Break Ke Baad (2010)

I watched Break Ke Baad without expectations and it neither surprised nor disappointed me. It was quite a watchable movie but way too ordinary to be memorable. The film follows the relationship of Abhay and Aaliya, their love, friendship and differences. At times the movie manages to work with its light nature and looks quite believable and fun, but at others it's also too subtle for the story it tells and lacks the power to convince and captivate. The story is very simple, and it could have been more interesting had the direction and the script been better handled. Here, the narrative style is a bit dark and plain, and it often seems like it was taken too seriously by the makers, which is odd considering the fact that it does not really have much substance. The film's music is quite okay although, like the film, it is nothing particularly special. The main lead Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone are well cast, and frankly enough they are not really challenged by some great roles to begin with, so don't expect much. Imran is okay. Deepika is better in a performance that is pretty nice and more impressive than his but never particularly impressive in and of itself. She is undeniably pretty and attractive and something about her in this film works and may improve her prospects in the film industry, but she is far from being a glowing talent (like Anushka Sharma, for example). To sum it up, Break Ke Baad is overall an ordinary feature which does have its moments but after all can be watched only once, at least according to me.

Debutant director Danish Aslam serves us disappointing fare in Break Ke Baad this weekend - a crisp first half followed by a damp and soggy second half. The teekha first half has Deepika's sizzling act as Aaliya - bringing some life & vitality to her usually expressionless face. Imran plays the chocolate boy lover Abhay – a role he has done admirably in the past and is the likable meethi chutney. Together, against my expectation, they both produce a very likable dish and have a crackling on screen chemistry. However, that spark between them is completely doused by the insipid writing in the second half.The opening credits are a montage of two six year olds falling in love as they grow up, with a shared passion of Hindi movies. The girl grows up to be the impetuous Aaliya who is full of life, but sometimes does not care about anyone but herself. Abhay is the ultra-sweet guy who tolerates all her tantrums and still adores her. Maybe because he realizes he needs her more than she does. However, when Aaliya decides to fly off to Australia to study, the relationship cant take the strain and the 'break' happens.This is where the movie goes to dogs – as it starts focussing more on other characters and side-plots more than the lead pair. Sharmila Tagore as Aaliya's mother heads a useless track about the ills of the world of showbiz. She also seals my belief that yesteryear's charming heroines lose their expressive faces in the process of ageing (maybe to botox). And hence are better staying alive in old movie reruns rather than acting in newer movies. Jaya Bhaduri, Hema Malini and now Sharmila Tagore – their faces struggle to convey different emotions – and end up looking almost similar in all scenes.The movie meanders along for quite a while before becoming a coming-of- age movie for both Aaliya and Abhay. And this is the movie's biggest failure – since the scriptwriter clearly doesn't have the maturity to handle this topic as much as he has a handle on romance. The climax is stupid even by the low standards of rom-coms – and which is where you write the movie off as a failurePS - Something struck me a couple of days after I watched the movie – when you watch the movie, you can tell me if I was wrong or right. I thought Aaliya's character and idiosyncrasies were heavily based on Jab We Met's Geet . None of the Bhatinda Punjabi madness, but a calculated effort by the makers to use that quirkiness and happy-go-lucky nature. But then again, Geet was a million times better than Aaliya would ever be.You can read more of my reviews at http://bombaycinephile.blogspot.com

Imran Khan can't act to save his life. Sorry, but it has to be said. While his "performance" was engaging in his debut film (since he was new and Abbas Tyrewala had crafted a great screenplay), it seems like he's just sleep-walking through all his films since then. He has one horrible style of dialogue delivery in every scene, and doesn't deserve to be cast, let alone paid, for his movies. It doesn't help that Break Ke Baad is such a juvenile and boring story either. Deepika's selfish character in the film may be quite novel and realistic for Bollywood, but she's also super annoying and unlikeable. And if you don't like your lead heroine in a romantic comedy, why would you care for the movie? As an actress, Deepika is still improving with each film, but watching her mature is not enough to sustain this 2 hour stupidity train. The songs too are super-boring, near the worst of Vishal-Shekhar's career, and even casting super strong supporting actors like Shahana Goswami, Sharmila Tagore and Lillette Dubey doesn't help.

Break ke Baad is not a movie that many people will be able to relate to but some definitely will. It is not particularly entertaining but in a juvenile way it does deal with some situations that are probably relevant with a lot of Gen Y couples. Aaliyah is a girl who wants everything in life without really bothering about anyone around her. This fact is shown by some irrelevant details like making her smoke a cigar, talk trash and get drunk in cinema halls but then bollywood movies have never been subtle. Diametrically opposite in personality is her childhood boyfriend who is sensitive , caring , selfless to the point that he spoils her completely - of course it was necessary to show his inclination towards cooking because businessmen are rarely sensitive. A very genuine rooftop scene reveals their very skewed relationship. Eventually Aaliyah wants to pursue with her ambitions so we know a break up is evident. She wants to move on he wants to hold on...and so it goes on and on...and you know it is getting confusing. The director drives home a lot of points all summed up in intelligent dialogues by everyone who seem to know whats up with the two protagonists except they themselves... Finally they decide to grow up so that they audience can call it a love story and go home...