Recently I wrote a post on Love Aaj Kal. But the kind of extreme reactions the film is generating, I could not resist the temptation to dissect it more. And so, in the span of just three days, here is one more post on Love Aaj Kal, wondering how & why was it written.
So, why do you feel the need to tell/write a specific story ?
(A) Because something inspired you. You saw, heard, read or experienced something that triggered that thought. That got stuck in your head, heart or anywhere else. You slept over it, your start drawing the characters, the characters starts talking to you, dancing on your head, make you confused and restless. And so, you don’t hav a choice but to write. To get it out of your system.
OR
(B) Is it because you want to say something ? Because you want to make a strong statement. You want to prove a point. Because you observed something and you want to share your take on the subject.
Now, (A) and (B) can happily co-exist. But if you got (B) in your head, you know what you want to say in the end, then you join the dots, draw the lines and make the structure (A).
To me, then the story seems like a mathematics theorem. Why ? Because you know the result. You know what you want to say in the end. Like any other maths theorem that you are given to prove in the exams. So, you pick up the variables, put certain constraints, take some steps and show that the theorem is correct!
So, is it the same way that Imtiaz Ali wrote Love Aaj Kal ? He knows (or belives) what is Love Aaj and he knows what is Love Kal. He wants to put it all together. He has to prove what he knows or believes. He picks up the characters, sets them in certain conditions and beliefs, make them take some steps and in the end, proves the theorem. The Love Aaj Kal Theorem.
Huh! Enough of dissection! Filmmaking is all about faking it, right ? How well one fakes it, there lies the catch. And when you can see through the art of faking, where is the fun! You desperately look out for that smooth flow of the story. But you realise, its just one step after another, towards that last line “Hence proved”!