Love and Debate (2006)

Cast: Gina Philips, Adam Rodriguez, Bryan Greenberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy.

Of a mixed Columbian, Spanish heritage but a decidely Jewish background, Jordan (Gina Philips) struggles to fit in with her parents' image of a conservative good girl. Her parents want Jordan to marry a Jewish boy, while Jordan riles against the very idea. Her one true desire to influence and inspire people with words, turns her to debating and lands her into Harvard as part of an elite debate club. Sidetracking from this vision, she falls for a typical American bad-boy (Bryan Greenberg) type (laidback, charming, drifting through life). He breaks her heart when he cheats on her. Jordan loses her position in her debate team and goes through a period of introspection. Her gandmother relates to her an account of herself as a young girl who fell deeply in love with a married German man during world war two. As deeply as she loved him, her attachment to her native roots and traditions drove her into abandoning her lover and marrying a stranger who belonged to her own community. Jordan evenually turns to her childhood family friend, Elias (Adam Rodriguez) who's been patiently courting Jordan for years.

This Indie movie makes a point without doing so emphatically.

Rating: Three out of 5.

I Hate Luv Storys (2010): Hindi Movie Review

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan, Sameer Dattani

Jai (Imran Khan) despite working for a top bollywood filmmaker can't stand 'love' stories, finding them unreal and cheesy at best. At work he runs into Simran (Sonam Kapoor) who's his polar opposite--she lives and breathes romance. They form an unlikely friendship which for Simran blossoms into love. Although already betrothed to her longstanding boyfriend (Sameer Dattani), she finds Jai's imperfections adorable. When faced with her feelings, Jai turns her down terming his feelings as purely that of friendship. As a downcast Simran prepares to move on, Jai, bereft of their cozy friendship, realizes his feelings are one of love after all. With the aid of his colleague and friend, he tries to woo her back but only this time around the tables turn and Simran rejects him.

While the movie progresses on this note of ping-pong, the scenes staged for the film aside from the filmi sets they work in are mostly bars, dancing in bars, and then drinking in bars. As if that's all the typical modern day Indian gal/guy does in their spare time. Imran Khan likable as he was in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa, fails to impress with his charms here. His boyish good looks can't seem to cover up for his uptight emoting skills and the accompanying boyish lisp leaves him decidedly in a school-boy-yet-to-mature category. On the other hand Sonam's youthful, vivacious spirit comes through but are far from the screen goddess charms we associate with a la Madhuri, Manisha, or Ash. This is one love story whose title befits my reaction to it.

Rating: Two out of five.