Film: I Hate Luv Storys

First of all let me just make it clear that I actually rather quite like love stories myself. Yes: they're farcical, unrealistic, misleading and essentially meaningless. But they're also fun, sweet, gooey and despite the common sense part of my brain screaming otherwise, a part of me does want to be the centre of a Bollywood number at least once in my life (if not for all of it. It's possible, dammit). And if that makes me a big girl, then so be it; the point is that I'm not going to hate on IHLS just because it's soppy.

It takes a brave film-maker to name his film something like "I Hate Luv Storys", since they're essentially saying that they're going to be something different, unusual or even original. The first disappointment with IHLS is that it's not that unique after all, and personally it took me a while to get over that deception.

There was hints of redemption with the couple of twists that unfolded, but these were quickly erased when things did turn out like you would expect (i.e. happily). Acting was a bit of a let down too; Sonam, with whom I was totally ready to fall in love with, severely disappointed with Imran not too far behind (honestly ladies: this guy? Really? It's Salman Khan all over again... you'll be sorry), the two of them showing as much personality as a pair of wet fishes, and with the chemistry of an inert gas.

There were flashes of inspiration, with the film leveraging its context in order to analyse itself - it just didn't go quite far enough. The funny bits were funny though, the emotional bits emotional and the charmful bits charmful... there just wasn't that specific magic present that the film itself says we needed so much. And what's with this latest trend of butchering songs? Sure the music wasn't that great to begin with... but please give us back our set pieces Bollywood.

But despite the trashing I've given IHLS, it was just about fun enough it to redeem itself and I wouldn't say that it was a waste of time for me to go watch it; I'll even admit that it was amusing trying to spot the various dialogues borrowed from previous Bollywood classics. As such, although I can't really recommend it fully, it is worth watching via DVD on a lazy Sunday afternoon - just don't expect it to linger in your mind much afterwards.