Review of Love Aaj Kal (2009) by Akshay R — 07 Aug 2009

For the most part, the stars - like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in "Sleepless in Seattle" - are obliged to inhabit their own movies until the narrative finds the means to bring them back together.

He's clownish, slightly nerdy, weirdly ageless in the world's most eclectic selection of T-shirts; she's reliably gorgeous and endlessly playful, to the extent that the flashback scenes suffer somewhat for casting alongside Khan an actress who, while pretty and spirited, can only come across as a pale imitation.

.. There's nothing particularly new about "Love Aaj Kal"; still, Ali finds novel and cherishable moments to give his very likable cast, from a poking game Khan and Padukone play to initiate their first kiss to the "last dance" they share at the breaking-up party they decide to throw.

Compared to such multiplex fodder as "The Proposal" and "The Ugly Truth" - films that regard love as a transaction and an abasement respectively - it is genuinely, and at its best swooningly, romantic.