London Paris New York

Rating: 7
Release Date: 2nd March, 2012
Time: 100 minutes
Director & Writer: Anu Menon; Music : Ali Zafar
Starring : Ali Zafar; Aditi Rao Hydari

This movie is conversational, engaging, fresh. Has passion, love, romance. And the concomitant heartbreak, drama, betrayal. Is inspired by several English films of its ilk, Before Sunrise, When Harry Met Sally, Blue Valentine, to name a few. But, if you notice the absence of inverted commas in the inspired, it sets its own firm clear path in that genre, which is fairly bold in the Hindi film scene. I mean, people here actually talk to each other before falling in love !

Aditi & Ali meet as they land at Heathrow. She is a Tam Brahm from Mumbai on her way to NY to study politics, wants to make a difference to the world, supports causes, works for NGOs, is full of trivia which borders from knowledgeable to flaky and comes across as serious yet vulnerable at the same time.

He’s a Punjabi, comes from a rich, dysfunctional, possessive family with his parents still not over the death of his elder brother many years ago, is in London to study film making, is cocky, spoilt, doesn’t think too much of money as he has shovelfuls, is a bit of a drama queen (not sure whether nautanki sounds better ?) and a charmer.

Sparks fly on their one day together in London and the story, with a gap of a few years, moves to Paris and then a few more years later to New York with the characters evolving, changing persona as they move over time and cities.

Critical for any romance is for us to connect with the lead actors. Ali, being naturally effusive, brings that element of zest and fun to his role, his sense of humour deserting him but briefly. Aditi, is a revelation, handling a complex character well, looking cute in London, hot in Paris and warm in NY.

Couple of songs stand out, the photography is excellent and the movie is crisp, short and sweet, not deviating from its main storyline for an instant. There is a certain languidness in the first half, moments when you wonder if the story is progressing. Or wish things moved faster. Am also not sure I agree completely with the end but its not a major issue.

This film is for those who prefer to cook on slow heat vs those desirous of the instant gratification of microwave cooking. Its designed more to make you smile than laugh out loud. I enjoyed it and look forward to more from the debutant director.

(In the interest of full disclosure, have to share that the makers are friends and I have read the script at inception stage. Plus have been told that if I don’t say good things certain body parts will go missing and am not sure they were joking when they said that)