Never in a million years did I think I would ever say that Priyanka Chopra was the best thing about a film, but there it is. Love Story 2050 was really a combination of two movies - the pre and post interval shows.

Pre-interval Love Story 2050 plays like a mediocre 90s movie. Boy stalks Girl all over Sydney until she agrees to date him. They date. She has to return home because she was just here on vacation. This is the end of the world. Seriously. It's played up as if they can tragically never meet again... because they live in different towns in Australia. Yes. Luckily for us a butterfly flys along in a train station and flutters to the name of the town where Girl lives in time for Boy to go there and see Girl. Doubly-lucky for us is that the town Girl lives in is also the town that Boy's previously unmentioned crazy mad scientist Uncle Ya lives in. Boy will stay there and find Girl! Stuffed into the super-dull plot are a couple of very mediocre love songs filled with the Australian kind of NRI-hijinks.

So, Girl dies after being hit by a truck and Boy uses Uncle Ya's time machine to time travel to the future to bring back a re-incarnated Girl to the present. Yes. This is where things get so bad that the circle of badness flips around and the instead of being bored the badness becomes massively entertaining.




Post-interval Love Story 2050 is a campy, sci-fi delight! Here are some of the things that we get post-interval:

* A robot named "Q.T" who nicknames Harman Baweja "Sec. C" and then every other character calls him this for the rest of the film.

* A small teddy bear shaped robot named "Boo" who works for Priyanka Chopra's red-haired avatar.

* A scene featuring Harman and Priyanka doing LIVE-ACTION Mortal Combat (yes, like the video game) at a video game arcade.

* Two excellently campy song picturizations filled with "futuristic" dancing.

* An evil mad scientist who knows about the time travel and wants the time machine.

* Robot!Harman beating up Sec.C!Harman

And so much more...flying cars! Star Trek-style matte painting scenery of Future!Mumbai! I loved every second post-interval.

Even better was the story, which finally became nice and cracktacular after the boringest opening EVER. The second half finds Girl having reincarnated into THE WORLD'S BIGGEST SUPERSTAR singer. She hosts her own TV show where people come on and she asks them questions about herself and they have to answer. She dances on a levitating platform high above the city. She is bored with life and doesn't believe in love. Boy manages to meet SuperStar!Girl, fall in love in with while being chased by an evil mad scientist, and then convince her that she should give up the crazy future and come live in the past with him. YES! So deliciously bad....


So, yes, the plot was very uneven. I wish the first half had been more compelling. Part of my problem is that Harman Baweja is not likable. I never warmed to him throughout the whole film. He looks a bit like Hrithik, well built and all, but without the sensitive puppy-dog woobie-ness that Hrithik brings to the table. I also wanted to stab Priyanka through the first part of the film. She is getting to be too old to play college-age roles. I'm sorry, but Priyanka does not look like she is 18 years old. When her character says she's in town just to study, I was thinking, "For what? Her PhD? Beautician's License? Did she drop out of school and is now returning years later?" I kept wishing to fast forward to the time travel already. In a perfect world, I would have re-written the first part to have been shorter. Time travel is way cooler than another NRI-Paradise!Sydney film.

Post-interval Priyanka is glorious, however. I don't think anyone else could have sold me so well on the red-haired superstar of the future character. The vapidness of Priyanka works well against the business of the sets - like her character in Salaam-e-Ishq, which I also really enjoyed her in. My new decree is that Priyanka Chopra is only allowed to play fictional actresses and superstars with over-inflated egos and a problem learing how to love.

I wish I could recommend seeing this in the theatre, but the dullness of the first part just drags and drags and drags... What I do recommend is waiting for the DVD and then just skipping directly to the second half for cracktastic, campy sci-fi masala of the future.