I Hate Luv Storys (2010)

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Simran is the protagonist; I'm cringing already. I did not care for Sanom Kapoor in Aisha, which she dominated to the point of drowning an otherwise sturdy film.Simran has a Punjabi father and a Gujarati mother. She works in Mumbai as a movie art director. She is in love with Raj Dholakia, her fiancé, whom her mother favours. Veer Kapoor, Simran's boss, assigns Jay Dhingra to work in the same department as Simran; friction arises. She's a sentimentalist, he loathes romance.So, how will the love triangle proceed?The project they will be working is on location in New Zealand. Do we ever get there? Jay is a dog, and tries to break up Simran and Raj. That goes on for too long. Jay should have been fired several times over for insubordination.Jay makes Simran laugh, Raj does not. After working together for a while, she invites Jay to have dinner at a restaurant with her and her parents. He turns on the charm, as always. Jay and Simran spend even more time together. Raj tells Simran he's going to Delhi; he hopes his old Simran is present when he comes back.Simran thinks she's fallen in love with Jay, but he's still a dog. She is rather hurt when she catches him with another woman. She tells him her feelings, and he tells her sentimental love is nonsense. She agrees and gets rather depressed. He finds that he misses her smile. She breaks up with Raj. She leaves early for the new project. Jay has a lot of regrets with musical accompaniment. He tries his old stomping grounds to pick up someone, but fails for lack of will. Eventually he goes to the project in New Zealand, and starts seeing Simran again.Oh, this goes on forever. Raj shows up on set as well, just to make things interesting.Jay goes direct to Simran, but she tells him she just cannot go through loving him again. He tries indirect via Giselle, for the jealousy angle. Liked the 'blah, blah, blah' scenes with Raj, Simran, and Giselle.Raj and Simran get married. Raj and her parents are happy, but Simran is not. Ah, too bad.So, how will this resolve? With multiple clichés, of course.------Scores--------Cinematography: 10/10 Varies from competent plus to extremely beautiful.Sound: 10/10 No problems. Incidental music is a bit florid, but lovely to the ear.Acting: 3/10 Imran Khan, minus four. Sanom Kapoor, minus three. The movie sinks or swims with these two, given the proportion of screen time spent on them. They are irritating, while not entertaining. Otherwise, dull but competent performances.Screenplay: 4/10 This would have been a nice 20 minute short. The film is low in content, long on making Jay look like an idiot. He completed that task in the first three or four minutes on screen. Continuing to beat the dead horse is not helpful. Raj is made out to be a placeholder punching bag, so the level of romantic tension is always underwater.Musical Numbers: 6/10 First one (I Hate Luv Storys) was OK. Second, Jay making fun of sentimental Indian films, not nearly as good. Third (Simran and Jay spending time together) fine singing, but I missed the dancing. Fourth (Simran and Jay dancing in public) singing good, but short. Fifth (in movie dance and song) was rather nice.....'Lost and Lonely' was beautiful, as was the number where Jay is daydreaming during a shoot beneath the mountains in NZ.

I have no idea why this movie has received such scathing reviews. The only thing I can surmise is that people were looking for it to show some sort of deep meaning or hidden message about love or life or something. Truly, this movie shows us none of that. It's pretty obvious from the get-go that this is a movie not made to be taken seriously, but to simply provide entertainment for people, which in my opinion, it does. Rather well, too, actually.Now, I'm not Indian, and neither have I seen a lot of Bollywood movies, but I do consider myself a rather jaded and picky movie-goer. When I chose to watch "I Hate Love Storys", I was looking for a light, fluffy romantic comedy to keep me entertained for a couple of hours due to insomnia. I wasn't disappointed in the least, which is rather surprising.First off, I was expecting the usual over the top, melodramatic Bollywood love story fare. Even though I'm not an expert on the genre, I do know that seems to be the norm. Well, it's notably absent in this movie, at least, in a serious sense. What one must take into account is that the whole movie is a spoof on such traditional Bollywood love films. It is full of clichés, quite obviously meant to be clichés and meant to be taken that way. Yet, it does so with such wit and humour that even I laughed out loud more than once.I think the actors did a wonderful job. I did not get the impression of 'overacting' on the part of any of them, which is saying a lot, considering it is Bollywood. Imran Khan is fabulous as J. He brings both a sex appeal and sense of humour that make his character irresistibly cute and endearing. Sonam Kapoor is both beautiful and strong, and really comes across a real person rather than just a love-struck heroine. The real scene stealers, though, I thought, were Kavan Dave as J's best friend, who was hilarious as the egg-throwing, overweight sidekick, and Aamir Ali, who plays the typical Bollywood hero heart-throb who has an overwhelming love for his own backside. :D All in all, if you're looking for an epic love story, this isn't for you. However, if you're looking for cute, feel-good movie full of humour as well as romance, a film that doesn't take itself too seriously, then you'll certainly be pleasantly entertained for a couple of hours.

Seriously am I the only one who saw "I Hate Luv Storys" was a blatant copy of their own clan "Dil Toh Pagal Hain"? My Lord, allow me to present my case. The boy runs away from anything that is anything close to the word love. The boy and girl get to know each other on a creative project (musical/ movie set). The girl is already engaged to a fly-in- the-ointment and contemplating her decision with each passing reel. While in IHLS the cupid pierces the girls heart first as opposed to DTPH where the boy is blessed with illumination. So the verdict is clear, if you have missed the bus in 1997 then here is "I Hate Luv Storys" for you. Looks as good as new, completely refurbished and re-branded. Sonam Kapoor:: Yes, she is the diva personified for the youth of today. Calling her character "Simran"? And Sammir Dattani "Raj"? Adi/Karan - there should be a tax for licking your own noses and never- ending innuendos to "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" & "Kuch Kuch Hota Hain".Imran Khan:: Playing a quirky character doesn't come quite naturally for Imran, especially if you were to compare it with Shah Rukh in DTPH. This movie would be better remembered for Sonam Kapoor than Imran Khan.Sammir Dattani:: Pity that he has stopped to such low level to accept such fun-poking characters. His counter-part in the 1997 version ie. Akshay Kumar got a decent/ dignified/ memorable role.Since it comes from Johar/ Chopra camp, music is given due importance and the album has quite a few memorable/ hummable numbers from the house of Vishal-Shekhar. "Bin Tere" is wonderfully rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan/ Shafqat Amanat Ali (noteworthy is choice of word "khalish"). "Sadka Kiya", another favorite of mine has some good stanzas backed with vocals from Mahalakshmi Iyer. "Bahaara" sung by Shreya is very soothing. No stone was left unturned by the marketing department (read that blaring in public).

It was a much awaited film and I personally know lot of people who were waiting for its release. The movie had it all to make it a hit - Karan's direction, Imran as hero, Sonam as heroine, few good songs, the media hype before release and some great previews by likes of Taran Adarsh... but, it simply falls flat on its face due to poor execution of an ordinary story.There is lack of depth in the movie across key areas as acting, dialogue delivery, screenplay and direction. I am really confused whether Karan was trying to make a formula film (and failed) or, a different film (and, still failed).I Hate Luv Storys is not even worth spending on its DVD, leave alone spending money on ticket for a show at theatre. The lucky ones who have waited to read a review and plan accordingly should simply wait till a channel like Colours or Sony premiere it on TV as the movie is worth only that.