Kartik Aaryan is famous for his sexist rants on screen, which is a huge part of his claim to fame. From Pyaar Ka Punchnama to Pati Patni Aur Woh, he's been telling the audience how men like him have been 'oppressed' by women and he's had enough.
Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal, with two very strong female characters set in two different eras, might just be able to show Kartik his place, finally. The trailer of the film has just dropped, showing Sara Ali Khan and Arushi Sharma as women who are not afraid to confront their stalkers, and also admit that they don't mind being stalked, either.
No, it's not an endorsement of stalking, like Raanjhanaa did. Here, the women are just exasperated by the lack of courage in the man to come and be upfront about his feelings for them. The trailer opens with Arushi in 1990 and Sara in 2020 walking up to a cowering Kartik (he plays the male lead in both eras), demanding answers.
An infuriated Sara demands, "You refuse to sleep with me, aur tabse mera aise peechha kar rahe ho?" She is not mollified by Kartik's 'kaise bataun tum special ho' confession. You immediately know that this film has an unconventional take on the love story, one where the woman is in charge.
Arushi from the 1990s is no meek schoolgirl either. When Kartik apologises to her for stalking, she says, "Maine kaha tumhe tum mera peecha mat karo?" When the man makes her a 'marte dam tak saath rahunga' promise, her reaction is "Baatein toh phone pe bhi ho sakti thi na?" She is no Harleen from the original Love Aaj Kal, who refuses to even look at her stalker in the eye. Props to Imtiaz Ali for displaying the gender awareness that's so required of Hindi filmmakers right now.
Sara is the quintessential modern career woman who is struggling to strike a balance between boyfriend and work commitments. Her job is way more important and there is no compromising on that. "Tum mujhe tang karne lage ho, Veer," she says at one point. Yes, if the man is unable to make space for the woman's career demands, he can seem like an irritant that needs to be quickly dispensed with.
Of course there are the "I will not have a relationship of compromise" and "I want you whole" pleas from the man. Which is so refreshing to see, because for generations, we have seen women trying to extract as much time as possible in between the busy schedules of their boyfriends/husbands. Or deal with the man's 'I don't know what I want in life' confusions shows in so many Imtiaz Ali films alone.
I hope the trailer is a reflection of the film and continues to give us the strong women characters whose glimpses we just saw in the 3-minute video. That would be the right revenge for making Deepika Padukone's Meera (Love Aaj Kal) and Tara (Tamasha) shed copius tears in wait of Jai and Ved, while they went about sorting whatever it is that muddled their brains.
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