). I agree with you Shweta, "She is lovely, wears adorable clothes, gazes prettily at the world, and - and that's pretty much it." Plus there's a quality to her voice that distracts me from her acting, sort of an airy whine? It's as if she's lost in a pretty flossy pink cloud of pretty, so distracted and confused that I get drawn into it. I have hope she'll improve and that I'll love her in something. My overall impressions of the movie were, "eh" and i was lucky to see it with a group, so that funned it up! So fantastic that you all could meet up and watch it together.

All the best!
Sita-ji