Shining the light on Love At Times Square, Subhash K Jha revisits the Dev Anand romance that released in 2003.
What do you say about a legend who never seemed to reach the ledge-end? Every time Dev Anand completed one film, he simply gambolled to another, creating new harmonies in his cinematic vision that may not jell with the maximum number of people, but it sure as hell invoked an indulgent smile from his fans.
After taking on the censor board in Censor, Dev Anand flitted to a fluffy, diverting romantic soufflé.
Love At Times Square is a conventional love triangle told with the flourish and bravura of good intentions that gloss over all the wrinkles in the script. The producer-writer-director’s eclectic energy is invested in a tale that revolves around New York’s Times Square during New Year’s.
Quite clearly, Dev Anand was inspired to weave a tale of love and other elemental harmonies around the sights and sounds of Times Square. The ebullient energy of the venue chosen for the three protagonists’ first and second rendezvous is emblematic of the creative forces that drive Dev Anand to move onwards.
You wish the incurable romanticist had captured more of the US-Canadian outdoors. There are striking shots of the Niagara Falls, New York, and the Californian hinterland. But the minute the camera moves indoors, the narration gets cramped. Characters like the Gujarati couple played by Satish Shah and Ketaki Dave don’t fit in comfortably with the film’s wider scheme.
Melodrama and theatrical conventions have never been Dev Anand’s forte. He’s far more comfortable projecting his joie de vivre into the love triangle—done with a mischievous grin –or in bringing to life his own character’s hip-and-liberating rapport with his daughter and the world and at-large.
More than any filmmaker in this country Dev Anand’s films are a reflection of his own personality–jaunty, and dismissive of mawkish conventions. Those looking for serious romance or high drama would be disappointed. But those who like Dev Anand for what he represents for generations of moviegoers(spirited defiance of soppy sentimentality and traditional treatment of themes), Love At Times Square is a smile-inducing trip through a fairytale world of large- hearted tycoons and impish mademoiselles who extend their manicured hands for marriage to the underprivileged crestfallen sods of the world.
A rather slim storyline is fattened with subplots about a scheming villain Ashish Vidyarthi and a female drummer from an all-girls’ band who has a heavy crush on the NRI tycoon Shaan (Dev Anand), a wealthy widower in Silicon Valley with a daughter who spends all her time with a video camera in her hand striking poses as a television journalist.
As expected Dev Anand as the unconventional millionaire who thinks money is of no consequence if not spent on the deserving, occupies a lot of playing time. At 80, he continues to project an infectious gusto on screen. We can’t help smiling at those trademark twinkling eyes and disembodied limbs as they cut through the sky to make a point .
The newcomers, I’m afraid, just can’t match the seasoned romanticist’s gusto , his quest and zest for life. A lack of acting talent and basic charm in the newcomers has always been a problem in Dev Anand’s recent films.. The music by Adnan Sami, Lucky Ali, Aadesh Shrivastava and Rajesh Roshan captures the evergreen writer-director-star-entertainer’s ethos of entertainment.
There’s no room to sulk in Dev Anand’s world. He’s here to enjoy every moment of life. And hey, he ‘s gonna suck you into his world of de-toxified pleasures. Two decades ago he took us through the life of illegal immigrants in England. Now his characters are well-heeled movers and shakers in Silicon Valley.
Dev Anand’s dream just grows with time.
