Film: I Hate Luv Stories
Cast: Imran Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Samir Dattani, Samir Soni
Dir: Puneet Malhotra
Rating: ***
It could be a parody of the modern Bollywood love story and it could even be a spoof, but don’t let the title fool you. ‘I Hate Luv Stories’ is exactly what it says it’s not; a mushy love story replete with all the Bolly-clichés.
Simran (Sonam Kapoor) is a die hard Mills & Boonsy romantic who is in love with the pouty investment banker Raj (Sammir Dattani). When not obsessing over her own lovestory, she also serves as an art director on films.
Jai (Imran Khan) is an assistant director to Veer (Samir Soni) who is known as the king of mushy movie-making. While Jai enjoys women for the merriment of his libido, he claims to be unemotional about them. After he beds a date, he dumps her like one would chase a lizard out of the house.
Simran and Jai work on Veer’s new ‘saga’ ‘Pyar, Pyar, Pyar’ (‘Love, Love, Love’) and stupid cupid has a field day, shooting ardent arrows all over film sets and foreign locales.Simran & Jai bond, get drunk, talk endlessly for two hours and then Simran realizes that her Raj is an illusion. It is the un-filmy Jai who is her true love. Of course, Jai never ‘saw her like that’, for as we all know ‘he hates luv stories’. Unfortunately, Simran is the only one who is shocked.
Not deviating from the formulaic recipe of a rom-com, writer/director Punit Malhotra’s ‘IHLS’ contains all the essential ingredients; opposites attract, opposites clash, a separation song, a heartbreak song and even an airport pre-climax.
The dialogue connecting these dots is sadly unoriginal and frankly, very boring. Sample this, a love-lorn Jai says ‘I love you’ and Simran replies ‘So what?, So does he!’ At one point a heart broken Simran laments ‘If my fate is on my side, then why isn’t he on my side?’
Of the cast, Imran Khan seems to put in some effort. While his character is at best two-dimensional, he fully submits to the genre and infuses a refreshing energy to his character. His comic timing is spot on and his dialogue delivery is sincere. Sonam Kapoor looks pretty and wonderfully charms the camera, but her performance is dull.Samir Soni surprises with an acting ability, but then begins to irritate with too much of it. Sammir Dattani amuses with wide eyes and confusing dialogue delivery. He looks lost in an enterprise of star children.
The film does has have enjoyable moments, like film director Veer lampooning the likes of Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the film star who is obsessed with his own ‘butt’. The wafer thin story, however, is a let down, relying mostly on material from either Johar’s or Yash Chopra’s home productions. There are other classic Bollywood love stories that could have been celebrated, but the makers stick to their own, and sadly, they are too recent to be declared classics.
There is an overkill of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’s dialogues, of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’s background score; of slow motion running shots and of chiffons fluttering before storm fans.
The daughter of Anil Kapoor is paired opposite the nephew of Amir Khan in a film directed by the nephew of Manish Malhotra and produced by the son of Yash Johar. What could have been a decent Bollywood romance parody becomes an insider’s self-aggrandizement party.
The film’s main failing probably lies in this. It is too attached to the genre that it is parodying and the distinction between parody and original is a fuchsia pink blur.
Reminds me of an amusing story that I read. The legendary comic actor Charlie Chaplin once entered a ‘Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest’. He lost!
The winner was someone who had keenly observed Chaplin’s work.
Maybe ‘IHLS’ could have benefitted from an outside perspective; from people who don’t already breathe and worship the genre. Dibakar Banerji did better with his Raj & Simran in ‘Love, Sex aur Dhoka’.
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