Love is complex, films (unfortunately) are not

In 2009, Director Imtiaz Ali came back with a sensation, two years after ‘Jab We Met’. This too was the story of a couple, swooning in love with the millennial vibe and basorexic demeanour.

‘Love Aaj Kal’ had Saif Ali Khan and the then upcoming Deepika Padukone in the lead.

The film had a good run at the box office, and college kids were swaying on Pritam’s ‘Twist’ and ‘Aahun Aahun’. Imtiaz even won a nomination for best director and best story at Filmfare Awards.

More than a decade later, Imtiaz is back with version two, this time with Saif’s daughter Sara Ali Khan and the man whose face inspires an inexplicably diverse set of emotions, Kartik Aaryan.

The film’s trailer has 44 million views already and uses a remix of the music from the original.

Except for the out-of-the-box ‘Highway’, Imtiaz’s formula for films is pretty straight-forward.

First: Make sure you get your target audience right, that is youth + raging hormones.
Second: Make music that will make the aforementioned youth get up and gyrate. Half your job is done by this point.
Third: For the hero, get a ‘My phone number is 980-I-DON’T-GIVE-A-HOOT’ kind of guy. Make the said person fall in love.
Fourth: Then complicate matters with career, sex, fidelity, etc.
Fifth: Happy ending. Fin.

P.S. Make sure to have a fine sprinkling of sexual innuendos to keep things sassy.