movie review : I Hate Love Story

The movie is a very predictable love story full of clichés, the very Bollywood-style romances that it aspires to spoof. The film reminded me of an assignment in film school where we had to make a remix sequence. ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ is a bit like that — a montage of scenes and songs from the various Dharma Productions/Yash Raj Films/Sanjay Bhansali love stories.

Like any of these other productions, the packaging is great but what’s different about this story? It’s pointless trying to even go through the nuances of the plot because there isn’t any. A love triangle with several expected twists that finally proves the inevitability of how everyone eventually falls in love no matter how much they hate love stories.

The basic premise: Our heroine loves love stories and has a perfect one of her own till she suddenly decides to fall for our hero who believes in everything but love. Our Casanova hero falls head over heels in love as typically as one can despite having been repulsed by the whole notion of being in love. But the timing is all wrong.

Sonam Kapoor has the same expression throughout the film; she delivers her dialogues in the same nasal monotone whether she is falling out of love with her childhood sweetheart or falling in love with her initially-annoying colleague. At no point in the movie did I find Sonam’s conviction about love credible because her character seems to be more in love with the notion of being in love.

No matter how filmy and implausible it seemed in real life, Madhuri in ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ or Kajol in ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ were persuasive about their romantic beliefs. Sonam’s character lacks any rationale for either falling in love or staying in love.

Imran Khan and his fat friend are the only saving grace. Imran lacks the easy charm that we saw in his debut film. He puts in too much effort in his performance as if desperate for a hit. His body looks great and he should be awarded for the most graceful slow motion run at airports.

While the film does make you laugh in bits with a few original one-liners, the characters lack conviction. The movie looks more like a spoof than a real love story where at some point you identify with the characters on screen. It doesn’t really tug at the heartstrings or strike the right chords.