Story -Gulati (Imran Khan) and Aaliya (Deepika Padukone) grow up from childhood friends to twenty-something lovers after being overfed on a diet of Bollywood romances like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But twenty years of togetherness seems to be a bit too much for this new age couple who begin to look for spaces in their relationship. Aaliya flies off to Australia to chase her dreams of becoming an actress and Gulati follows her to find out if this is a temporary break or a permanent break-up. Will love prevail?
Movie Review : Love blossoms in sundry colours in Bollywood these days. There are noisy, boisterous, zany, crazy, conventional, unconventional romantic soirees rushing down the assembly line every week. If Break ke Baad manages to hold your attention, despite its plodding middle, it's only because it speaks in a different tone altogether. Danish Aslam's debut film may be a love story, but there is an underplay, a restraint and a sense of non-drama (the opposite of dramebaaz) that speaks directly to you. Just as the characters look as if they have been picked up from your circle of friends: they speak real stuff, funny stuff, corny stuff and have real-life confusions about nothing at all.
Consider this. Aaliya is actually a crazy girl who seems to be hell bent on messing up a good thing, for no reason at all. She has the best boyfriend in the world -- the ever-understanding, sensitive and so very dependable Gulati. Yet, you can understand why she wants to fly off into unknown territory, chasing unnecessary dreams, yearning for useless adventure and talking on an on about spurious spaces. As for Gulati, he's typical too with his laid back acceptance of what life has to offer, even if it means slogging as a glorified clerk in his dad's office while all he wants to do is cook and serve. There's something so endearing about his desire to be the `manjha' (string) to Aaliya's soaring kite stance. And the fact that Imran pitches his performance at a very very downplayed level makes Gulati's non-demanding, dependable guy act even more effective. As for Deepika, well her Aaliya is relatively effortless too, despite the fact that it's a mercurial, illogical, irrational ekdum flighty character. Her climactic act seems to be the best performance in her entire career: completely spontaneous, crazy and cute.
The film does have a terribly sluggish middle and there are places where the drama seems to be heading nowhere, but the witty banter between the protagonists does fill in the lacunae to some measure. The dialogues are smart and the conversation funny, specially when Deepika insists on calling herself Shah Rukh and oscillates between Gulati, Julati and Gelatto when it comes to referring to her boyfriend. And if that's not enough, he even becomes Sunita in certain sequences. Lillette Dubey as the adventurous aunt also adds to the sparkle with her homespun asides on love and marriage.
Nothing dramatic, just fresh: Break Ke Baad is the other flavour of romance. One that you don't find in run-of-the mill Mills and Boon masala.
"As actors, we all want our audience to like our work; so even if you ask me this question after five years I will say yes I want to work harder and harder to be loved by my audience."
~ Imran Khan
